About the Middle East Leadership Initiative
The Middle East Leadership Initiative has close to a hundred values-driven, action-oriented leaders from across the Middle East. They come from a variety of sectors, including from the arts, media, finance/banking, retail, telecommunications, real estate, technology, and many others. Fellows get nominated to this program based on strong ethical and professional references, and are selected by a panel through interviews.
The program was founded in 2009 by Chadia El Meouchi Naoum and Shane Tedjarati in partnership with the Aspen Institute.
Our Approach
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Building Fellowship
We provide an opportunity for a highly diverse community of proven, high-integrity, entrepreneurial leaders to pause, reflect, and refine how they lead in their homes, at work and in the world at large. Using the Aspen Institute's time-tested leadership seminar model, we challenge them to “paint their lives on a broader canvas” and to stretch and do more for their societies.
About the ExperienceNominations
Impact Through Ventures
Through their required leadership venture, MELI Fellows explore how to leverage their talent, experience, and access to address major societal issues in the region. From providing employment opportunities to women Saudi Arabia to inspiring civic engagement among youth in Palestine, MELI Fellows are moving the needle their communities' most complex challenges.
Forging a Global Network
Through the partnership with the Aspen Institute, MELI Fellows are part of the larger Aspen Global Leadership Network (AGLN), a worldwide community of successful, high-integrity, entrepreneurial leaders committed to making the world a better place. MELI Fellows have an opportunity to meet other Fellows from around the world at the “Leading in an Era of Globalization” seminar, as well as larger annual events like the Resnick Aspen Action Forum.
Program Funding
For more information about the program, please contact:
- Charlotte Lewis, Events & Operations Associate, at [email protected].