Bio

/Formal(-ish) bio/

I am a consultant in international development, working with international organizations (African Development Bank, UNDP, World Bank, IDRC, UNIDO…), national governments (Government of Palestine, Government of Dubai…), and think tanks and research centres to develop policy oriented research with real applications.

I work primarily on issues of private sector development and investment promotion, entrepreneurship,  with a special focus on post-conflict countries. I have, in that respect, published a couple of papers and book chapters.

I am also an award-winning writer and journalist. My work has been published in Foreign Policy Magazine, the New York Times, the New Yorker, the Guardian, Yale Global, Al-Masry Al-Youm, the Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Hurriyet Daily News, among many others.

I was profiled in the Times of London, Al-Ahram, Le Temps, Enigma magazine, and appeared on Al-Jazeera, CNN, BBC News, France 24, CBC, France Info, France Inter, and have been featured/interviewed by a number of newspapers around the globe.

I co-authored “Tahrir Diaries”, a collective memoir of the 18 days of the Egyptian 2011 revolution. The book is currently available in Arabic and in Italian.

I also wrote an award-winning essay, published in Arab Spring Dreams, as well as a chapter on the privatisation of Banque du Caire in Chroniques Egyptiennes 2011.

A heavy user, consumer of, and trainer in social media, I regularly update my blog, where I write about Egypt, Middle East politics, development, and travel, among other issues. I was also described as a “dedicated Twitterer” by the New Yorker magazine and a ‘Twitterati’ by Enigma magazine – make what you will of that…

I am also a professor of Development Economics at Cairo’s Ain-Shams University.

For my various experiences, I am regularly invited to speak at international public as well as corporate events on a range of issues, including economic reform, the Arab revolution(s), social media, among others.

I am a graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School of Government (Master of Public Administration in International Development), the Paris Institute of Political Studies – SciencesPo (Master in International Economic Relations), and Cairo University‘s school of Economics and Political Science.

And I coined the word “Demubarakization“!

You can find my more formal resume here.

=== potential employers can stop here.

You’re not supposed to be social media-stalking me, are you? ===

/The bio of little things that make it all worthwhile (to me)/

I worked in post-war relief in Aceh and post-Katrina reconstruction in New Orleans, ran – by mistake, of course – across a minefield in South Lebanon, dipped my feet in sacred waters in Indonesia (no curse has befallen me as of yet), listened to the Austrian Philharmonic Orchestra play live in Vienna, discussed politics with the Kosovar government inner circle a few weeks before Independence (which inspired me to get involved in politics myself), watched Venus (only the planet, sadly enough) rise from the top of Mount Sinai, ate roasted chestnuts on a snowy New Year’s day in Paris, attended the Papal Christmas mass in St. Peter’s Basilica (and he blessed me and all), held hands with 9/11 families in Ground Zero on the anniversary of the attacks, went on pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina, prayed under the rain on the timeless Haram Al-Aqsa, actually had a Ramadan Iftar there too!, left a little prayer carefully lodged in the Western Wall, bowed to a giant Buddha in Cambodia, sought guidance in a Taoist temple in Taipei (which I got, printed out on a fancy little piece of paper), ate shark meat and it tasted like old chicken (shark fin soup, on the other hand, was, ummm, special), played street hockey in Ramallah and I was really bad at it, fought back the tears in Auschwitz and at the Phnom Penh killing fields, was held at gunpoint in Juba by a drunk SPLA soldier who referred to himself as “Young Minister”, swam near an Abu Dhabi drilling site and the water tasted like oil, celebrated Saint Patrick’s in South Boston with indistinct green drinks, had tomatoes smashed to my face in Spain, attended Mahmoud Darwish’s very last public recital (and, a few weeks later, walked in his funeral), waltzed in a tuxedo (and did not step on her feet), partied the night away in more cities than I can think of, have done lots of stupid things, and haven’t regretted any of them, probably.

Also, my 8 million friends and I toppled a dictator. That was quite something too.

Life.