FOUNDERS

Ms. Hala Bugaighis is a Libyan business lawyer with 15 years of experience in commercial law, petroleum law and international commercial agreements. She is highly regarded for her combination of strategic thinking and solution creation. Hala has a strong academic background in Libyan Law with sound understanding of international business laws.

Hala through her private companies has been contracted as a consultant to many international major companies and Libyan private and public entities where she worked in her capacity as a business lawyer and also on projects for developing organizations, capacity building, governance advisory services, and executive recruitment. She has strong entrepreneurial skills and heavily advocates promoting women inclusion in workforce and in business. Hala was recently nominated a UN Women Champion for Women Economic Empowerment.

Mrs. Ekram El Huni is a cross-disciplinary Libyan humanitarian professional who has worked in several Arab and African countries for 16 years. She is based in Beirut, Lebanon. Ekram has extensive UN experience and engagement with donors and NGOs. The most recent deployment was in 2013 and 2014 as WFP’s Head of Programme in Beirut whilst also acting as de-facto Deputy Country Director. In Lebanon, the operation was overwhelmingly cash & vouchers and became WFP’s largest voucher programme carried out using e-cards.

Technical qualifications include a Master of Arts (MA) with distinction in Development Economics with an emphasis on Food Security and Human Development, a Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Computer Science, and a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Business Administration as well as other relevant certificates. Her Masters dissertation covered the change in young Libyan women’s aspirations before and after 2011. Mother tongue Arabic, fluent English and Spanish, with working knowledge of French.