Expertise in Community Building & Strategic Engagement

Mona El-Kheshen is a highly experienced community strategist, business leader, and marketing expert with a proven track record of building and scaling impactful communities. She has over 20 years of experience in strategic marketing, having served as the Marketing Director for Europe, Middle East & Africa at a multinational life sciences company. She holds an MBA from the University of Cambridge and has dedicated the past six years to community building, advising organizations on how to foster engagement, collaboration, and growth through strategic community initiatives.

Key Achievements & Community Leadership

1. Founder & Leader of a Leading Digital Community:

   • In 2019, Mona launched the Egyptian Professionals Network (EPN), a vetted business network for top-performing Egyptian professionals and business leaders worldwide.

   • The community grew rapidly, surpassing 11,000 vetted members, becoming one of the leading business networks in Egypt.

   • Within three months of its launch, EPN became a Facebook Community Partner and later joined the world's first Accelerator for Community-Driven Startups by Facebook—one of only 77 communities globally and 11 from the MENA region selected.

   • In 2021, EPN was recognized as one of the Top 50 Digital Communities in the NYU report on global digital engagement.

   • Mona was personally recognized as one of the Top 25 Most Influential Female Leaders on Social Media in MENA and was invited to speak at Meta’s European Summit (70,000 employees) to share her expertise on building impactful communities.

   Certified Community Management Expert:

   • Among the first 100 professionals globally to earn the Facebook Blueprint Certified Community Manager certification, the first officially recognized qualification in community management by Meta.

   Frequent Speaker & Thought Leader on Community Building:

   • Mona is regularly invited to speak at major events and industry summits, including:

     • RiseUp Summit (MENA’s largest entrepreneurship conference)

     • Plug and Play Egypt (innovation platform)

     • Facebook Europe

     • Schneider Electric

     • Carerha Summit

     • Deraya University in New Minya, Egypt

   Co-founder of UNLOCK – An AI-Powered Business Services Marketplace:

   • In addition to her independent consulting work, Mona co-founded UNLOCK, an AI-powered B2B procurement platform that connects SMEs with over 300 vetted professional service providers.

   • UNLOCK’s community-driven model fosters collaboration and growth within the SME ecosystem.