Theme: The Future Is Now

TEDxYouth@MNS is an independently organised TED event by Maadi Narmer School students in the spirit of ideas worth spreading.

Maadi Narmer School
126 Misr Helwan Agricultural Road
Maadi
Cairo, Al Qāhirah, 11917
Egypt

Ahmed Mitry

Student, Maadi Narmer School

Amena El-Saie

Amena EL-Saie is the CEO of Helm Foundation in Egypt since it was founded with Ramez Maher in September 2014. Helm promotes the social inclusion for Persons with Disabilities in Egypt; through building partnerships with different stakeholders to break down barriers towards the full participation of Egyptians with disabilities. In less than two years, Helm's team has grown to include 20 employees and over 400 volunteers -whereas the team is fully inclusive. Amena was certified by the Japanese International Cooperation Agency in Barrier-free Environments in Japan. She was also awarded the Total Start-Upper of the Year for Helm in 2016. Rise Egypt has selected Helm to be one of the top 5 social enterprises in Egypt; thus, making Amena and Ramez a part of an acceleration program during 2015-2016. Helm managed to exponentially grow, incorporating nearly 200 corporations and ensuring the accessibility of 300 locations across Cairo in 2015. Amena also co-founded Helm AUC as a graduate community student club in the American University in Cairo in 2012, whereas she had graduated with honors; B.A. in Journalism and Mass Communication, B.A. in Visual Arts and a minor in Psychology.

Ayman Rashed

CEO of IT-Blocks

Graduated from faculty of Civil Engineering, Ain Shams University in 1990, Ayman started his career as a civil engineer acquiring his first master in 1993. In the same year, he shifted his career to Information Technology. In 1995, he got his executive MBA in Information Technology Marketing. Having worked in different positions and gained wide experience in the field, Ayman started his first venture in 1999: otlob.com - a food home delivery portal. Otlob.com was totally acquired just six months after its launch. After the acquisition, Ayman Started IT-Blocks a Professional Software Services firm where multiple projects and businesses were created. Of these businesses are: Gates an IT Training Center, Corsat a brand of training management solutions, Sortak.com a website for printing photos online,  Egybanners.com where you find all printed ads from all printed newspapers and magazines online. IT-Blocks Saudi Arabia was the first international branch in 2010. However, OneTimeSat, Inc. and IntoMeetings, Inc. are the latest subsidiaries incorporated in USA during 2016.

Khaled Mostafa

Student, American University in Cairo

Khaled is a 20-year-old junior in AUC double majoring in Psychology and Integrated Marketing Communications. He is very passionate about mental health awareness as well as prevention of bullying among other issues that can lead to psychological problems. Khaled is also interested in many forms of art, as well as in the marketing business. He currently holds the presidential position in the Sociology, Anthropology and Psychology association at AUC where he, alongside his team, attempt to help fellow students and organize awareness campaigns. Lastly, he is also the head of mental health and wellbeing team in Heya: The Feminist Initiative at AUC where he organized a talk about gender-based bullying.

Lara Sarhan

Student, American University in Cairo

Lara Sarhan is 21 years old. She studies psychology and anthropology at AUC. Her major success in life was getting through life itself. Lara Sarhan is also a creative writer, posting her writings on Facebook and her personal blog.

Magdy Abdel-Sayed

Media Specialist, Egyptian Petrochemicals Holding Co.

My name is Magdy Shahir Abdel-Sayed. I was born with a disability called Cerebral Palsy. Doctors said that I will never be able to read, write or speak. I was able to defy the odds and graduated from the American University in Cairo in February 2015. At University, I participated in a multitude of activities including the First Year Experience program (FYE), getting AUC freshmen acquainted with the AUC campus. In addition, I was part of the AUC Student Union, Activities committee, organizing events on the AUC campus. Furthermore, I was part of Enactus, an organization which helps with sustainable projects for the poor people. I am currently a Media Specialist at the Egyptian Petrochemicals Holding Company, an ambassador at Helm NGO and a motivational speaker.

Mohamed ElDib

Creative Director, Monkeys in Tuxedos

Mohamed El Dib is a creative director, a designer, an entrepreneur. Born in the UK, he moved to Alexandria, Egypt, for school and then Cairo to join the American Universityy in Cairo. Ever since youth, he has been an entrepreneur; always doing things in a way that is out of the ordinary, to say the least. Currently being a co-founder of Monkeys in Tuxedos; a creative studio based in Cairo, he is the creative director (or Master Tree Climber, as they call it!) who always brings unique ideas to life. Before that, he had a restaurant; the colour green; an online video platform; disalata.com; and an array of other businesses, some of which are up and running. He's an adrenaline junkie, a very social person, and someone who is always hungry to learn new skills. He also believes that everything in life falls under the term "design"; from solving a mathematical problem, to creating an art masterpiece, to designing a building, even dealing with friends and cooking a scrumptious meal. Check out instagram profile on @MohamedElDib

Mohamed Hamed

Student, German University in Cairo

“Getting to the top is optional. Getting down is mandatory.” Ed Veisturs was right because we live in the snake & ladders game where you must take two steps forward when you had one back. My name is Mohamed Hamed and surprisingly I’m not the only one in the house who is 21 I have a twin sister too. Engineering might be my future job but for now it’s only my study. Harry Potter movies series, Coldplay, Zamalek club and writing make my life better. Trains that carry our dreams must not be missed. So, I believe that everything we do is an experience whether we like it or not, simply one thing we have to do is “Keep Going’’.

