NEXUS MIDDLE EAST NORTH AFRICA (MENA)

Join us for our
2020 NEXUS Arab Future Summit
Postponed until Fourth Quarter 2020
History of NEXUS in MENA
NEXUS MENA & Arab Diasporas is a safe haven for a collaborative community of next gen impact investors, philanthropists, change innovators, and social entrepreneurs, with the ultimate goal of making MENA better together.
PAST SUMMIT
NEXUS MENA & Arab Diasporas hosted its first annual regional Summit at Villa Linda Sursock in Beirut, Lebanon with the purpose of catalyzing positive social change and support for its members as they take on key leadership roles in social transformative initiatives in the region. The Summit gathered a very select guest list of over seventy global and regional NEXUS members. The list had a careful balance of next-generation leaders championing change in business and philanthropy, young rising stars in governments and royal families, as well as global next-generation thought leaders and innovators in social impact. Many important themes were discussed including: the refugee crisis, impact investing in the MENA region and creating a new Arab narrative aimed at bridging the existent social gaps in the region.
Goals and Actions
NEXUS MENA and Arab Diaspora’s goals are to:
- Raise awareness on Impact Investment, Philanthropy and Social entrepreneurship
- Develop a knowledge bank on Impact Investment, Philanthropy and Social entrepreneurship in the region for its people
- Build and cultivate a network of next generation enthusiasts, emerging leaders, and social change makers of the MENA region and its diasporas
- Empower NEXUS MENA & Arab Diasporas members in their social innovation endeavours
- Leverage global and regional networks to build a strong peer-to-peer community of wealth holders & social entrepreneurs
- Build partnerships with other networks that have a social impact mandate
- Attract and secure impact investment from Diasporas into the MENA region
- Establish a NEXUS MENA & Arab Diasporas certification of assurance on impactful social enterprises in the MENA region.
- Create a concrete policy brief apparatus to be used as an advocacy tool for social and economic impact in the MENA region.
OUR LEADERSHIP TEAM

Lynn ZOVIGHIAN
Director Emeritus of NEXUS MENA & Arab Diasporas
Lynn is the Emeritus Director of Middle East North Africa (MENA) and Arab Diasporas at NEXUS. She is a businesswoman by trade and a philanthropist at heart, using her learnings from the corporate and investments world to drive her problem-solving style in humanemergencies and social dysfunctionalities. Co-founder of The Zovighian Partnership alongside her father, Lynn has built up a team of social innovation architects that design, incubate, and manage meaningful philanthropic interests of emerging next-generation leaders in the Middle East. The firm also services the Zovighian family’s philanthropic ambitions, through its in-house lab, focused on deploying
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Mutassem DAABOUL
Director of NEXUS MENA
Mutassem Daaboul is an aluminum innovator and a family man who aspires to use aluminum to save the planet and create beauty by improving the lives of families and social impactors. Daaboul is an active second generation Board Member of Daaboul Holding, and the Managing Director of Canex Aluminum, one of the main operational companies of the group. He started as a manager of a small business from the group of companies. Starting with a small business taught him entrepreneurship methods and approaches at its core. He performed all operations first hand; grew the small company he restructured in 2005 from a $600,000 turnover
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AIDA MURAD
Aida Murad is a social entrepreneur, artist and community builder. Today she is creating a venture studio that will provide an opportunity for entrepreneurs to build their businesses holistically doing both the internal and external work of being human. Additionally, Aida advises numerous start-ups and foundations, writes for Thrive Global and serves as Co-Director for NEXUS MENA & Arab Diasporas.
She has worked for over a decade building social enterprises in the education, fashion, food, health and technology industries as well as managed $300 million in governmental and development funds for the public and private sectors. Aida is the recipient of the 2017 FHI 360 Impact Award for Woman Leadership, 2017 Most Voted RAW Artist, 2017 Inaugural artist for GoARTful and 2016 FHI Emerging Leaders. Most importantly, Aida is a life long learner and believes love is the single most powerful and beautiful force in the world.

