Join us for an open conversation moderated by Mohammed Mahmoud, Director of the Climate and Water Program at the Middle East Institute, to discuss the added value of small and medium-sized enterprises in the agri value chain, with a focus on highlighting how innovative approaches can make groundbreaking climate technologies and services accessible to a wide range of beneficiaries, including smallholder farmers. Irene Boghdadi, Head of Entrepreneurship and MSME's at the Water and Energy for Food (WE4F) Middle East and North Africa Regional Innovation Hub (MENA RIH), will outline how WE4F supports such innovations through targeted technical assistance, catalytic finance, and tailored collaborations with the supported enterprises. Dr. Salma Bougarrani, who represents WE4F innovator Green WATECH from Morocco, will shed light on this relationship from her company’s perspective and elaborate on the transformational journey Green WATECH went through as part of their participation in WE4F.
Speakers
Irene Boghdadi
Head of Entrepreneurship and MSME's, Chemonics, WE4F
Dr. Salma Bougarrani
Co-Founder and CEO at Green WATECH
Mohammed Mahmoud, moderator
Director of the Climate and Water Program at the Middle East Institute
Detailed Speaker Biographies
Irene Boghdadi is the Head of Entrepreneurship and MSMEs in Chemonics Egypt since 2014 and supports technical assistance activities at the MENA RIH. For the last 11 years, she focused on the intersection of technical and business aspects of clean technologies. She worked on multiple studies including market analysis, policy, technology, value chain and clusters analysis and development in various recycling and renewable energy sub-sector. She co-established Egypt’s first incubation, acceleration and growth management programs in the clean technology markets and has advised over 100 startups and MSMEs working in the water-energy-food nexus from technical aspects to investment readiness. Irene holds a MSc Degree in Masters of Energy Systems Management.
Dr. Salma Bougarrani holds a PhD in advanced water treatment processes. She has extensive academic and applied experience in the water sector. A serial entrepreneur with over 8 years' experience working with small and large organizations, Salma has vast international work experience, including in China, Turkey, the UK, and the Middle East, in various facets of the water industry, including municipal plant operations for wastewater treatment, oxidation, photocatalysis, and water process engineering.
Mohammed Mahmoud is the Director of the Climate and Water Program at the Middle East Institute. His areas of expertise include climate change adaptation, water policy analysis, and scenario planning. Mahmoud has held leadership positions in several organizations. Mahmoud’s professional accomplishments include negotiating and formalizing a 10-year multi-state cloud seeding funding agreement between seven Colorado River Basin states, developing and implementing the first ever climate adaptation plan for a multi-county water district in Arizona, and helping secure a $1.1 million grant from NASA for Arizona State University to study the impacts of climate change on the hydrology of the Western United States. Mohammed has also conducted water management research and work for the Middle East and North Africa region.
Photo by SANDY HUFFAKER/AFP via Getty Images
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