Shymaa Allam (38) is pursuing Doctorate studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston in the field of Global Inclusion and Social Development. She expects to graduate in 2023.

In 2014, Shymaa completed a Master’s in Sustainable International Development from Brandeis University, and has more than 15 years’ experience in Social Development and Financial Inclusion in Egypt and the Arab countries. She assisted in drafting Microfinance law for private sector companies; she worked as a policy development specialist at a USAID funded activity on Micro-Enterprise Finance (EMF); and she has coordinated many of Sanabel’s project (the Microfinance Network for Arab countries).

Shymaa’s current thesis is on “The impact of Microfinance regulations on empowering women in Egypt”, aims to map the challenges and opportunities for women within the Microfinance market in order to prevent over-indebtedness and other potential harm to women entrepreneurs.

Her future plan is to be an expert in poverty alleviation issues for women. She wants to continue analyzing the impact of economic policies on the welfare of women. She hopes to do this as a university staff member, so that she also has the opportunity to teach the next generation. In her words, she is “a woman, helping women, help women.”

In 2022 Shymaa published in the Journal of International Development: An evaluation of Egyptian microfinance laws and regulations preventing overindebtedness of women.

Shatha El nakib (28) is currently pursuing Doctorate studies in Public Health from Johns Hopkins University. Shatha’s focus is on sexual and reproductive health, specifically the impacts of child marriage and early childbearing among refugees in the Middle East and North Africa region, and how these effects are impacted in humanitarian settings. Shatha aims to graduate in 2022.

Born and raised in Egypt, Shatha completed premedical studies at the American University of Cairo in 2012, followed by a Master’s in Public Health with a specialization in Epidemiology at Columbia University in 2015.

While working at the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), Shatha was responsible for designing, planning and executing activities related to sexual and reproductive health and gender-based violence among refugees and host communities. At the Population Council in Cairo, Shatha worked with young people in rural Egypt, as well as garment workers in industrial zones on family planning, as well as assessing health services provided to Syrian refugees and Jordanians in Jordan. In addition to her professional experience, Shatha has held numerous volunteer positions, including in an NGO in Cairo that operates an orphanage, leading a micro-credit program, and working with mothers and children on increasing knowledge on gender-based violence, health and hygiene.

Upon completion of her PhD, Shatha will return to Egypt to work in the sexual and reproductive health space. Eventually she dreams of becoming Minister of Health where she could continue to have an enormous impact on the health of women and children.