Dayna Bahig
Egyptian Country Ambassador
Dayna Bahig is very passionate about education, particularly among underprivileged communities and for the transformative effect it can have on economies. Her goal at NEXUS is to collaborate on how to build a sustainable platform to connect the talents of social entrepreneurs with the capital of impact investors; and assist in the development of a vibrant ecosystem that encourages learning, personal growth and one that can capitalize from the opportunities within our network.
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Ali Amhaz
Systems Development Manager of NEXUS MENA & Arab Diasporas
A believer in the potential of social entrepreneurship to shift mindsets and capabilities of both entrepreneurs and communities, Ali has dedicated his early career to strategy, research, and supporting youth-led ventures. He is an active member of NEXUS MENA & Arab Diasporas, working on the region’s leadership team to expand their strategic mandate across the Middle East and North Africa.
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An Analyst at The Zovighian Partnership, Ali focuses on the social and organizational elements that shape the capacities and performances of impact enterprises, as well as the experiences of community and governmental stakeholders.
He has also served thirteen socially-conscious organizations in a consultative and leadership capacity. Ali founded the Beirut Art Salon, a social enterprise that offers a creative space for emerging artists to display, teach, and speak through art, inviting them to cross-pollinate and forge partnerships together. He is also currently establishing a youth-led institute in the American University of Beirut to push a curriculum of leadership and organizational development for students.
Ali has a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology with a minor in Philosophy from the American University of Beirut. During his time as a student, Ali led over 650 students by serving on seven club cabinets and was elected into the highest house of student government. Upon graduation, Ali was awarded the Penrose Award, the most prestigious of awards on campus.
Ali will begin pursuing his MSc in Organizational and Social Psychology at the London School of Economics and Political Studies in September, where he will be focusing on the intersection of emerging impact-oriented organizations, trends in impact investing, disruptive technologies, and the psychological set-ups necessary for new kinds of organizations to thrive and engage with their communities.
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SORAYA HOSNI
Soraya Hosni is an anthropologist and serial entrepreneur. Her polyglotism combined with a journey from Parisian suburbs, to remote pacific islands or conflict zones allows a unique societal understanding that she brings into the most innovative problem solving. After an active executive and academic career she decided to repatriate to Tunisia, and work from within to preserve culture and advance impact in Business.
Her latest ventures include The New Medina, an initiative to build heritage centered models for urban development, starting with her ancestral home and the UNESCO World Heritage Medina of Sousse in Tunisia.
What We’re Up To
Summits
In December 2018, NEXUS MENA & Arab Diasporas will reconvene in Cairo to build on the important conversations at its second Summit.
Salons
We host regular Salons through the MENA region and the Americas that are meant to bring together business leaders and social entrepreneurs and inspire learning and collaboration between this uniquely powerful network of peers.
Strengthening the Bonds of Connection
NEXUS MENA & Arab Diasporas seeks to cultivate and develop next generation of wealth as well as the social entrepreneurs in the region and among its diaspora by developing strong peer-to-peer connections.
Delegations to NEXUS Global
NEXUS MENA & Arab Diasporas is proud to send yearly Delegations to our NEXUS Global Summit in New York to participate in NEXUS Global’s flagship event and network with NEXUS members from around the world.
Policy Paper
Following its Summit in Beirut, NEXUS MENA is producing a policy paper highlighting the recommendations that followed the Summit. The paper will focus on the three tracks discussed (The refugee crisis, impact investing in MENA and creating a new narrative for the region) and will be presented to His Excellency Prime Minister Saad Hariri.

Join us for our
2020 NEXUS Arab Future Summit
March 27th to 29th in Tunisia
Contact Us
Interested in joining or sponsoring the NEXUS MENA network? Are you an exceptional young social entrepreneur, philanthropist or impact investor? Interested in the refugee crisis, impact investing in the region or creating a new narrative for the Middle East? We’d love to hear from you. Please send us a message and we’ll be in touch shortly.