Nabil Fahmy

CHAIRMAN

Nabil Fahmy is the former foreign minister of Egypt. He formulated a strategy to reorient Egypt’s foreign policy and restructured the ministry to better address the future challenges confronting Egypt.

During a distinguished diplomatic career over three decades, Fahmy served as Ambassador to the United States (1999-2008) and Japan (1997-1999), as Political Advisor to the Foreign Minister, and held numerous prominent national and international positions. His work on intergovernmental affairs focused on international and regional conflict resolution and security issues. He was the Head of the Egyptian Delegation to the Steering Committee of the Madrid Arab-Israeli peace conference, Chairman of the United Nations Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters, and Vice Chairman of the United Nations General Assembly’s first committee dealing with disarmament and international security. He also has numerous publications on regional security, governance, Arab-Israeli peace process, and Arab American relations in English and Arabic.

He is presently the Dean of the School of Global Affairs and Public Policy (GAPP) at the American University in Cairo which he founded in 2009.GAPP has become a Middle East voice of stellar caliber on topical issues of public affairs, law, journalism, as well as on Middle East, refugees, and gender studies.

Fahmy is also currently a member of the International Advisory Board of CHUBB Insurance, which is based in the United States.

He has been awarded a number of honorary doctorate degrees for his public service and holds a master’s degree in management and a bachelor degree in Physics and Mathematics, both from the American University in Cairo.

Waguih Hanafi

MANAGING PARTNER

Waguih Hanafi served 40 years in government and brings a wide-ranging experience focusing on diplomacy, legal and legislative affairs. He has deep expertise in international legal treaties and contracts, as well as international arbitration and the Law of the Sea matters.

Throughout his career, Waguih served, twice, as the Legal Advisor to the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, from 1991-1998 and 2008-2011. He was the Assistant Secretary General for Legal Affairs at the League of Arab States (2011-2016). Waguih also served as Egypt’s Ambassador to the Netherlands (1998-2002) and Norway (2004-2008). He was a member of Egypt’s Permanent Missions to the United Nations in Geneva and New York for eight years in total.

Waguih holds an L.L.M in International Legal Studies from New York University (1991) and a Bachelor of Law from Cairo University (1973).

Karim Haggag

SENIOR ADVISOR

Karim Haggag advises clients on means of positioning as a trusted partner to Egypt. He is lead consultant on LYNX accounts with strategic investors pursuing investment opportunities in Egypt.

With more than 25 years in government, Karim brings a diverse experience focusing on diplomacy, policy analysis, communications, strategic planning, as well as research and academia. Throughout his career, he has served in numerous capacities including as Director of the Egyptian Press and Information Office in Washington D.C. From 2002-2007, he served in the Office of the Presidency in Cairo where he was responsible for economic policy coordination, and in the political section of Egypt’s Embassy in Washington D.C. (1997-2002), where he was responsible for politico-military affairs and the Middle East peace process. In addition to his diplomatic assignments, Karim was a visiting professor with the Near East and South Asia Centre for Strategic Studies at the National Defence University in Washington D.C. (2011-2013), where he focused on the politics of the Arab revolutions and the security implications of the post-revolutionary transitions. He is a graduate of the American University in Cairo and has earned a master’s degree in War Studies from King’s College in London. He is currently a professor of practice at the American University in Cairo’s School of Global Affairs and Public Policy.

Mohamed Hanafi

MANAGING DIRECTOR

Mohamed Hanafi oversees the firm’s day-to-day operations and support to its clients. He advises clients on means of navigating Egypt’s policy and regulatory framework in their sectors of interest and addressing business challenges in Egypt.

Prior to this position, Mohamed served 15 years in the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and brings a diverse experience focusing on diplomacy, communications, and policy analysis. During his service at the foreign ministry, he served in numerous capacities including as the Director for the Egypt Vision 2030 Coordination Unit (January- October 2018), Chief of Staff at the Bureau for International and Regional Multilateral Economic Affairs (October 2017- October 2018), as well as Private Secretary and Media Advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs (2011-2013). Prior to his service in government, he was the Political/Projects Officer at the British Embassy in Cairo (2002-2004). Mohamed is a graduate of Webster University (Leiden campus), with a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations and Media Communications (2001). He holds an LL.M. in Public International Law from Leiden University, the Netherlands (2002).

ROLA KABBANI

SENIOR CONSULTANT

Rola Kabbani has 16 years of experience in the consultancy field working as the Regional Advisor in a private asset management company operating mainly in the European Markets.

Rola’s experience lies in performing hedging, financial modeling, financial analysis, and risk-tolerance assessments to advise high-net-worth clients on investment strategies.