Mustafa Gamal

Analyst, N Gage Consulting

Mustafa Gamal is an AUC recent graduate. He studied Political Science with a specialization in Political Science. He is currently working as an Analyst in N Gage Consulting for Public Strategy and Business Lobbying. He is always passionate about learning new things; He is currently learning Spanish and taking horse-riding classes. During his spare time, he follows the news, reads books in history, politics, business, and economics, or watches soccer matches.

Omneya Makhlouf

Emergency Preparedness and Response Officer, United Nations World Food Programme

Omneya Makhlouf is a humanitarian worker. She is also a pianist, a singer, and a dancer. She got her music degree when she was 15 and, at the same time, started humanitarian work. She graduated in 2014 with a Bachelor’s in Political Science at the age of 21 and began working at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). She finished her Masters of Laws (LLM) in International and Comparative Law when she was 22, this last June, graduating top of her class. She also gave the graduating class address. During her final semester of her masters, she became a licensed diver. She now works at the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) at the age of 23. It's an unusual combination. But these are her passions and dreams, her hobbies and life choices. She chose not to conform to societal norms; the norms that would have kept her from being able to pursue her convictions of making a difference, even in just one person’s life. But the choices she made did not contradict her morals or harm her or those around her. So she also chose not to rebel. She chose to persevere, with her morals in tact. Mistakes have been made, of course, but with the effort of bettering herself and hopefully others. Society may believe she went off course, but to her, she chose her own path. She chose a combination of things that fit her life, that made her happy, and allowed her to try to make others happy. To some, she may be contradictory. But to herself and her family, she dreamt her dream. And lived it. "We are all dreamers. Don’t be afraid to live like one." - Omneya Makhlouf

Seif Ibrahim

Student, Maadi Narmer School

My name is Seif Ibrahim and I am 15. I have a lot of interests such as listening to my favorite music all day (I LOVE EDM), drawing pictures of cars, watching my favorite youtubers and the most important of all, my main passion, defending human rights, especially, women- rights. During my childhood, most of my best friends were girls. Very few were guys. Other guys used to make fun of me because I mostly sat with girls and not with them. I remember a story from second grade where two of my guy friends were following me around when I was with one of my girl best friends and kept saying stuff to annoy me. Sadly, the pressure got to me and I stopped sitting with girls to join my guy friends. Sometimes, I lied about liking girls because they would make fun of me and it gets pretty annoying. Fortunately though, like two or more years ago, I realized that I wasn’t like this before and started thinking that there shouldn’t be hatred against girls, or women in general and I became a feminist. Becoming a feminist was the greatest thing I have ever done so far and I kept respecting girls and women since then.

Soha Abu Gharara

Coordinator in the Cultural Outreach sector, Bibliotheca Alexandrina

Soha Raafat Abu Gharara works as a coordinator in the Cultural Outreach sector at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina since 2014. She lived most of her years in Abu Dhabi, UAE, and attained bachelor’s degree in Business Administration- majoring Marketing. She's a loyal member of the Youth Rotary Club -Rotaract- where she held responsible positions of leadership and pursued her love for social work.

Yahya ElSherbiny

Student, Egyptian British Language School

Yahya ElSherbiny is aspiring to change the world by leaving a positive productive mark on every person he meets.

Youssef Azzam

Student, New York University Abu Dhabi

Youssef Azzam is an 18-year-old Egyptian who studies Mechanical Engineering at the New York University in Abu Dhabi. He used to study at Maadi Narmer School since 2001 going through elementary school, middle school and high school. Ever since he was in high school, Youssef has shown great interest in music and that is why he started the MNS's very first school band. Youssef plays both the drums and the guitar and his passion for music is one of the main factors that led him to form his band, Shaghaf, with Ahmed Mitry and Sara Fakhry. Their band, Shaghaf, were chosen by the great Sharmoofers to take part in Egypt's first Battle of the Bands ever and they came in second place in their battle. One of Youssef's other hobbies is his love for photography, filming and directing in general. He is fond of taking pictures and videos wherever he goes as if it is part of his daily routine. He documents everything in his way and is very creative and artistic in the sense of the music he produces and the documentary videos he produces. Ever since he started high school, Youssef has been keen on reading more and more Arabic novels and books. He believes that globalization has affected our generation in a way that made mostly everyone drift away from our Arab culture and heritage just to follow the world trends. If you take a look at the music we listen to, the fashion styles we follow and the trends we try to keep up with, they are all keeping us away and distracting us from embracing our Arabian, Middle-Eastern roots. For that reason, Youssef decided to give his Tedx Talk in Arabic, in an attempt to promote his mother tongue.

Youssef Fahmy

Student, American University in Cairo

Youssef was born on January 5th of 1998. He was raised in a Maadi household with two older siblings. He enrolled in Maadi Manara School for a few years, then transferred to Maadi Narmer School, where he graduated high school from. Youssef is now attending university in The American University In Cairo and is studying Chemistry. Youssef has always had a passion in understanding the philosophy of Utopias and why humans want to create “paradise on earth”. By studying and reading books of political systems, philosophers and many historians in the past, in his free time. Furthermore, he is very familiar with most schools of philosophy, from Idealism to Marxism and Hegelianism; Youssef has a thirst for knowledge, but claims he is now drowning in it. Furthermore, Youssef has other hobbies such as Mountain biking and writing personal manifestos. He likes to join marathons and engage with the young community. He co-founded an organization named “Shagrha” with the sole purpose of planting one million trees in Egypt.

Youssof Gehad

Student, Green Heights International School

Youssof Gehad Is middle schooler who has been having a hard time during school due to bullying acts, he will talk about how he overcame his problem.