Announcements

Dear ABANA Members, Stakeholders, Donors, and Community,

ABANA and the ABANA Foundation are proud to announce the 2025 Cohort of John Mack ABANA Fellows (listed below). We cherish this opportunity to advance our shared mission of elevating the next generation of business and finance leaders with ties to the Middle East and North Africa. We would like to take this moment to celebrate these fellows as exemplars of the people and values that continue to shape our work.

This fellowship was established in honor of John Mack, whose trailblazing career in finance and deep ties to the Middle East embody the highest standards of professional integrity, leadership, and global understanding. His guiding principle of doing “first-class business in a first-class way” continues to inspire the work of ABANA and the Foundation alike. We are grateful to the Mack family for their enduring support and vision in making this fellowship a reality.

This year’s fellows were selected through a rigorous process from a highly competitive pool of over 50 applicants representing dozens of the nation’s top business schools. We are confident that the five selected fellows will contribute meaningfully to our community and the MENA region alike. Please join us in welcoming them to ABANA at events this summer and beyond.

The ABANA Foundation is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing educational and professional opportunities for rising talent across our network and beyond. Through the Fellowship and other impact-driven programs, the Foundation supports a pipeline of emerging leaders committed to strengthening ties between the U.S. and MENA regions. The Foundation operates in close collaboration with ABANA, our 501(c)(6) professional membership association. Together, we are proud to build on a 42-year legacy of leadership and service.

Please take a moment to read about the backgrounds and accomplishments of this year’s Fellows below. For more information on this program, please contact us at fellowship@abana.co.

With Sincere Thanks,
ABANA and the ABANA Foundation

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Amine is a strategy consultant specializing in foreign direct investment and economic development. He began his career at EY-Parthenon before founding his own boutique consulting firm. Throughout his career, he has advised ministries, prime ministerial offices, investment agencies, and private sector leaders across the Middle East and Africa.

Working at the nexus of the public and private sectors, he supports clients in designing national and regional economic strategies, identifying high-impact investment opportunities, and building robust business cases to attract private capital – particularly in the manufacturing sector, where he sees strong potential for job creation and sustainable growth. He has also advised international financial institutions on investment strategies in the region and actively promotes the Middle East and Africa as key destinations for foreign direct investment.

Amine is also an active member of the World Economic Forum and the Global Shapers Community, where he has led initiatives at the intersection of economic inclusion, future skills, and entrepreneurship – helping underserved communities access education, professional opportunities, and digital tools to participate in a global economy.

Amine is fluent in English, Arabic, and French. He holds a Master’s in Industrial Engineering from École Nationale Polytechnique and École Centrale Paris (CentraleSupélec), and will be pursuing an MBA at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

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Fady Shokry is the Head of Business Development at Orascom Services, overseeing the company’s strategic initiatives to expand into new revenue streams and develop the existing core businesses. Fady joined Orascom Services in 2021 and built the business development department from scratch. He participated in restructuring the company, building the new Orascom Services brand, and devising the company’s development strategy. Together with his team, they secured new dealerships and key expansions for the company’s operations. He is also currently an MBA candidate at Harvard Business School.

Fady holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Business from the University of Chicago where he attended on a fully-funded scholarship. He is a recipient of the Onsi Sawiris Scholarship Program and is still an active member in the scholarship community.

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Geo Saba was the Chief of Staff for Representative Ro Khanna, who represents Silicon Valley. He previously was the Congressman’s Legislative Director and National Security Advisor. Geo helped Rep. Khanna pass five bills into law and spearhead his Yemen War Powers Resolution. He is a Council on Foreign Relations Term Member, Aspen Strategy Group Rising Leader, a CNAS Next Gen Fellow, and Schmidt Futures ISF Fellow. He was a Gates Cambridge Scholar and received an MPhil in International Relations at Cambridge University. He played varsity baseball at Stanford University, where he was a research assistant for former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and graduated Phi Beta Kappa with honors in International Security Studies. He is now a JD/MBA Candidate at Stanford University.

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Rose Farah is an MBA candidate at Harvard Business School (HBS). Before HBS, Rose was a member of the investment advisory team at CrossBoundary in Dubai and London. Earlier in her career, Rose was a strategy consultant at The Bridgespan Group in New York and Singapore, where she helped launch the firm’s presence in Southeast Asia. She graduated from Duke University as a Robertson Scholar.

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Rowa Eltohami is a Sudanese-Canadian MBA/MA in International Studies candidate at the Wharton School and the Lauder Institute, and holds a BA from Columbia University. Her work spans strategy consulting, entrepreneurship, and international development, with a commitment to enabling access to education and helping build systems that center African and Middle Eastern voices in global conversations.

Most recently, Rowa worked as a Summer Consultant at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in the Brooklyn office, where she advised retail media clients on strategy projects at the intersection of digital marketing and AI. Prior to Wharton, she led development finance initiatives at the SDG Center for Africa in Rwanda, partnering with governments and development finance institutions to design innovative financing tools–such as SDG bonds–to help accelerate progress in education and health outcomes.

Rowa is also the founder of an Edtech platform that helps students secure funding and admissions to top global study opportunities. In parallel, she helped build Sudan’s leading record label, creating pathways for Sudanese artists to reach international audiences and positioning music as a vehicle for diplomacy and economic opportunity in the region.

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