Yana Dabaghie

Yana Dabaghie is the Middle East and North Africa Regional Manager at the Hult Prize Foundation, where she leads the integration of social entrepreneurship programs across universities in the region. With a background in Civil Engineering and a Master’s degree in Business Entrepreneurship, Yana has committed her career to empowering youth to tackle global challenges through innovative, sustainable business ventures. Yana's expertise centers on developing programs that are lean-managed and easily integrated into university ecosystems, ensuring that institutions can adopt and adapt these initiatives with minimal friction. Her strategic focus on aligning these programs with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals has resulted in numerous success stories, with students launching impactful startups and assuming social leadership roles as a direct result of their participation in Hult Prize programs. Under her leadership, the Hult Prize Foundation’s influence in the MENA region has grown significantly, with Yana playing a key role in forming strategic partnerships with universities, business incubators, and governmental bodies. These collaborations have fostered environments where students are not only inspired but equipped to become the next generation of social entrepreneurs and leaders. Yana is also a business researcher, with multiple publications in Scopus-indexed journals. Her research delves into the intersection of entrepreneurship education and social entrepreneurship, particularly within the MENA region. She has worked closely with university incubators to align their programs with the principles of social entrepreneurship, ensuring that these institutions are cultivating leaders who are both business-savvy and socially responsible.