Ashoka
Ashoka Newly Elected Fellows Advancing Systems Change
Ashoka is honored to welcome four exceptional social entrepreneurs into its global Fellowship. The fellows whose work is reshaping systems, challenging long-standing narratives, and expanding opportunity, and participation across Egypt and beyond.
Working across healthcare, water, aging, and refugee inclusion, these Fellows address deeply rooted challenges by reimagining who holds power, how services are delivered, and whose voices are centered. Their models move beyond short-term interventions to build ecosystems that enable people and communities to lead change themselves.
Meet our newest Ashoka Fellows:
Mohannad Hesham — Building Long-Term Water Resilience
Founder, Life from Water
Mohannad Hesham is pioneering a systems-level approach to clean water access and sustainability in local communities. Through Life from Water, he works with more than 80 local communities that have established water stations. Mohannad’s model moves beyond service delivery to empower communities to manage their own resources, strengthen local economies, and build resilience in the face of climate and economic pressures. Additionally, Mohannad works with other local organizations to form Egypt’s first Water Federation strengthening coordination, governance, and long-term maintenance of water infrastructure.
Dina Hashish — Transforming Aging into a Stage of Growth
Founder, Golden Years Foundation (GYF)
Dina Hashish is redefining what it means to grow older in Egypt. Through the Golden Years Foundation, she has built the first structured, community-driven healthy aging movement that places dignity, connection, and purpose at the heart of later life. Her work mobilizes older adults, caregivers, youth, medical professionals, and volunteers to combat isolation and challenge stigma, while positioning older adults as leaders, mentors, and active participants in society.
Lamia Kamal — Restoring Dignity in Healthcare Systems
Founder, Egypt Without Disease
Lamia Kamal is transforming healthcare in Egypt by placing human dignity at the center of care. Through Egypt Without Disease, she has built a nationwide network of more than 3,000 doctors and established clinics that provide compassionate, inclusive services through a sliding-scale model. Complementing this work, her academy trains nurses and junior doctors in empathy-driven, patient-centered practice challenging harmful norms and reshaping how healthcare is delivered to underserved communities. Lamia’s work restores trust, respect, and humanity within systems that have long failed the most vulnerable.
Maysaa Mahjoub — Redefining Refugee Leadership and Belonging
Founder, The Volunteer Hub Organization (VHO)
Maysaa Mahjoub is reshaping how African refugees in Egypt are perceived by society and by themselves. Through the Volunteer Hub Organization, she mobilizes refugee children and youth to lead, volunteer, and contribute meaningfully to their communities. Her approach builds agency from childhood to adulthood through structured volunteering, leadership development, and community-driven action. With the upcoming launch of Be-hive, a digital platform connecting refugees to skills-building and cross-border volunteering opportunities, Maysaa is positioning refugee youth as changemakers and active contributors to social change.
Together, these four Fellows embody Ashoka’s vision of a world where everyone is a changemaker. Their work demonstrates how systems can shift when communities lead solutions, and when innovation is rooted in empathy and long-term impact.
Ashoka is proud to welcome Mohannad Hesham, Dina Hashish, Lamia Kamal and Maysaa Mahjoub to the global Fellowship and looks forward to the ripple effects of their leadership across Egypt, the region, and beyond.