Dr. Iman Bibars, Regional Director  
Vice President Ashoka Global

Iman Bibars holds a Ph.D. in Development Studies with a focus on states social policies and reform, from the Institute of Development Studies, Sussex University, in UK. Her recent work examined public expenditures with special focus on social safety nets and social security. As a Regional Expert, she has more than 24 years of experience in strategic planning, policy formulation, and community development and project design. She has committed her life to work with marginalized and voiceless groups, such as female heads of households in the poorest slums of Egypt, street children, street vendors and garbage collectors. Iman is herself a social entrepreneur, as the co-founder and chairwoman of The Association for the Development and Enhancement of Women, a  providing credit and legal aid for poor women heading their households. She has acquired significant expertise in proposal writing, report writing, gender planning and participatory gender training, project management, evaluation and research, as well as designing and conducting training packages for income generation and small business development projects in both urban and rural communities in Egypt and Arab countries. In March 2003 she launched and started Ashoka Arab World. From its start up to date, she heads the Ashoka Arab World office as the Regional Director.

Khaled Gamal Soliman, Financial and Administrative Manager

Khaled Gamal is Ashoka's Financial Manager. Khaled is the father of two children, a boy and a girl. Before joining Ashoka, Khaled had been working as an auditor at the Central Auditing Organization of Egypt since 1989. Here, he audited the agreements and contracts between the Egyptian government and foreign donors, such as USAID and the UNDP. This experience helped Khaled learn more about the financial systems used by foreign donors. Consequently, he had no problem putting his knowledge and experience to work in his job at Ashoka, where he has been financial officer since June 2007. Khaled is enjoying his time at Ashoka due to the learning opportunities he is given, and his amicable co-workers. He feels that his position in Ashoka enables him to grow both professionally and personally. In his spare time, Khaled enjoys playing football, watching movies, and traveling with his family.