MORGEANA • GENIUS • PEOPLE CREATING CHANGE
Dr. Iman Bibars
Turning ideas into opportunity.
Turning opportunity into lasting change.
From working alongside women heading households in underserved Egyptian communities to supporting social entrepreneurs across the Arab world, Dr. Iman Bibars connects research, practical action, and advocacy to help people shape their own futures.
Explore Her Work Contact Dr. Iman Bibars
ASHOKA
Vice President, Ashoka
Founder and Regional Director,
Ashoka Arab World
ADEW
Co-founder and Chairperson
Association for the Development
and Enhancement of Women
WISE
Founder and Team Leader
Women's Initiative for
Social Entrepreneurship
A Career Rooted in People's Lives
With more than three decades of experience in development, women's empowerment, and social entrepreneurship, Dr. Iman Bibars has worked to connect the realities of underserved communities with the institutions and policies that shape their opportunities.
She launched Ashoka Arab World in 2003, establishing a regional platform to identify and support social entrepreneurs. Alongside this work, her leadership at ADEW places women heading households—and their economic, legal, and social inclusion—at the center of development.
Her work connects immediate needs with a wider ambition: enabling people to participate in changing the systems that affect their lives.
SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Ashoka Arab World:
Backing Ideas with Social Purpose
Through her leadership of Ashoka Arab World, Bibars supports innovative approaches to social challenges that seek to change underlying systems, while building networks that help social entrepreneurs strengthen and extend their impact.
This work reflects Ashoka's vision of Everyone a Changemaker: a world in which people can take initiative and contribute to solving the challenges around them.
ASSOCIATION FOR THE DEVELOPMENT AND ENHANCEMENT OF WOMEN
Women's Empowerment, Made Practical
ADEW combines direct support with advocacy, addressing interconnected barriers faced by women heading households. The following programs form part of the organization Bibars co-founded and chairs.
01 • ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY
The Means to Move Forward
Microcredit using a peer-lending model, alongside training and financial awareness, helps women heading households develop income opportunities and greater economic independence.
02 • LEGAL EMPOWERMENT
Recognition Opens Doors
Support in obtaining identity cards, birth certificates, and other official documents helps women establish their legal identity and access rights and services.
03 • EDUCATION & GIRLS' DREAMS
Room to Imagine a Future
Literacy, scholarships, and the Girls' Dreams program support learning, self-confidence, and life skills, encouraging girls to continue their education and develop their potential.
04 • SAFETY & SUPPORT
A Place to Begin Again
Beit Hawa, ADEW's shelter and violence-elimination program, supports women affected by violence and their children through shelter, psychological and legal assistance, rehabilitation, and awareness activities.
From Community Support to Policy Change
ADEW participated alongside other organizations and institutions in the campaign to amend Egypt's nationality law so Egyptian women married to foreign nationals could pass their nationality to their children.
Its advocacy also brought the needs of women heading households, and the barriers created by missing legal documents, into public and policy discussions.
WISE • WOMEN'S INITIATIVE FOR SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP
What Does Meaningful Success Look Like?
Led by Bibars, Ashoka's WISE initiative seeks to broaden how the social innovation ecosystem recognizes and supports women's impact. Its approach includes reaching more people, influencing laws and policies, and changing cultural norms and mindsets.
SCALING OUT
Reaching more communities and populations.
SCALING UP
Influencing laws, policies, and institutions.
SCALING DEEP
Changing mindsets, cultural norms, and behavior.
Recognizing all three forms of change makes room for a fuller understanding of what women social entrepreneurs contribute.
International Experience. Community Insight.
Her professional biography records experience with UNICEF, Catholic Relief Services, CARE Egypt, GTZ, and KfW. Her areas of expertise include strategic planning, policy formulation, community development, and project design.
An Academic Foundation for Practical Change
PhD in Development Studies — University of Sussex.
BA and MA in Political Science — American University in Cairo.
Peace Fellow — Georgetown University.
Parvin Fellow — Princeton University.
Research, Writing, and Public Dialogue
Her published work explores women, welfare, the state, and women's experiences during Egypt's uprising. Books listed in her institutional biographies include:
• Victims and Heroines: Women, Welfare and the Egyptian State
• The Women of Tahrir
• Dreams of a Good Fellow
Explore the Work Behind the Story
Learn more through the official websites of the organizations and initiatives Dr. Iman Bibars helps lead.
Iman Bibars at Ashoka ↗ Ashoka Arab World ↗ WISE Initiative ↗ Discover ADEW ↗
Connect with Dr. Iman Bibars
For inquiries about her work in social entrepreneurship, women's empowerment, and changemaking, get in touch by email.
Sources & Further Reading
Ashoka Biography | Ashoka Arab World | WISE | ADEW Achievements | World Bank Biography
Profile prepared for Morgeana from published institutional sources. Content reviewed: 14 October 2026.
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