Tunisia

Team Bios

Chema Gargouri | Country Director, Tunisia | @chemagarcat

Chema is the manager of the Centre for Applied Training (CAT), a business development private company established in 1998. Her areas of expertise are project design and management, SE Business Development, and institutional and capacity building services. As CEO of CAT, she has managed a $6M program funded by the Foreign Agriculture Service-US Department of Agriculture. Chema conducted and managed training and exchange programs on behalf of American non and for profit organizations funded by the State Department, MEPI, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, promoting entrepreneurship and free enterprise with an emphasis on women-run businesses. In 2004 Chema led a group of 15 Tunisian Businesswomen to the US. Chema was also involved, as Program Coordinator, in the joint Tunisian Business Women Association (CNFCE) & Vital Voices Global Partnerships MEPI funded program aimed at empowering women artisans through the establishment of a Public Private Partnership. She is the Project Manager of the Results Oriented Commercial Organizations Capacity Development MEPI funded program, managed by the Institute for Social and Economic Development based in Washington DC and which covers 5 countries in the MENA Region.

In 2006 Chema founded the Tunisian American Association for Management Studies, a community development and micro lending NGO (for women and youth) located in a very poor area of Tunis. She is a 2009 Summer Fellow of the Centre on Democracy Development and Rule of Law at Stanford University.

Ahmed Hamza | Training Coordinator, Tunisia | @ahmedhamza87

Ahmed Hamza is the E-Mediat Tunisia program Coordinator and Trainer and is an entrepreneur, a social media enthusiast, a civil society activist, and a musician.. He holds a BA in English Language, Literature and Civilization and speaks English, French and Arabic fluently. In 2008 Ahmed founded a consulting company specializing in Web development and Marketing.  Following that, he went on to work as a Social Media Consultant for communication and marketing agencies in Tunisia and abroad. During that time, he assisted several Tunisian NGOs in their communication strategies online, and offline. He organized several funding campaigns and coordinated the Kairouanian civil society’s support for the international refugees in the Tunisian/Libyan borders during the first days of the Libyan revolution. Ahmed is also a musician and a composer, he started his own band “RaZZmataZZ” in 2006 and produced an instrumental album entitled “Safra” (Journey) in 2009. He plays violin, luth, and drums and composed music for Theater and is the Artistic director/PR Manager of several underground Arts festival in Tunisia.

Kouraich Jaouahdou | Strategic Advisor, Tunisia | @kouraich

Kouraich is an information, communication and NGO projects development expert. He has been managing a Media Development Agency in Tunis since 2008. Kouraich acted as information expert for the Regional Office of the MEPI (Middle East Partnership Initiative) in Tunis. Before that, he managed the information of the United Nations in Geneva for 4 years. Kouraich started working in Canal Horizons TV in 1992 before switching to the NGO sector in 1996, acting as communication and development officer for Greenpeace, UN-FAO, International Federation of the Red Cross, and doing consultancies for El Taller, WWF and ENDA.  Kouraich has organized several international events in Tunisia and on the international level.