Nofa Creative Space

When the conditions are not favorable, how do social entrepreneurs build something that lasts? This session brings together founders who have done exactly that; navigating funding gaps, shifting political landscapes, and communities that have been promised change before. They speak to the decisions that defined their organisations: when the funding model had to change, when the context shifted overnight, and when the communities they served needed more than what was available. What are the pillars that hold such models together through all of it?​

Speakers

Noor Althafeer Social Investment Manager, Alfanar Venture Philanthropy

Shahira Yahia Co-Founder & CMO, Chitosan Egypt

Samer Sfeir Co-Founder and Managing Director, ProAbled

Hosted By

Alfanar Venture Philanthropy

Nofa Creative Space

In Lebanon and Palestine, disruption to education is not the exception, it is the condition that an entire generation has grown up in. This session examines what equity in education actually means when two students sitting in the same grade are living through entirely different realities, and what Arab-built solutions are doing to close that gap. Organisations like Kamkalima and platforms like Yalla Nodrus have shown that technology, when it is designed from within the community and grounded in the realities of local classrooms, can do more when it protects continuity, restores stability, and keeps learning alive when everything else is uncertain.​

Speakers

Nayla Zreik Fahed Executive Director, Lebanese Alternative Learning

Rudayna Abdo Founder and CEO, Thaki

Nisrine El Makkouk Co-Founder and CEO, KamKalima

Riyam Kafri AbuLaban Senior Education Lead, Al Nayzak

Hosted By

Alfanar Venture Philanthropy

Nofa Creative Space

Food sovereignty and heritage crops sit at the intersection of culture, climate resilience, and economic independence across the Arab world. This session explores what it takes to protect indigenous seed varieties and food traditions while building viable, modern livelihoods around them. Starting with what food sovereignty actually means in practice across the region and what threatens it most today, then turning to the harder question of how a heritage crop or practice becomes commercially viable rather than only culturally valuable. It closes by asking what meaningful support from funders and investors would look like for this kind of work.​

Speakers

Jinan Sawahreh Founder, Dagon

Afif Wehbe Founder, Ardi Ardak

Andrew Collingwood Co-Managing Partner, Expectation State

Hosted By

Alfanar Venture Philanthropy

Nofa Creative Space

The Arab region produces vast amounts of research and lived evidence, but it stays scattered across universities, NGOs, and one-off studies that rarely reach each other or the people positioned to act on them. This session opens a working conversation on what it would take to build a regional think tank that turns that fragmented knowledge into a shared evidence base, shaped by the region's own priorities.​

Nofa Creative Space

Microfinance is one of the most established ways women across the region get access to capital, but the models vary widely. This panel puts practitioners running different microfinance structures in the same room to talk plainly about what's working, what isn't, and why. The conversation covers where models succeed, where they break down, the gaps that persist even in mature institutions, and what it would actually take to close them.​

Speakers

Alia Nazar-Farhat Partnerships Manager, AlMajmoua Microfund

Raya Rousan Partner and Jordan Country Director, Expectation State

Maha Al-Said CEO, Microfund for Women

Hosted By

Alfanar Venture Philanthropy

Nofa Creative Space

This session will spark the conversation on the basics of Islamic impact investment: what actually distinguishes it from conventional impact investing. It then turns to where this capital already flows: education, healthcare, climate, and microfinance, largely through vehicles like waqf-linked funds, before naming the opportunity directly. ​