In addition, Rola is an Assistant Professor of Finance and Economics at the German International University with more than 14 years in the academic field. Rola enjoys publishing academic articles and regularly presenting in international conferences.

Rola graduated from the Faculty of Economics and Political Science at Cairo University. She continued her postgraduate studies at the German University in Cairo where she earned both her MBA degree and her PhD specialized in Financial Economics.

Afaf Emad

Senior Administrative Assistant

Afaf is in charge of the administrative and financial affairs at LYNX. She also supports the LYNX team on monitoring economic developments and conducting basic research for clients. Prior to joining LYNX, Afaf participated in a number of government-driven educational initiatives, including supporting the organization of the Egyptian "Science Day" in 2017 and the inauguration of the Leadership Development Program at Helwan University. She holds a Bachelor's Degree from the Faculty of Tourism and Hotel Management at Helwan University (French Department).

Yasmine Elgarf

CONSULTANT

Yasmine Elgarf is an international development consultant, with more than nine years of professional experience working with several prominent development organizations and donors across the MENA region, including World Bank Group, UN Women, GIZ and Oxfam.

Throughout her career, Yasmine has worked on a wide range of projects covering several areas of international development, including investment promotion, economic empowerment, employment and migration, among others, where her assignments focused on program design, program implementation, performance management and capacity building. Her projects have included an impact evaluation study of the UN Women microfinance programme in Jordan’s poverty pockets, an investment reform map for the Basra Investment Commission in Iraq and a baseline assessment for GIZ's Labor Market Access project in Egypt.

Yasmine holds a Bachelor in Economics and International Relations from the American University in Cairo and a Masters of International Affairs in Economic and Political Development from Columbia University in New York.

Ziad Ahmed

Accounting and Administrative Affairs Officer

Ziad is a junior accountant at LYNX. He also supports LYNX’s clients in their engagement with government authorities to issue permits and licenses. Ziad holds a bachelor's degree in financial accounting.

Farah Abouzeid

Business Affairs Associate

Farah is a Business Affairs Associate at LYNX. She works on both, economic analysis and business development. Prior to joining LYNX, Farah was a Business Development Associate Manager at a Market Research agency where she acquired diverse insight on several industries. She worked with different sectors including FMCGs, retail, and real estate.

Farah holds a BA in Political Science with a double specialization in International Relations and Middle East studies from the American University in Cairo (AUC), while minoring in History. She also spent a year studying Political Science at Florida International University (FIU).

Ibrahim Hammam

Economic Policy Analyst

Ibrahim Hammam is an Economic Policy Analyst at LYNX, responsible for researching and monitoring economic policies and regulatory developments and analyzing their impact on the private sector, particularly the clients of Lynx. Ibrahim also contributes to developing policy recommendations to corporate clients in various sectors, including the energy, e-commerce and fintech sectors.

Ibrahim brings experience from international development finance institutions, with a focus on projects in the energy and banking sectors, providing research, monitoring, and analysis on evolving technologies and their suitability for projects, and on market dynamics. Furthermore, Ibrahim brings experience from the private sector, in real estate consulting and research, providing data and monitoring evolving market regulations.

Ibrahim holds a B.A. in Political Science from the American University in Cairo (AUC) and a Certificate of Higher Education in International Relations from the University of Edinburgh. During his academic career, Ibrahim conducted and published academic research papers and articles in the fields of Political Science, International Relations, History, and Renewable Energy. Ibrahim is fluent in Arabic, French, English, and Spanish providing him the ability to communicate and work effectively with people from different backgrounds.

Nadine El Nashar

Economic Policy Analyst

Nadine is an Economic Policy Analyst at LYNX, responsible for conducting comprehensive analysis on evolving regulations and policies of relevance to LYNX’s clients. Nadine also contributes to advising LYNX’s clients on means of navigating the Egyptian market and engaging with key stakeholders. She brings experience as an analyst in questions related to data privacy and data protection regulations.

Nadine holds a double BA in Economics from both Cairo University and Université Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne. While at Cairo University, she minored in Political Sciences and interned in the Central Bank of Egypt. Interested in economic development and public policy, Nadine further pursued her post-grad studies in France’s Université Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne from which she holds a Master 1 in Development Economics and a Masters’ degree in Applied Economics with specialization in Public Policy.

MONA EL GARF

SENIOR CONSULTANT

Mona El Garf (Ph.D) is a Senior Consultant on Economic and Competition Issues, with years of experience in both the government and private sector as well as academia. Mona served as the Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the Egyptian Competition Authority (ECA/May 2012-May 2018).

