Fellow:Marouane Smaili

As a teenager, Marouane was granted a full scholarship from the U.S Department of State under the Kennedy-Lugar YES program to be an Ambassador for Moroccan youth and culture in the U.S for an academic year. During his stay in America, he nurtured a passion for community service and exploring world cultures.

After his inspirational YES Program experience in Tucson, Arizona in 2007-2008, Marouane attended Ibn Zohr University in Agadir, Morocco where he obtained a Technical degree and bachelor's in Marketing and Management. For graduate studies, he was admitted to a highly selective Business School in Morocco (ENCG Agadir) where he earned a graduate degree in Marketing & Sales Operations (summa cum laude) in June 2014.

As a university student, Marouane was selected by Google to be a Google Student Ambassador at his university and served as class president in three schools for his undergraduate and graduate classes.In 2013, he joined Dar Si Hmad, a development NGO operating in southwest Morocco. Marouane started as a communication manager and developed an interest for project management and using technology to augment productivity and to solve development issues. He was promoted to project manager in 2014 and again to office manager in 2015 and contributed to building Dar Si Hmad'sinnovative development programs until June 2016.

In 2016, Marouane received a Fulbright grant to pursue a Master of Business Administration at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in central Massachusetts, USA. During his Fulbright journey in the U.S, Marouane aims to further his knowledge of project management, organizational behavior and innovative use of ICT. He is currently a candidate for the UIF program and aims to achieve significant results pertaining to innovation and entrepreneurship at WPI in collaboration with his leadership circle.