A regional economist with the Africa Development Bank, El Dahshan divides his time between Cairo and Abidjan in Ivory Coast. He has previously worked with the Centre for International Development at Harvard University and consulted for global organisations including the World Bank, UNDP, IDRC, and UNIDO, as well as for the governments of Palestine, Dubai and others. He studies issues of private sector development, investment and entrepreneurship, with a particular focus on post-conflict countries, and is just as well regarded for his writings on the subject. He has a regular slot in Foreign Policy magazine’s Transitions blog and has written for the New York Times, the New Yorker, the Guardian, Hurriyet Daily News, among others. A proud Cairene, 31-year-old El Dahshan is an outspoken commentator on political unrest in Egypt — he reveals on his Twitter profile: “I get held at gunpoint by police/army/militias a lot”.