Sara is an incoming first-year MBA student at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. She completed her undergraduate studies at Cornell University, earning dual degrees in Information Science and Urban Planning, with a minor in Business. Currently, Sara is a manager at EY MENA in their Digital and Emerging Technology practice, where she leads teams in designing and developing digital products for various sectors, most notably smart cities. She has successfully launched a range of products, including public transport management systems, municipal urban planning software, and solutions in fintech, proptech, and entertainment. Based in Riyadh, she is actively involved in expanding the company’s digital design practice across the region, as well as mentoring young professionals in the product space.
Ahmed Sallam
Egypt/UAE
Harvard Business School
(class of 2025)
LinkedIn
Ahmed is a second-year MBA candidate at Harvard Business School. Prior to HBS, he spent 4 years with McKinsey & Co., where he specialized in scaling seed stage and series A startups in MENA across a wide range of verticals (e.g., fintech, B2B / B2C marketplaces, and agribusinesses). Ahmed is spending his summer with the IFC’s (International Finance Corporation) Startup Catalyst fund supporting their investments in emerging markets and identifying synergy opportunities across their portfolio.
He has a B.SC. in Mechanical Engineering with a Minor in Business Administration from the American University in Cairo.
Nicole Mansour
Iraq/Syria/USA
Chicago Booth
(class of 2025)
LinkedIn
Nicole is a Memphis native and a Georgetown University graduate with a Bachelor’s in Global Health and Economics. She began her career as a Venture For America Fellow, working in operations and client services at a health-tech startup later acquired by Quest Diagnostics. Most recently, she served as the Digital Innovation Lead for US Medical Affairs Oncology at AstraZeneca. Currently, Nicole is pursuing her MBA at the University of Chicago, focusing on Entrepreneurship, Finance, and Strategy. She has engaged in internships with a venture capital fund and a global non-profit and co-chairs the MENA club on campus. In her free time, she mentors startups through gener8tor’s accelerator programs and connects with founders to learn their stories. This summer, she will further her experience with a global health-tech startup, leveraging her unique blend of healthcare expertise and business acumen.
Mohammed (Mo) Babekar
Sudan/India/USA
Stanford GSB
(class of 2025)
LinkedIn
Mo is an MBA student at Stanford GSB, focusing on tech entrepreneurship and private investing. Prior to Stanford, Mo worked as a product manager and strategy lead at Citigroup, where he launched new products internally, supported Citi’s portfolio companies, and led new cross-enterprise growth strategies. Before that, he spent a couple of years at Citi’s Private Debt team, underwriting credit solutions to corporates, financial institutions, as well as governments. Mo is originally from Sudan, attended boarding high school in India, and earned his undergraduate from Middlebury College, VT.
As the president of the Stanford GSB Venture Capital Club, Mo has been investing his time connecting with Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and investors and deepening his understanding of emerging technologies
Rakan Aboneaaj
Palestine/USA
UPenn Wharton
(class of 2026)
LinkedIn
Rakan Aboneaaj is an incoming MBA student at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, majoring in Quantitative Finance and Business, Energy, Environment, and Sustainability. Before his MBA, Rakan was an associate at Social Finance, an impact finance and advisory non-profit, where he worked on impact investments and data analytics. Previously, Rakan was a consultant on the World Bank’s Private Capital Facilitation unit and a research associate on the Center for Global Development’s Sustainable Development Finance team. He has also worked at Altman Solon, a strategy consulting firm, and the Center for Strategic & International Studies.
Rakan holds a BA in Economics and Middle East Studies from Brown University and was a Fulbright Research Fellow in São Paulo, Brazil.