Theme: Agora

Historians like to commemorate Man’s legacies by tracing where his intellectual imprints took shape. Because places outlive their inhabitants, historians choose sites to recount people’s legacies, for it is where ideas are born and shared that bear witness to Man’s prospects to change and flourish.

Hailed as the first birthplace of path-breaking ideas, Agora was a place of gathering for people of all interests and ranks to display their talents, share their thoughts, and unite their voices with one another. At the heart of ancient greek city-states, citizens met to make history.

Have you ever wondered where Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and Hippocrates got their inspiration? Where their ‘working space’ was? Whom they discussed and revised their ground-shaking thought with?

Around every corner, conversations flowed between strangers; merchants discussed the city-state’s economy with playwrights; philosophers debated with politicians; and wizened old folk narrated their travel adventures to eager youth. Like a buzzing beehive, the city-state thrived not on merchandise and trade alone, but also, more importantly, on every citizen’s active and intense participation in.discussing arts, politics, mathematics and any other imaginable subject. Agora was the melting pot of the day’s news and dominant ideas. Agora was the pulsating heart of Greek life.

Even after the disintegration of the Greek polis and its replacement by the Roman Empire, the “Agorian” legacy lived on. What Agora commemorates is essentially the synergetic experience of lively discussions.

This year, we decided to revive the Agorian model to bring forth the brilliant minds of our time.
Just as the Greeks decided to give an opportunity for everyone to share what’s on their minds along with what’s in their caravans, so will we recreate an eventful conference for you all to nurture your faith in humanity’s progress.

We hereby invite you to become an Agorian for a day. Pack your bags, load up your caravans and fill the application to initiate your journey to our modern Agora!

Join our modern Agora on April 29th for a day resplendent with mind-provoking talks, entertaining performances and sweet discoveries that are sure to lodge in your mind.

المؤرخين بيفضلوا عند إحياء ذكرى الموروث التاريخي البشري إنهم يتتبعوا المسارات اللي بدأت منها تتكون أولى بصمات الإنسان الفكرية. وإيمانًا منهم بإن الأماكن بتعيش عمر أكبر من عمر الإنسان اللي سكنها، اختاروا الأماكن دي علشان يدرسوا مجدالإنسان، لأن الأماكن دي عاشت وشهدت على بداية التاريخ وبداية التغير والنمو الثقافي.

‘أجورا’، هو اسم المكان اللي اختاروا الإغريق القدماء يقدسوا فيه تبادل الأراء. كان مخصص لكل الناس بكل اختلافاتهم ومستوياتهم الاجتماعية إنهم يتقابلوا فيه، يشاركوا أفكارهم، يوحدوا أصواتهم، هنا في أجورا، الناس بأفكارها المثمرة كانت هى بداية صنع التاريخ، وأفكارهم كانت بذرة صنعت تاريخ.

عمرك فكرنت منين فلاسفة كبار زي سقراط، أفلاطون، أرسطو، أبقراط جابوا أفكارهم وإلهامهم، هل كان عندهم أماكن تجمع زي مساحات العمل المشتركة "co-working space" المنتشرة الحاليًا؟ ومع مين كانوا بيناقشوا أفكارهم اللي بقت جزء من الإرث التاريخي الثقافي؟

في كل أرجاء أجورا، كان فيه محادثات دايرة ما بين الناس والتجار، يتناقشون في أحوال اقتصاد البلد مع كتاب المسرحيات، الفلاسفة كانوا بيدخلوا في جدالات مع الساسة، وكبار السن كانوا يحكون مغامراتهم للشباب المتحمسين.
المشهد في أجورا كان لا يختلف في نشاطه وحيوته عن خلية النحل، بس الموضوع كان أكبر من مجرد تجارة وسوق، أجورا بقت أجورا بسبب حماس ونشاط كل فرد فيها في إنه يدخل في مناقشات مختلف أمور الحياة من سياسة وفن وحتى الرياضيات وكل موضوع ممكن تتخيله.
السنة دي , قررنا ان نحيي الطراز الAgorian لبجمع العقول النابغة في عصرنا.
و تماما زي ما قرر الاغريق ان يعطوا فرصة للكل لمشاركة كل ما يدور في عقولهم و في قوافلهم, لذلك سنعيد خلق مؤتمر حافل لتغذية ايمانك في تقدم البشرية.

ولهذا فنحن ندعوك لتكون Agorian بوم واحد. ف احزم امتعتك و عد قوافلك, و قم بملئ الاستمارة لتبدا رحلتك لAgora الحديثة خاصتنا.
انضم ل ِAgora الحديثة خاصتنا يوم 29 من ابريل ليوم لامع بالاحاديث المحفزة للعقل,و عروض مسلية, و اكتشافات عذبة, اللي بالتاكيد هتسكن في عقلك.

