Dr Noura Youssef Mansouri began studying for her first degree at the age of just 15. Since then, the young Saudi Arabian academic has received a BSc (Hons) from Dar Al-Hekma University, Jeddah, along with an MBA as well as a PhD on various aspects of Clean Energy from Queen Mary, University of London. Shortly after completing her studies, Dr Noura’s PhD thesis was published as the book, Greening The Black Gold: Saudi Arabia's Quest for Clean Energy.

Since 1997, MBI Al Jaber Foundation alumnus, Ibrahim Natil, has launched and managed more than 56 human rights, women’s empowerment, and peacebuilding programmes… successfully raising funds for some of these initiatives from well-known donors, such as the European Commission, OFID, WFD, MBI and MEPI amongst others. In addition, Ibrahim is the leader of an international campaign to defend the rights of displaced communities in the Gaza Strip.

Samah Al-Safadi is an internationally recognized educational expert with more than many years experience of working with bilingual children and developing teaching programmes related to special education, learning difficulties, family counselling and child psychology, in both London and the Middle East. As a Special Education Consultant at the King Fahd Academy, and Founder and Head of the Princess FADWA Centre for Special Needs and Learning Difficulties in London, Samah has served, advised and counselled hundreds of families and children. Currently, she is working as a Senior Consultant at the Tamayuz Center in Riyadh.

Fahmia was born in a remote Yemeni village where girls did not receive secondary education. She began her schooling in a one-room hut at the top of a mountain;  there were no tables or chairs, just a cold bare floor to sit on. Today she holds an MA in International Relations from the University of Westminster... and has held a number of hugely influential and socially important jobs all over the world. Here she tells us about this epic journey in her own words.

After graduating from her BSc in Agriculture at the University of Khartoum in 1999, Nada continued her studies by taking a course in Computer Sciences at Omdurman Ahlia University... before studying for her MSc in Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology at Westminster University in 2002. She is currently researching the use of bio-fertilisers as a way of preventing ecological hazards.

Alaa Rady has enjoyed hugely successful positions at some of the biggest countries in the world, he has studied at some of the best schools... and made a name for himself as a savvy entrepreneur and angel investor. Here he tells us about this extraordinary story in his own words.

Tariq is an assistant lecturer of radiation oncology at the Radiology Department, the Mosul College of Medicine. He lectures to undergraduate students at the Mosul College of Medicine, MSc Medical Physics (Radioisotopes and Radioactivity) students and MSc students and Diploma students from the College of Dentistry (Radiation protection). Part of his income goes to helping poor patients receive free treatment.

After completing an MA in Diplomatic Studies, Ibrahim founded Society Voice Foundation (SVF) in Palestine: a non-profit, non-governmental and non-partisan organization launched to empower Palestinian civil society. Read on to learn all about his work in peace building, good governance, women empowerment and democracy throughout the region.

After graduating in 2010, Abdul took a job as a Budgeting and Planning Manager with Shihab Insurance & Trading Agencies, Ltd, the 2nd largest FMCG Company in Yemen. In the future, he hopes to become a highly-skilled financial analyst and set-up his own financial consulting firm, but in the meantime is acquiring as much experience as possible to develop the necessary skills for his business to be a success.

Talented Jordanian-Colombian musician and composer Tarek Younis (Tarek Younes Afana) was born in Riyadh, KSA in 1975. After moving to Amman, Jordan, in 1979, he began learning to play the piano and compose music.  This has proved to be the beginning of a very illustrious musical career. At present, Tarek is the Head of Music at the Haya Cultural Center in Amman.