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Habib Haddad

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Habib Haddad
Born1980 (age 43–44)
EducationBSAmerican University in Beirut,MS,University of Southern California,
OccupationE14 Fund
Awards2009Young Global Leader,[1]2011Top Innovator under 35,[2]

Habib Haddad(born 1980) is a serial entrepreneur and early stage investor. He is currently the president and managing director of theE14 Fundthat invests in spin-offs fromMIT.[3]Prior to that Habib has spent his career in startups as a founder and early employee.

He has been named by the World Economic Forum as a Young Global Leader in 2009 and as a top innovator under 35 (TR35) by theMIT Technology Review.

He has also been an activist on various social issues in the Middle East.[4][5][6][7][8]Haddad's work in the MENA region is credited with playing a key role in strengthening its entrepreneurship ecosystem.[9][10][11][12][13]

Education

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Haddad holds a Bachelor of Computer and Communication Engineering from the American University in Beirut and a master's degree inelectrical engineeringfrom the University of Southern California.

Career

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Haddad is currently the president and managing director of theE14 Fundthat invests in spin-offs from MIT.[14]

In 2004, Haddad was a founding engineer at an image based modeling software company Mok3 (now Everyscape) as a venture backed spinoff from MIT CSAIL, where he served until 2005 and joined ATI as a senior software engineer.

In 2007, Haddad foundedYamli,that was acquired by Yahoo! in 2012.[15][16][17][18]

From 2012 to 2016, he was the founding CEO of Wamda, a platform of programs and networks that aims to accelerate entrepreneurship ecosystems across theMENAregion.[19][20][21]He also served as a venture partner of Wamda Capital, a growth capital VC fund, with investments in startups like taxi-hailing appCareemandLittleBits[22][23]

Activism

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In 2006, he founded Relief Lebanon to supportrelief effortsduring the2006 warin Lebanon. The grass root effort was featured by the "101 Stories to Tell" initiative by the UNDP in February 2009.[24]

In 2009, Haddad along with two other Middle East technology entrepreneurs, founded, YallaStartup, a non-governmental organization that aims to foster early stage entrepreneurship and startup creation.[25][26]It was one of the first support organizations for MENA Entrepreneurs.[27]

In 2011 he co-created Alive.in, a website that brought 1000 volunteers to transcribe and translate voicemails from the Egyptian protesters after the government shutdown of the internet.[4]He started the company when Google and Twitter launched a project to allow people to leave a voice mail that will be then put on Twitter, Haddad came up with an idea to crowd source translation of those voices in real time from Arabic to other languages.[5][6][7][8]

Awards

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  • 2009: TheWorld Economic Forumrecognized[1]Haddad as a Young Global Leader. 30 under 30 Most Powerful Arabs, Arabian Business.[28]
  • 2011: Named as a Top Innovator under 35 (TR35) by theMIT Technology Review.[2]
  • 2009, 2015: Distinguished Alumni Award, American University of Beirut.[29][30]
  • 2013: TheArab Thought Foundationawarded him the "Arab Creativity Award". The same year theAmerican University Beiruthonoured the entrepreneur as a distinguished alum.[31]
  • 2012: Young Entrepreneur Award, Takreem
  • 2015: Most powerful 100 Arabs under 40,Arabian Business.[32]
  • 2016: American University of Beirut counts him among 150 AUB History Makers for the university's 150-year anniversary.[33]
  • 2024: 10 Very Important Humans beyond Boston's AI revolution[34]

Leadership

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  • Member of theTechnology Pioneersselection committeeof the World Economic Forum (2013–present)
  • Co-Chair World Economic Forum Summit on the Middle East & North Africa (2011)[35]
  • Vice Chair of the Global Agenda Council on Entrepreneurship (2013), Member of to the Global Agenda Council on Innovation (2014–2015) – World Economic Forum
  • Member of the World Economic Forum Global Future Council on Systems and Platforms (2016–present)[36]
  • Academy Member,Global Teacher Prize
  • Advisory Board Member,Faculty of Engineering and Architecture,American University of Beirut

