From Idea to Impact: Journeys of Muslim Founders

// Panel

Location: The Landing Downstairs

Time: 3:30 PM – 4:15 PM

Moderator: Nourin Abu

Speakers: Nadah Feteih, Senan Khawaja, Alfarouk Saleh

Abstract:

This session celebrates the stories of Muslim founders who turned their visions into world-changing ventures. Each journey highlights the grit, creativity, and faith that fueled success. The session leaves attendees inspired and equipped with the mindset that their ideas, too, can become forces for global impact.

Speaker Biographies:

Nourin Abu — Nourin is a CPA turned entrepreneur and founder of Rumana Events, a boutique studio curating high-end, alcohol-free corporate events, brand pop-ups, conferences, and retreats. She previously co-founded Makani, building its brand and community nationwide. Through her work and halal travel content, she empowers Muslim women to pursue non-traditional career paths.

Nadah Feteih — Nadah Feteih is the Founder and CEO of Ma’wa Collective: the largest travel and adventure company for Muslim women. In their first year, they grew exponentially to lead 26 group trips serving 500+ women from around the world. She is a previous Employee Fellow at the Institute for Rebooting Social Media (RSM) where she focused on tech ethics research and a previous Senior Software Engineer at Meta. She holds B.S and M.S degrees from UC San Diego in Computer Science with a focus on systems and security. In her free time, she enjoyed running, hiking, and mountaineering.

Senan Khawaja — Senan Khawaja is the co-founder and CEO of Kollegio AI, a rapidly growing platform connecting students, colleges, and educators through personalized, AI-powered counseling. In a year, Kollegio has empowered ~100,000 students globally, all completely for free. Kollegio is currently partnered with the California State University system and is partnering with universities worldwide to reinvent higher education access.  To date, Kollegio has raised $3.55 million from leading VCs like Reach Capital & national NGOs like Jobs for the Future.

Alfarouk Saleh — Alfarouk is the Co-Founder & CEO of Parb AI, an Antler-backed company whose AI voice agents have handled communications with hundreds of thousands of patients across the U.S. He previously founded and exited Tareeqi. He holds a master’s degree in Computer Science from NYU and is a former competitive programmer.