Four international alumni stories to watch today

International Students’ Day is an observance of the student community, held annually on November 17. A time to celebrate the multiculturalism of our international students, or as well like to call them, alumni in training. We’re sharing four must-watch international alumni stories.

Creating high emotional value

Sheikha Al-Zain Al-Sabah (COM’97) is the Kuwait-based Chairman and CEO of National Creative Industries Group (NCIG), which creates multiformat content for the Middle East and beyond. In this video, she explains why, in the COVID-19 era, “high emotional value” is even more important than high production value, and how she’s refined her management approach. “We all have the power to build bridges, or dig dams,” she says. “It’s up to us to decide.”

Helping WHO respond to COVID-19

Luigi Migliorini, MD (SPH’98), is today a World Health Organization (WHO) Special Representative to Israel. As Israel and the world navigate the coronavirus pandemic, Dr. Migliorini shares his insights about successful government responses, how WHO has adapted to meet the demands of the challenge, and the importance, as we move through and beyond the pandemic, or devoting more human and financial resources to public health and primary care, especially in developing countries.

Connecting students to tutors

Minal Anand (Questrom’13) is CEO and co-founder of GuruQ, a digital platform based in New Delhi that connects students with tutors. Her American education gave her the idea. Born in India, Anand attended BU for her undergrad degree. Here in the United States, she says, schools are more practical and hands-on. In India, the education system is more theory-based; class sizes are also much larger. As a result, she says, almost every Indian student has a tutor. The problem is finding one. Anand describes the process as unorganized and largely word-of-mouth. In 2016, she launched GuruQ to help parents and students find qualified, vetted tutors.

Reusing and recycling wasted materials

Dr. Kimberly Samaha (ENG’89), founder and CEO of the Born Global Foundation, describes her group’s exploration of reusing and recycling wasted materials to create new products—and the inspiration she draws from the lack of waste in nature. “There’s always a feedback cycle,” she says. “We should find ways to reincorporate things that are wasted into inputs that are useful.”