Storytelling impact:

Fadel Zayan is Alfanar’s Investment Director, overseeing Alfanar’s portfolio of venture philanthropy investments, including monitoring and evaluation of portfolio impact and sustainability. Zayan has been pivotal to rationalising Alfanar’s investment cycle, developing Alfanar Sustainable Social Enterprise Training (ASSET) and establishing Alfanar’s real-time impact management platform. After graduating in History & Politics at the University of Kent, Zayan worked in communications in Cairo, before completing a Master’s in International Politics at the School of Oriental and African Studies. He later worked as a Programme Analyst at the United Nations Development Programme in Tripoli, Libya, where he was in charge of managing various portfolios, including Gender, Poverty Reduction and HIV/AIDS.  Zayan returned to London in 2009 to work in a political risk consultancy firm, and was in Egypt in 2011 during the revolution. Following that, he consulted for Human Rights Watch in Libya over the course of the revolution.

Lina Tayara brings a combination of experience and abilities gained in major corporations in the media, business intelligence and communication practicing in English, Arabic and French.
She is Founder and CEO of London based Orient Consulting Services providing marketing communication services to, amongst others: Alta Partners VC, Future Media Architects & KAUST. She gained substantial communication cross-disciplinary expertise as:
– Project Director for WPP, the world’s largest marcomms agency.
– Senior Advisor, Corporate Communication for M&C Saatchi World Services.
– PR, Reputation & Content Manager @ averda, a leading environmental services company.
– Senior Manager, Group Corporate Communication @ Qatar Airways, Doha.
– Director @ Kroll, London, the risk and reputation management multinational.
– Producer @ MBC, London, the premier pan-Arab broadcaster.
Lina read towards an MA in Film & Television at the University of Westminster. She holds a BA in Business Administration from the American University of Beirut.

Sara Hteit is a journalist and trainer in the field of digital media in the Middle East and North Africa. She works with international institutions specialized in developing media skills for youth in the Arab region, such as the Deutsche Welle Academy, the FNF Foundation, UNESC, British Council and other organizations. Her training focuses on building the capacities of media professionals and journalists in several areas such as mobile journalism, storytelling, data journalism, script writing and media information literacy.
Sara is interested in keeping pace with technological development and its impact on the media, and works on covering issues related to refugees, women and marginalized groups in society.

Michael is the founder and Co-director of cewas. Throughout his +18 years of work experience, Michael has been an innovator, knowledge producer, trainer, facilitator and specialized water/food business development coach. Michael is a Geographer with minors in Business Administration and Transdisciplinary Environmental Sciences. As cewas’s Co-director, Michael has planned and conducted 100+ capacity development programmes for practitioners, decision makers and innovators, including 19 year-long specialized capacity building programmes and coaching of 200+ water, sanitation & waste entrepreneurs worldwide.