Distinguished Alumni Recognized at Awards Ceremony
At this year’s Alumni Awards Ceremony, two distinguished alumni were recognized for their professional accomplishments: Nagla Rizk ’83,’87, professor of economics and founding director of the Access to Knowledge for Development Center at AUC’s School of Business, who received the Distinguished Alumni Faculty Service Award, and Minoush Abdel-Meguid ’96, co-founder and managing director of Union Capital Partners, who received the Distinguished Alumni Award. In addition, Lubna Abdel Aziz ’54 and Zeinab Hashem ’63, two former winners of Miss AUC — a beauty contest that ran from the 1950s until the early 1980s — were also honored.
The event, which was attended by alumni from around the world, included a musical performance by Dalia Issa ’89, director of student development at AUC, accompanied by Wael El Mahallawy, associate professor and director of AUC’s music program. Norhen Ali ’14, senior public relations account executive at Publicist Inc, served as the Master of Ceremonies at the event, which also included raffle prizes.
Minoush Abdel-Meguid ’96
With more than 18 years of experience in the field of investment banking and investment management, Abdel-Meguid leads one of the first private equity funds in Egypt to focus on small and medium-sized enterprises. At Union Capital Partners, she directs the investment management team and also works on post-acquisition value creation. Abdel-Meguid is also the founding president and former chair of the Egyptian Young Bankers Association, an Egyptian NGO that caters for the progression of young bankers.
“AUC, in many ways, has contributed to my ability to work in a diversified team with harmony and true team spirit,” said Abdel-Meguid. “AUC is where my character was shaped, where I received the know-how that allowed me to kickstart my career, and where I learned that giving back to my surroundings and the community is as critical as excelling academically and professionally.”
Before establishing Union Capital Partners in 2008, Abdel Meguid was senior transactor and resident vice president of the North Africa Division at Citigroup in Egypt. She also worked as a financial analyst for the Investment Banking Division of Goldman Sachs International in London, as well as manager for the Investment Banking Division at HSBC Investment Company in Egypt.
Additionally, Abdel-Meguid has served as assistant to the chairman of the Head Corporate Finance Division in the Egyptian Capital Market Authority between 2005 and 2007. She was also appointed as the capital market authority representative in Egypt’s stock exchange Listing and Acquisitions Committee as well as the Mortgage Finance Fund in Egypt.
In recognition of her strong commitment to bring change in the field of investment and entrepreneurship, Abdel-Meguid was featured in Forbes 2013 annual ranking of the 20 Young Power Women in Africa. In 2003, she ranked second place in Business Today as a Young Executive under 40 in Egypt. Most recently, in 2015, she was selected as: a Young Global Leader: Class of 2015, by the World Economic Forum; the French Institut Choiseul 100 future economic leaders of the African continent; among the top 50 most powerful women contributing to the Egyptian economy, by Amwal El Gad; and a Young Achiever of the Year, by the Global Leadership Congress.
Abdel-Meguid graduated magna cum laude from AUC, with a bachelor’s in economics.
Nagla Rizk ’83, ’87
Ever since joining AUC as an undergraduate student in 1979, Rizk has been bringing value to AUC in one capacity or another. She was awarded her PhD from McMaster University in Canada and earned her BA with highest honors and MA in economics at AUC in 1983 and 1987, respectively. She has been affiliated with AUC in various capacities: teaching assistant, research assistant, fellow, intern and a faculty member. She has served as chair of the Department of Economics (2004 – 2006), associate dean for Graduate Studies and Research at the School of Business (2010 – 2013) and a member of the Advisory Council to AUC’s former President Lisa Anderson (2013 - 2015).
For Rizk, the spirit of AUC lives through its alumni. “I’m honored and grateful to have received the award in the presence of my mother, an AUC alumna and professor, Madiha El-Safty, who first introduced me to AUC and to whom I owe who I am today," she said.
In addition to holding numerous positions at AUC, Rizk is faculty associate at Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society, an affiliate faculty member of Harvard Law School’s Copyrightx course and an affiliated fellow of the Information Society Project at Yale Law School. Currently, Rizk is a member of the executive committee of the International Economic Association and member of the steering committee of the Open African Innovation Research Network (Open A.I.R).
With her research interests and publications focusing on the economics of digital technologies, innovation and development, Rizk wrote Egypt’s National Strategy to support the Free and Open Source Software, which was adopted by the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology in 2014. She also co-authored the first Arab Knowledge Report (2009), and co-edited and contributed to Access to Knowledge in Egypt, New Research on Intellectual Property, Innovation and Development (2010).
Rizk introduced two new courses at AUC that align with her research focus: The Digital Economy: Information Technology and Economics and The Economics of Copyright and Creativity, taught in partnership with Harvard Law School and other global institutions. She has taught at Yale Law School, Columbia University and the University of Toronto.