Conference Hall- Al kasr Al Aini
Faculty of Medicine-Cairo University
Cairo, Al Qāhirah, 11562
Egypt

Aser Nabil

Managing Director of Print Mister

Aser Nabil is a young man of many titles: Managing Director of Print Mister, USAID Engineering Consultant and Co-founder of @Fab Lab Egypt. He likes to describe himself as an “all-round tech enthusiast with a particular love for Robotics and Automation, especially 3D printing!” Leading multiple titles means Aser is usually immersed in a variety of projects from machines and robots to furniture and lamp shades. Because Aser is the kind of person who likes to ponder products’ life cycle (from the basic raw material to the dead, dysfunctional manufactured product), he will be a bit of a tinkerer-philosopher in Agora. His philosophical side appears when he starts questioning everything around him in terms of how and why they are the way they are. According to him, anything can be improved on or downgraded to fit the need it was built for. Anything can be tinkered with, if only we know its end purpose. If he were to sell people anything, it would simply be "A machine" that is not only easy

Hussein Hakem

IT Senior System Analyst at the CIB

Hussein Hakem has been an IT Senior System Analyst at the CIB for 11 years, holding a Masters degree in Computer Engineering. His passion, though? Filmmaking. From studying movie set decor, visual and sound effects to focusing on directors’ visions and signature shots, Hussein is absolutely obsessed. Over the years that hobby turned into something of an addiction. That’s where his story with filmmaking starts. In our Agora, Hussien is the filmmaking artist. Film artists (known as filmmakers) pour in their thoughts, imagination & passion to deliver an entertaining filming experience for all audience to view & enjoy.

Iman Refaat

Teacher, Coach, and a Novelist

Hi, I’m Iman Refaat. I’m the author of Fabulous Veils. It’s a novel displaying true stories from Egyptian women’s everyday life. In the novel, I highlight the various sorts of oppression, discrimination and gender inequality suffocating the Egyptian females till our date. I started blogging in February 2016. Along my journey as an educator and as an Egyptian woman, I have tasted and witnessed various sorts of gender inequality and discrimination. As a Community and Service leader, I was exposed to numerous types of oppression, especially towards females in different social standards. My daughter, turning into a teenager, started to discuss her rights and how her brother was more privileged; enjoying his life without the chains she had as a girl. Our discussions urged me to dig deeply and reconsider my own beliefs and frames of references. Dreaming since my childhood to write a novel, my daughter’s agony turned the fire on, inspiring me to hold my pen and scribble the suffer of females.

Lina Fakahany

Photographer

The first thing Lena Fakahany introduces herself with is not her major (media design at the Faculty of Applied Arts) but her passion for photography. Besides formalities, Lena personally believes that our relationships with our loved ones should be prioritized in our daily lives, that we should exert an effort to know them better and treat them the way the deserve to be treated. When asked who she will be in our modern Agora, she replied: "I am the baker at Agora. This job gives me the space needed to get creative with my recipes, but I give my guests their complete freedom to choose whichever flavor and type of patisserie they need. I believe being a baker is metaphorical to what I am going to talk about, because all I have to do is deliver the message –bake it- and it is the listener’s choice to pick whichever "flavor" suits him/her and use it wisely.

Marina Rowes

tourism and hospitality graduate

Marina Rowes, is a tourism and hospitality graduate, whose primary interest is psychology. Marina is keen on topics related to sexual abuse survivorship and is planning to become a qualified therapist after she finishes her studies at MESARPAC school for sexual abuse survivorship. Marina believes life is so worth fighting for; that we need more empathy in our lives; and that every help we receive from others, we should definitely pass it forward to others who are still in need of it.

Mostafa Hashisha

Co-Founder and Managing Partner of iSparkEgypt

Mostafa Hashisha is an engineer, who graduated from GUC and holds a Master's in Educational Leadership from the AUC. Since 2010, Hashisha has worked in more than 6 NGOs and a little over a couple of multinationals. He started iSpark with a dream of raising a younger generation that is more decisive and competent in the career life. He owns two franchises called Engineeius educating kids through gamification. Hashisha was one of the entrepreneurs who toured and got mentored by the top startups in the world like Facebook, Twitter, Apple, Microsoft, Google, Uber and AutoDesk. He decided to start mentoring newbie Egyptian startups and aid in pushing the entrepreneurial scene in Egypt.

Omar Monem

Business Administration Graduate

Since birth, Omar Monem fell in love with heavy metal music. Focusing on his Business Administration studies and his Marketing major along with his career did not prevent him from his passion for music, especially heavy metal. When he got the chance to be more than a fan he took it and became a professional drummer, bassist and he added the electric guitar and keyboard to his skills as well. His vision is to make the genre desirable by renovating the genre in Egypt and the Middle East to match it with the culture and values of our society by applying the knowledge he gained from his marketing and business studies along with his real life experiences. When asked who would he be in our modern day Agora he answered: “I am the man who walks alone without a herd; I am the deliverer of truth and causes no triviality; I am the creator of the sound of my memorandum and I don’t rely on the power of computing; I am the man who seeks to be heard; I am the unknown man.”

Yasmine El Qersh

Diplomat

Yasmine Osama El Qersh has a singular background. After studying English at the Faculty of Arts, at the age of 22, she managed to get labeled the youngest female to work in the diplomatic quarter. Influenced by her admiration of psychology, she believes that changing one aspect of society, let alone the entire world, is a process that starts with ourselves. She regards human nature as always seeking perfection. One of her favorite movies is Ard El Nefaq, which tells the story of a merchant selling personality traits and qualities, priceless goods much needed in society. in John Lennon’s Imagine, he dreamt of a world of peace. Yasmine genuinely wishes to see people more tolerant and honest and less judgmental and hypocritical.