Professional History: Ahmed Zahran is the co-founder and CEO of KarmSolar, an Egyptian company established in 2011, that aims to move communities away from centralized power to sustainable, localized, and independent alternatives. KarmSolar has won several technology competitions and become Egypt’s largest private off-grid solar integrator and one of the leading companies in solar energy applications in the country.

Ahmed worked for Shell as a financial adviser to the European Emissions Trading System. He then worked at the Egypt Kuwait Holding Company as the business development manager for renewable energy and clean development mechanisms, establishing the company’s carbon trading and renewable energy business. Ahmed is also co-founder and a former board director of Nahdet El Mahrousa, one of the largest youth-run NGOs in Egypt, which works as an incubator.

In 2020, The Africa Report named him to the annual Top 50 Disruptors list.

Academic and professional credentials: Bachelor of Business Administration from AUC
MSc in economics from the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies
Diploma in philosophy and literature from the European College of Liberal Arts in Berlin
Certificate in social entrepreneurship from the Stanford Graduate School of Business

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