In some ways, the growth of the “gig economy” in the West mirrors the informal, small-scale entrepreneurship model long familiar in the developing world. As technological advances and automation increase, workers and those entering the workforce must rethink their paths. Do these models help young people access employment on their own terms, or are they new means of exploitation? In places where the youth population booms while formal work opportunities dwindle, is peace and stability at risk? We’ll explore how social entrepreneurs adapt to this reality and innovate within a new work paradigm.
MARINA GORBIS
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, INSTITUTE FOR THE FUTURE
Marina Gorbis is a futurist and social scientist who serves as executive director to the Institute for the Future (IFTF), a Silicon Valley nonprofit research and consulting organization. In her 18 years with IFTF, Marina has brought a futures perspective to hundreds of organizations in business, education, government and philanthropy to improve innovation capacity, develop strategies, and design new products and services. Marina’s current research focuses on how social production is changing the face of major industries, a topic explored in detail in her book, The Nature of the Future: Dispatches from the Socialstructed World. She has also blogged and written for BoingBoing.net, FastCompany, Harvard Business Review, and major media outlets. A native of Odessa, Ukraine, yet equally at home in Silicon Valley, Europe, India, and Kazakhstan, Marina is particularly well suited to see things from a global viewpoint. She has keynoted such international events as The Next Web Conference, NEXT Berlin, the World Business Forum, the National Association of Broadcasters annual convention, and the Western Association of Schools and Colleges annual conference. She holds a BA in psychology and a master’s of public policy from UC Berkeley.
Fhazhil is a passionate educator and a budding social entrepreneur in Information Technology and energy systems. He is currently the partnership director of M-Soma Institute, a social venture preparing young people in East Africa for successful careers in Information Technology and entrepreneurship. M-Soma Institute offers pre-university training in computer programming and software development and general technical entrepreneurial training to high school graduates through boot camps as well as through its online and mobile platforms.
Fhazhil is also the founder and managing director of Disa Energy Management (DEM), a start-up in renewable energy systems. The current work of DEM is design and installation of renewable energy systems (majorly solar and wind) and offering consumer education on energy efficiency with a focus on efficient technologies, efficient energy system operations and energy behaviour change. The objective of DEM is to promote access to clean energy in rural Africa and spur economic growth.
Besides his professional engagements, Fhazhil is also a passionate youth mentor with a focus on education and holistic development. He is an Equity Leaders Programme (EPL) alumnus and currently mentoring with Wings to Fly programme (an education and leadership programme run by the joint partnership of Equity Group and MasterCard Foundations) in Kenya, Mamelodi Initiative in the Mamelodi township of South Africa and Stars EBIT mentors at the University of Pretoria. Fhazhil is a MasterCard Foundation Scholar at the University of Pretoria; currently writing a thesis on optimal control of renewable energy systems.
Dina El- Mofty is the founder of Injaz Egypt an organization which has a strong educational focus on entrepreneurship and work readiness and is part of the Junior Achievement worldwide network.
Injaz works in partnership with schools and universities across Egypt, and has helped impact more than half a million young people through its entrepreneurial and work readiness programs. The organization also has a strong focus on supporting young entrepreneurs through its Startup incubator and helps them launch and accelerate their businesses. Injaz has seed funded and supported over 60 successful startup businesses over the past six years.
Dina is also a partner at Inspo a company focused on delivering leading global programs on personal and professional development in the Middle East. She is also actively involved with the American Chamber of Commerce as the Co-chair of the Women in Business Committee, and is a member of the US Egypt Business Council. Dina also serves on the Board of Trustees of the American University in Cairo.
Nominated as one of the world’s most influential young Arabs under 40 by Arabian Business , she is also a receiver of The Young Achiever of the year award for 2016 by AB. Dina holds a Graduate degree from the Fletcher School at Tufts University, and pursued her undergraduate studies at Georgetown and graduated from the American University in Cairo. She also holds professional degrees from Penn State, Insead and Harvard.
Marwa Moaz is the co-founder of Bamyan Media, a social enterprise that creates compelling cross-platform content designed to tackle critical social challenges and promote positive behavior change. Working with a network of local partners, Bamyan Media connects viewers to information, practical tools and empowering resources. She is also the co-founder of El Mashroua (The Project) - Egypt’s first entrepreneurial TV show and integrated communications platform for promoting key messages to Arab youth regarding entrepreneurship opportunities, inspirational role models and skill development. The first season triggered an enormously popular response with 3-4 million viewers per episode and over 1 million social media followers.
Marwa believes the combination of mainstream television with digital media paves the way for ideas to be shared in real-time, inspiring action with a lasting social impact. She is passionate about public health solutions and creating impact-oriented television shows for social change. Marwa previously worked with USAID’s Health Systems 20/20 and Feed the Future Nutrition Innovation Lab. She graduated from the George Washington University and holds a Masters from Tufts University in Nutrition Science and Policy. Marwa has been recognized by the White House as the “Global Entrepreneurship Representative” and has been featured on BBC, Fast Company, Egypt Today, and The Millennium Challenge Corporation's “Women on a Mission”.
Ross is currently directing Ashoka’s education strategy for triggering a fundamental change in the experience of education so that every young person is becoming a 'changemaker' in a learning ecosystem that is explicitly designed with that central purpose.
He is also a Board Director of Whole Education - a network of schools committed to providing holistic education - and a founding trustee of a new all-through schools chain in the UK.
Before Ashoka, Ross researched and designed a ground-breaking programme that aims to equip and incline young people to be well and to do well. The first implementation of the Better World Programme is with 500,000 children in rural communities across Zimbabwe and Tanzania.
The Better World Programme extends an earlier project that Ross conceived with Pearson (called Effective Education for Employment), which he used with ministries, employers and educators around the world to evaluate the effectiveness of education systems and institutions. Ross led Pearson’s international qualifications business, where he spearheaded the development of a new consultancy service and a suite of 21st Century Skills qualifications.
Before joining Pearson, Ross spent 15 years in corporate venturing and incubation, designing and launching more than 20 businesses on 5 continents and in a wide range of sectors, including education, human resources, logistics, media and healthcare. Ross continues to provide coaching and advice on strategies for maximising impact.