Mona also served as a Board Member on a number of government and independent entities, including the Consulting Committee on Anti- Dumping Duties (Ministry of Trade and Industry/ 2012- June 2019), the Supreme Council for Media Regulations, (2017- 2018), the Egyptian Gas Regulatory Authority (February 2018-May 2018), and the Egyptian Electric Utility and Consumer Protection Regulatory Agency (Egyptera/ Ministry of Electricity, 2016- 2018).

She also served as the Lead Economist and Trade Agreements Advisor to the Egyptian Minister of Trade and Industry (August 2004 - April 2011), during which she provided high-level and strategic advice on international, regional and national trade policy matters. She was a senior member of the Egyptian negotiating team on agricultural trade as well as services trade liberalization matters with the European Union. She was also a member of the negotiating team on the Egypt-EU Action Plan under the European Neighborhood Policy 2006-2010). She is a Professor of Economics at the Faculty of Economics and Political Science at Cairo University, since 2009.

Ramzy Ezzeldin Ramzy

Senior Associate

Ambassador Ramzy’s diplomatic career spans over 43 years in which he served in the United Nations, the League of Arab States and the Egyptian diplomatic service. His latest assignment was as United Nations Assistant Secretary-General and Deputy Special Envoy for Syria (2014-2019). His 38 year career at the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs culminated in the position of Senior Under-Secretary. He served as Ambassador to Germany, Austria ,Brazil, Slovakia, Suriname and Guyana.

He was Permanent Representative to UN and other international organizations in Vienna ,where he was Governor on the IAEA Board, as well as Permanent Observer to the OSCE. He also served as League of Arab States Permanent Observer to the UN and other international organizations in Vienna. He was a speaker at various international fora amongst which: Sir Bani Yas, the Manama Dialogues, the Beirut Summit, the Valdai Club, the Korber Foundation, the Munich Security Conference and the Middle East Institute .His op-ed articles appeared in the leading Arabic language newspaper Al Sharq AlAwsat, two leading Egyptian newspapers: Almasry Alyoum and Alshorouk.

HUSSEIN ELGHAZZAWY

SENIOR ENERGY AND INDUSTRY CONSULTANT

Hussein El Ghazzawy is an energy executive leader with more than 30 years of experience with Schlumberger where he held several managerial, operational, technology and strategic marketing roles. He led during his Schlumberger career several innovative, mega integrated projects, multi-discipline, multinational teams in multiple countries across Middle East, Asia, North, East & West Africa.

Hussein served as Schlumberger President for the United Arab Emirates from (2010-2016) and President for Egypt, South Sudan & East Mediterranean from (2016- 2018). Hussein joined Eurasia Oil Services from (2019-2020) as President for the Middle East and Africa Region based between Cairo, Dubai and Moscow. He was appointed in April 2020 as the Chief Executive Officer for Evergrow for Specialty Fertilizers based in Cairo, Egypt.

Hussein is a member of the Oil &Gas and Power committees of the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt and he is the head of the Energy Committee for ‘EABA’ Egyptian African Businessmen’s Association. Hussein holds a Master’s degree in Petroleum Geology from Ain Shams University.

He is also a member of the ‘IAB’ Industry Advisor Board for Petroleum Engineering Department at the American University in Cairo.

AMIRA EL MAZNI

SENIOR LNG, GAS AND REGULATIONS CONSULTANT

Engineer Amira El Mazni is a Director on the Board of Egypt’s Gas Regulatory Authority. Amira served in numerous capacities in Egypt’s oil and gas sectors, including as Vice Chairman for Gas Regulatory Affairs in the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company, EGAS (2015-2017). She also led the Oil and Gas Hub Strategy team (Program # 6 of Egypt’s Oil and Gas Sector Modernization Project) (2016-2017).

During her work in EGAS, she managed the joint working groups for EU-funded Energy Sector Policy Support Program and represented the Petroleum Sector in the Technical Steering Committee of the beneficiaries. She was secretary for EGAS’ LNG Sales Committee and Egypt’s representative in the Steering Committee for Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF); also EGAS/EGPC representative in the West Delta Deep Marine Co-Sellers Committee, as well as co-secretary of the Steering Committee for Damietta LNG train 2 project. Her previous responsibilities in the Planning & Projects Division in EGAS included participating in gas price and subsidy reform studies funded by the World Bank, participating in developing the energy pillar of Egypt’s Sustainable Development Strategy 2030, among others. Prior to joining EGAS in 2005, she worked for Engineering for the Petroleum and Process Industries (ENPPI).

Amira earned her BSc. in Chemical Engineering from Cairo University in 1981. She’s a Certified Quality Auditor and holds a Diploma in Human Resources Management

EMAD HASSAN

SENIOR CLEAN ENERGY AND SUSTAINABILITY CONSULTANT

Emad Hassan is a clean energy professional with 35 years of global experiences in the energy efficiency and renewable energy development fields. He combines the skills of managing and implementing multi-disciplined development programs with the ability to link with other development agencies and Government counterparts to develop enabling sustainable policies.