References

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  1. ^ab"Yamli Founder Habib Haddad on World Economic Forum's 2009 Young Global Leader List".Reuters.2009-02-25.Retrieved2016-02-02.[dead link]
  2. ^ab"MIT Technology Review: Innovators Under 35 Pan Arab".mitefarab.org.Archived fromthe originalon 2016-02-07.Retrieved2016-02-02.
  3. ^"Under the Patronage of HRH Prince Salman Bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Bahrain Award for Entrepreneurship Reveals Names of Jury Committee Members".Highbeam.2017-03-18. Archived fromthe originalon 2017-11-07.
  4. ^ab"Interview with NBC on Egypt internet shutdown".pioneers.themarknews.Retrieved2016-02-02.
  5. ^ab"Keynote Speaker: Habib Haddad".hbku.edu.qa.8 September 2016.Retrieved2017-04-15.
  6. ^abSHAREBeirut 2012 - Habib Haddad: Yamli,2013-12-18,archivedfrom the original on 2021-12-20,retrieved2017-04-15
  7. ^abJordan 2011 - Addressing the Employment Challenge / Introducing the Global Shapers,2011-10-26,archivedfrom the original on 2021-12-20,retrieved2017-04-15
  8. ^ab"Friend of Wael Ghonim, missing Google exec, calls for volunteers in Cairo to search for him".LA Times Blogs - Technology.2011-02-01.Retrieved2017-04-15.
  9. ^"Lebanese Entrepreneurs Are Coming Home, and Bringing Billions".Archived fromthe originalon 2017-05-17.Retrieved2017-04-15.
  10. ^"WAMDA: Inspiring, Empowering and Connecting Entrepreneurs in the MENA Region".nextbillion.net.Retrieved2017-04-15.
  11. ^Schroeder, Christopher M. (2013-08-13).Startup Rising: The Entrepreneurial Revolution Remaking the Middle East.St. Martin's Press.ISBN9781137356710.
  12. ^Anderson, Brooke (2011-02-14)."Inspiring Entrepreneurs in the Mideast".Wall Street Journal.ISSN0099-9660.Retrieved2017-04-15.
  13. ^"United Arab Emirates: Du announces Wamda as Knowledge Partner for 'The Entrepreneur'".Highbeam.2012-04-11. Archived fromthe originalon 2018-02-19.
  14. ^"Portfolio".[permanent dead link]
  15. ^Butcher, Mike (28 May 2012)."Yahoo! Licenses Platform To Reach Out To The Arab Web".TechCrunch.Retrieved2016-02-02.
  16. ^"Lebanese launch Arabic search engine.(Company overview)".Highbeam.The Daily Star (Lebanon).2008-01-12. Archived fromthe originalon 2018-02-18.
  17. ^"Search Engine Helps Users Connect In Arabic".NPR.org.Retrieved2017-04-15.
  18. ^Butcher, Mike (28 May 2012)."Yahoo! Licenses Platform To Reach Out To The Arab Web".TechCrunch.Retrieved2017-04-15.
  19. ^"Habib Haddad".Highbeam.The Middle East. 2011-10-01. Archived fromthe originalon 2018-08-02.
  20. ^"Technology- the Rise of the 'Big Vc'".Highbeam.Gulf Business. 2014-07-13. Archived fromthe originalon 2018-08-02.
  21. ^"Too Few Women in Business: Experts".Highbeam.The Daily Star (Lebanon).2015-02-27. Archived fromthe originalon 2018-08-02.
  22. ^"Wamda Capital".
  23. ^"Wamda Capital Launches $75 Million Growth Stage Venture Fund".Highbeam.CPI Financial. 2015-07-05. Archived fromthe originalon 2017-10-29.
  24. ^"Yamli's Habib Haddad: Young People in the Middle East Are Ready to Innovate - Knowledge@Wharton".Knowledge@Wharton.Retrieved2017-05-31.
  25. ^"A boost for entrepreneurs".The National.Retrieved2017-05-31.
  26. ^"Start-up support network launched".The National.Retrieved2017-05-31.
  27. ^Robehmed, Natalie."Yalla Startup - pg.10".Forbes.Archived fromthe originalon August 25, 2013.
  28. ^"30 Under 30".Arabian Business.Retrieved2017-04-15.
  29. ^"Habib HADDAD - European Forum Alpbach".European Forum Alpbach.Retrieved2017-05-31.
  30. ^"Conference Supporters"(PDF).Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 2020-03-13.
  31. ^"AUB - 2013 - Eight outstanding alumni honored by Faculty of Engineering and Architecture".aub.edu.lb.Archived fromthe originalon 2017-02-12.Retrieved2016-02-02.
  32. ^"Revealed: 100 Most Powerful Arabs Under 40".Arabian Business.Retrieved2017-04-15.
  33. ^"History Makers".150.aub.edu.lb.Retrieved2017-04-15.
  34. ^Lewis, Wyndham (2024-03-25)."10 Very Important People Behind Boston's AI Revolution".Boston Magazine.Retrieved2024-04-16.
  35. ^"World Economic Forum urges action for growth, jobs in Middle East".Retrieved2017-04-15.
  36. ^"The Future of Platforms and Systems".World Economic Forum.Retrieved2017-04-15.