Every year, Forbes released its 30 Under 30 list, and every year, it makes us rethink our life choices. These are some of the young Arabs on that list, who are making waves in different fields and being recognized for it.
Hany Rashwan, Founder of Payout.com
This young Egyptian might as well be called the Arab Zuckerberg – he dropped out of Columbia University to found Payout.com. We’re sure his parents had doubts, but his startup, a team of only five people, raised $4.75 million after completing AngelPad’s accelerator program. The company’s services are used by well-known online lenders like LendUp and Prosper. This isn’t his first startup, either. Forbes notes that Rashwan “built the first in-stream social commerce ‘buy buttons’ on Twitter and Facebook through his startup Ribbon in 2012.” All those achievements and he’s only 26 years old.
Alaa Murabit, High-level Commissioner at the United Nations
Jon Stewart called her “the Libyan Doogie Howser,” referring to the hit TV show with a child doctor, for a good reason. Murabit was accepted to medical school when she was 15 years old. But that wasn’t enough – in her final year, she also founded the nonprofit Voice of Libyan Women, which empowers women in her home country. Her dual interest in policy and health issues have led her to a position where she researches health security issues for the UN. She’s also the youngest at her level, the 27-year-old is the only UN high level commissioner under the age of 45.
Khaled Abdel Rahman, Product Manager at Google
This Lebanese game developer worked on the concept and design of a recent mobile game you might know: Pokémon GO. If that isn’t enough for you, this 25-year-old has also been a project manager for Google’s Cast Games and teaches game development at a California university – probably to students around his age.
