A lot of news this issue after a White House request for current BIP and LBFP contact information provided a chance to catch up with many of you!

Abeer Al-Zubaidi during LBFP

Abeer Al-Zubaidi (BIP 2005, Oman) and Dina Hegazy (BIP 2005, Egypt) were among the winners in World Busi­ness magazine’s “35 Women Under 35” contest seeking exceptional young businesswomen. An article providing their profiles and those of the other chosen women can be found at http://www.worldbusinesslive.com/search/article/763925/great-expectations/ and will also be posted shortly on the LBFP Alumnae Web site.

Widad Hanafi (BIP 2005, Morocco) was selected by CareerDubai, a recruitment and human resources company, to become Country Manager for their new Morocco division. Starting up the new division, she says that “I’m swamped with work and yet I really enjoy it as it’s what I have been looking for since I got back from the United States. Finally I’m getting engaged in new challenges and I have the opportunity to prove my skills.”

Widad also participated in monitoring Morocco’s legislative elections, held in early September. “Despite the low turnout…I was happy to see how transparent and organized our elections were this time,” she reports. “This experience was very beneficial to me as I might one day run for election.”

Dara Abdul Hadi (BIP 2004, Egypt) has opened her own advertising agency, dna. A Web site for the business is to be constructed at www.dna-eg.com. Dara has also recently married.

Ruba Nazer (BIP 2004, Jordan) also recently started her own company, Beanbag, which provides a wide range of concierge services. To quote from Beanbag’s profile, “We are simply in the business of selling ‘free time’…Beanbag staff will try their utmost to make any service a client may require happen—as long as it falls within the boundaries of ethics and legality….It is our job to make life as stress free as possible for our clients, and that can only be maintained as long as they have faith in us. With us it is personal!”

Samia Nasri (BIP 2005, Tunisia) has become a lawyer. She is currently interning in the Energy Department at Abdelly & Associates North Africa, a law firm with activities throughout the Magreb region. She works in their Energy Department, which is involved in such activities as establishment of oil companies, prospecting and exploration permits, and statutes related to the petroleum industry.

In other law-related news, Joelle Maalouf (BIP 2005, Lebanon) was accepted to the L.L.M. program at Georgetown University Law Center, Washington, DC, and is currently attending classes there.

Angelique Abboud (BIP 2005, Israel) recently left her position at Amdocs Israel to work as a business analyst and consultant for Telia Denmark, which is part of the TeliaSonera group and one of the leading telecommunications companies in Denmark.

Reem S. Al-Hajri (BIP 2005, Kuwait) has transferred within her company, KAMCO, moving to the Portfolio Management area within the Middle East North Africa Asset Management Division.

Lana Khachan (BIP 2004, Qatar) is working as a senior-level public relations officer in the Doha broadcast center of Al Jazeera English, the twenty-four-hour global news channel established as a sister channel to Arabic-language Al Jazeera.

Razan Darwish (BIP 2004, Oman) is now Director of International Offices for the country’s Ministry of Tourism, handling offices abroad that promote tourism in Oman.