Hassan spent half of his energy career in the US, developing and implementing market programs to promote cleaner energy applications in different consuming sectors with different business models and 3rd party involvement (ESCO approach). During the other half of his career, he took the US experience to global dissemination where he provided advisory and consulting services in support of increasing the reach of cleaner energy applications and the development of enabling policy agendas and strategies.

Emad provided consulting support to different multilateral and bilateral development agencies such as USAID, UNDP, GIZ, EBRD and the World Bank in 5 continents. He holds a Masters degree in Architecture & Urban Planning from UCLA.

NERMINE ABOU GAZIA

Senior Consultant

With over 25 years of experience in education management in Egypt and the Middle East, Nermine Abou Gazia established herself as a leading champion of STEM education in the region. Over the past ten years, she has successfully positioned Al Alfi Foundation for Human and Social Development (AAF) as one of the leading regional NGOs in educational development. Her approach inspires people to challenge existing mindsets and behaviors in order to excite them about the potential and opportunities that can come with adopting new learning.

Nermine’s current passion is in using entrepreneurship as a pathway to sustainable economic growth and job creation; to fulfil this aim she has established ‘The STEM Innovation and Entrepreneurship Program at AAF and implemented a holistic strategy that aims to build STEM capacity over the entire Egyptian educational spectrum starting from K-12, undergraduate, and graduate students to educators and administrators. She has proven herself adept at creating synergistic partnerships particularly with Egyptian education ministries and state institutions to ensure programme success and effectiveness. In 2007, she gained the distinction of being the first Egyptian women to be nominated in the Fortune/State Department’s Global Women’s Mentoring Leadership Programme where she was one of 20 women worldwide selected for in-depth mentoring and professional development.

Moataz Yeken

Senior Consultant

Moataz Yeken is a seasoned economic development and investment expert with more than 22 years of experience with prominent national and international organizations, including the Ministries of Economy and Foreign Trade, the Cabinet Information and Decision Support Center (IDSC), the General Authority for Free Zones and Investment (GAFI) and the World Bank. He culminated his career in the government serving as the Senior Advisor to the Minister of Investment and International Cooperation. Moataz is currently advising several UN agencies on topics including “Financing for Development” and “Economic and Financial Resilience”. Throughout his career he participated in designing, implementing and evaluating several regional and national projects in the domains of integrated economic development, promoting private sector led growth and supporting small and medium enterprises as well as infrastructure.

He has long standing expertise in public policy, private sector development, MSMEs and international finance and development cooperation, which allows him to provide high-level policy analysis, strategic decision support consultation and market intelligence.

Moataz holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Cairo University and an MBA from Maastricht School of Management. He earned executive certificates in strategic management, Fintech and Digital Strategy from Chicago Booth School of Business, Oxford University and MIT Sloan School of Management.

Engy Basiouny

Director of Government Affairs

Engy is the Director of Government Affairs at LYNX, leading the firm’s engagement with government agencies to achieve the clients’ priorities. She is an expert on e-mobility, technology, pharmaceuticals, development, and government affairs. Prior to joining LYNX, Engy was the former Director of Government Relations at Careem Egypt where she led the company ‘s efforts to develop Egypt’s ride hailing industry.

She is the former Market Access and Public Affairs Manager at Novo Nordisk Egypt (2015-2020) where she enhanced the company’s engagement with the Ministry of Health and other government authorities to achieve mutual priorities, and former Head of the Trade Council at the Embassy of Denmark in Egypt.

Furthermore, Engy is a former Economic Researcher at the Egyptian Ministry of International Cooperation, and member of Minister Fayza Aboulnaga’s Technical Office where she supported the Ministry’s efforts to negotiate and conclude agreements pertaining to national projects, including the Great Egyptian Museum, the Egyptian-Japanese University for Science and Technology (E-JUST), the Cairo Metro (Line3), and a sizable fund to demine and develop the Egyptian North Coast.

Ganna Mohamed

Economic Researcher

Ganna is an Economic Researcher at LYNX, responsible for conducting extensive economic research using methods of quantitative and qualitative analyzing and modelling to provide policy analysis to LYNX's clients. Ganna is also responsible for developing thematic, and periodical reports for the clients.

Ganna holds a Bachelor's Degree in Economics from Cairo University, where she majored in Economics and minored in Statistics. Throughout her academic experience, she interned at the Egyptian Competition Authority, as well as the Arab Planning Institute in Kuwait, where she conducted several economic analyses with other team members.