As a budding engineer working on cutting-edge technology in Boulder, Colorado, in 2007, Hamzah Nassif (ECE’03, MBA’10) began to dream about how he could apply his passion for technology in a new career back home in Jordan. But Nassif recognized his home country’s region lacked even the basic elements to sustain the ecosystem of innovation that he experienced firsthand in the United States.

“We’re missing a lot of pieces of the puzzle: capital, talent, legal know-how, and even laws and regulations in many cases,” explains Nassif, who’s now in Amman, Jordan. “As a result, digital products and services in the Middle East have historically lagged behind US and European markets by as much as a decade.”

Nassif is part of a movement to change that. He cofounded iMENA Group and spent six years with the organization, funding and supporting internet companies in the Middle East and North Africa. The group spawned several success stories, helping to launch online marketplace apps that became category leaders in the region, including SellAnyCar, Reserveout, and OpenSooq.

“The nice thing about combining an engineering background with an MBA and venture capital experience is that you end up with a very broad set of skills.”

—Hamzah Nassif

After obtaining a computer engineering degree in 2003, Nassif spent five years as an engineer with Qualcomm but found himself most intrigued by the way “new technology gets incubated in a small environment, diffused throughout a large organization, and commercialized in international markets.” Inspired, he came back to West Lafayette for a two-year MBA program and then returned to Jordan to put his skills to use.

Nassif left iMENA in January to become an independent player in the Middle East venture capital and startup space. His goal: do more to help fill those structural gaps in the region, empowering innovative startups to succeed.

“The nice thing about combining an engineering background with an MBA and venture capital experience is that you end up with a very broad set of skills,” Nassif says. “I’m looking to apply that to help startups in any way imaginable, from defining strategy and building products to helping create the environment.” He credits Purdue with providing the experience necessary to help a burgeoning startup community thrive.

While Nassif greatly enjoyed his time at iMENA, he began to crave more flexibility and the chance to create more impact. “After six years, like any company, iMENA is maturing and consolidating its focus,” he explains. “I started out as an engineer, worked in the trenches, and was lucky enough to experience sitting on the investor side of the table. Now I have the freedom to go back to the other side — and to me, that’s the more exciting field to play in right now.”