Ehaab Dyaa Abdou

Biographical Information

"Ehaab Dyaa Abdou is co-founder of Nahdet El Mahrousa. He is also co-founder and Board member of the Egyptian Federation of Youth NGOs. In 2004, Ehaab was selected as a "social entrepreneur” by the global Ashoka Foundation and hence became an Ashoka fellow. In 1999, Ehaab helped establish, and became the first president of, Fat'het Kheir, an Egyptian youth-led voluntary organization offering an innovative model in community development. In 1995, as an AUC student, he was elected as the president of AIESEC in Egypt. In August 2007, he was honored by AIESEC, by awarding him the "Global AIESEC Alumni Entrepreneurship and Leadership Award".

"As a singer-songwriter, in 2007, he co-founded the Egyptian band “Ana Masry” promoting a strong message of tolerance, diversity and national unity through a unique fusion of Muslim Sufi chanting, Christian hymns as well as his own lyrics and music, among others. In Oct 2009, he launched his first album “Gowayya Hagat” co-produced by his independent music production company and Cilantro café.

"Ehaab currently works as an Advisor to the Middle East Youth Initiative at the Wolfensohn Center for Development at the Brookings Institute leading its social entrepreneurship program for the Arab region. Fall 2006, he was co-teaching an undergraduate course on NGO Management under the Management department of the American University in Cairo. Between 1997 and 2002, he worked as the Partnership and Business Development officer at Canada’s International Development Research Center (IDRC), the Near East Foundation (NEF) Middle East and North Africa regional offices and the Nestle food company in Egypt.

"In 2004, Ehaab earned his master’s degree in international development from the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His master’s focused on NGOs and the Civil Society including research on the role of local philanthropy, fair trade, and the role of NGOs in development. In 2004 Ehaab received his undergraduate degree in management from the American University in Cairo in 1997. "