A’laa joined Berytech in September 2020 as the Community Building Expert within The Generation of Innovation Leaders – a program by UNICEF managed by Berytech. She has 4 years of experience in managing communities locally and regionally.
She graduated from the American University of Beirut with a Bachelors degree in Psychology, and a minor in Business.
For three years at AUB, she was the President of the Entrepreneurship Club, where she mentored students in developing their startup ideas, organized practical trainings on entrepreneurial and digital skills. Her goal was to merge between the theories taught in the classrooms and the business world. A’laa set community partnerships with the entrepreneurial ecosystem and offered volunteering and internship opportunities for the members.
A’laa has four years of professional experience in development organization in the MENA Region, among which liaising entrepreneurs to networks, resources and knowledge to create a social impact for communities, business development and capacity building activities. She has an in-depth experience in mapping and analyzing startups ecosystems, working with funders and donors, and organizing events for social entrepreneurs in conflict cities. A’laa advocates for policies supporting SMEs and startups in the MENA region through active participation with the OECD at the Business Advisory Board, Youth Advisory Board, and MENA-OECD Economic Resilience Task Force.
In addition, she participated at 15 events as a keynote speaker and panelist, of them Emerging Valley, focusing on the power of youth and start-ups in changing the world, and the Mediterranean Women Digital Summit, highlighting the role of women in digital in the Lebanese entrepreneurial ecosystem.
In 2017, she founded WonderEd, an Education startup that focuses on teaching preschoolers the basics of coding through hands on activities and storytelling. With her team of early childhood educators, she has trained more than 400 little kids basic algorithms through activities that support the development of problem solving, logical reasoning, and analytical thinking skills.