Abeer Abu Ghaith
Abeer Abu Ghaith had an early vision and ability to find doors in places where others only saw walls. Born in a refugee camp where she lived until she was 12, she and her family ultimately moved to Hebron, a city in Palestine’s West Bank. Abeer graduated from a local university with honors, but found herself without many options to apply her talents. When she sought university teaching roles, many male students refused to be educated by a female instructor. When she looked for other work, she came up against a lack of economic opportunity in the occupied West Bank. So Abeer found another way, teaching herself to build her own business and support herself through remote work. She expanded her approach to help others in the same situation, and in 2013 founded her first company, StayLinked, which connected talented Palestinian freelancers with businesses around the world and taught tech skills to youths in Gaza. Abeer says, “As a woman, I can help and change the world in my own way, even if society wants to confine us in the kitchen and the house. I have changed the world from the house.” She believes that when you connect people with jobs, training, and opportunities, you are opening the door to freedom for them. In 2015, Abeer founded MENA Alliances to expand her work to include talent outside Palestine in the greater MENA region. Abeer holds a Master’s degree from the University of London and has worked with some of the leading companies and institutions around the world.
