education is a human right that 99% of refugee youth are denied. 450,000 university age Syrian youth have been displaced due to conflict, and cannot afford to complete their education in host countries. They are forced to forfeit their education, take low-paying jobs to support their families and are committed to poverty for life. This is an issue facing 600,000,000 youth impacted by conflict globally. edSeed is a social crowdfunding app that connects compassionate mentors and donors with youth impacted by conflict. Through the app, mentors can guide youth on their education journey and donors can fund their education for as little as 5$. Rama Chakaki is the co-founder of VIP.fund. Her passion is to promote a collaborative approach, invest in social enterprises, use technology for social development and nurture a generation of social entrepreneurs among youth and women in the Arab world.

As co-founder and CEO of Dubai-based Baraka Ventures, Rama facilitated women and youth leadership, entrepreneurship and civic engagement workshops, advised regional government and large enterprise on social investments in youth and women lead social enterprise, and incubated sustainable social ventures and Web Technologies.

In addition to a grass-roots community engagement approach, Rama worked with GCC institutions in the public, private, non-profit and education sectors to deliver the Baraka Ventures vision of being a positive change agent to build and support social ventures and sustainable businesses with a triple bottom line.

Ms. Chakaki holds a MS in Computer Science and a MS in Engineering Management from George Washington University. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx