UID Integration Chat Room

Five brilliant, strong Minds will join us as we kick start our IntegrationChatRoom project.

Christina, Shahira, Sofie, Alain and Ahmad will share their experiences, talk about the socio-cultural differences that can be encountered at the workplace and they will give advice on how to manage such differences. Later, they will stay with us to enjoy our multicultural dinner and embrace the beauty of diversity.

Christina Moreno is the founder and CEO of She Matters – a platform designed to connect refugee and migrant women with employment opportunities in the Netherlands. An international lawyer and communications professional by training, Christina is also currently with Global Rights Compliance (GRC) where she specialises in international humanitarian and human rights law. Prior to GRC, Christina was with HiiL Innovating Justice where she worked to improve access to justice around the world.

Shahira Sharaf: Has been driven by the desire for independence and the urge for development. ‎Using her capabilities and qualifications and ‎contributing in a valuable way to people and society are what ‎energise her. In 2013, She got her PhD degree in philosophy, specialised in methodology and modern Logic (multi-‎valued and Fuzzy Logic). As a lecturer, Shahira worked for 8 years in the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at Damascus University. Before that, she worked more than 10 years as a calibration and measurement technician in the Scientific Study and Research Center. Over the past two years she has taken part in many courses, workshops and volunteering opportunities to integrate into ‎Dutch society as quickly and fully as possible. ‎She is very interested in ‎migration issues, integration policies, and building bridges through education in multi-cultural societies."

Sofie Oova: studied cultural anthropology in Utrecht University and Complutense University of Madrid. After she finished her study, she moved to Bolivia to conduct a research about migration flows from rural areas to the city and the living conditions of families and children in slums. She lived in Guatemala for three years where she did additional research about street children's survival strategies, and she worked for various organizations dedicated to the protection and support of these children. In 2003, she returned to the Netherlands to follow an Advanced Master in Development Studies at the University of Nijmegen. In the same year, she joined the “Hivos” organization in the “Stop Child Labor” Program. Currently she is an International Program Manager for “Stop Child Labor”.

Alain Nkurikiye: is the Executive Director of Adept Platform; a platform promoting migrants living in Europe, to support economic development in Africa. He is also the Founder of Wajenzi, a crowd funding platform to promote migrants investment in companies back home. He used to work as a Business Accelerator Manager at HiiL. Alain has more than 10 years of experience in investment in financial institutions and small and medium enterprises in Africa and Europe. Prior to this, Alain was Investment Manager of Cordaid where he was responsible for sourcing, screening and implementing investments in financial institutions and start-ups in emerging markets. He worked also as consultant and business advisor supporting mergers and acquisitions in Africa (Burundi, DRC, Ghana, Rwanda, Uganda and Nigeria). He set up several investment funds and acted as a board member of several financial institutions in Africa. Alain holds an MBA from Maastricht School of Management in the Netherlands. He is a certified professional in crowd funding, microfinance and private equity.

Ahmad Saleh: was born in Damascus-Syria on 08-10-1990, he works as a trainer in the Dutch council for refugees, besides his job,he is Studying Global Sustainability Science in Utrecht university. Ahmad lives in The Netherlands since June 2014, in Damascus he was a student in the faculty of mechanical engineering in Damascus university.