Nada Bennani ’22 Discusses Entrepreneurship, Sustainability, and Launching Her Start-Up Ur Ed

1) Hi Nada, can you tell us what you’ve been up to since graduating from THINK Global School in 2022?

Since graduating in 2022, I’ve been pursuing a passion I found while at TGS, sustainability, and I am currently majoring in engineering in renewable energy systems at Al Akhawayn University, in Ifrane, Morocco. But there is way more than that!

I’ve had a chance also to explore the world of entrepreneurship through mentoring and work on a life project I hope will keep growing: a project-based course platform for people to shape their learning and enhance their soft skills, Ur Ed!

Diving even further into entrepreneurship, I built a social entrepreneurship program on my campus through a grant awarded by the Hult Prize Foundation, and the program ended up being ranked #1 in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region! I have also gotten to ice skate occasionally and travel during vacations or on the weekends. 

2) Can you tell us more about UR-ED and how it is influenced by your time at TGS?

Ur Ed wouldn’t exist without my experiences at THINK Global School.

It all happened after the unforgettable graduation in Greece. I wasn’t ready to leave TGS, as it gave me so much, and I didn’t feel grateful or aware of its impact until after I graduated. After shedding a lot of tears, I reflected on this experience and recognized how uniquely and powerfully the Changemaker Curriculum at TGS positively shaped my learning and my personality.

I then decided to share this opportunity with others who didn’t have access to attending TGS through an online project-based course. And this was when Ur Ed was born, named initially ThiNKGreen. Al Akhawayn supported my initiative and entrepreneurship, and I got to build a team and expand it into other pilot courses. Here we are now, opening a new project-based course platform for everyone to learn, apply their learning, and have a portfolio and final product of their work! A learning they can shape but also benefit from in terms of hard and soft skills.

3) How have your experiences at TGS influenced your career path and choices?

By having the choice to create my own personal projects or choose which teacher-led project I wanted to participate in, I got to open my mind and make choices based on my science focus, mainly from a cultural and environmental perspective.

I got to dive deeper into art and ice skating, which were just hobbies back in Morocco. I learned about the flow state and its presence in the areas I love taking time for; however, TGS most influenced me from an environmental perspective. When seniors I greatly admired created Pixki, a Nahuatl word for guardian that signifies modifying one’s actions to protect the environment through a more sustainable lifestyle, I was able to immerse myself further in the concepts of environmental sustainability and awareness.

My first personal project was on biomimicry, which relates to mimicking nature to create better and more sustainable creations and designs. I got to lead the sustainability club at TGS and took part in some more environmentally related projects (biomimicry module and sustainable housing). Since then, I have wanted to continue my studies in sustainability, and guess what! Here I am, majoring in engineering in renewable energy systems! 

4) What would you like to see yourself doing five years from now?

In 5 years, I can’t see myself doing one specific thing! I want to keep exploring the paths I have undertaken more deeply while still being open to what’s yet to come. But to be more specific, I see myself expanding UR ED, as this is a life project I am truly passionate about, without, of course, forgetting about my renewable energy degree that I hope to use in one way or another through some smaller projects.

I would also like to create more personal time to focus on ice skating, painting, and family, and I definitely want to share this process and growth through the videos I love creating so much; however, you won’t know where I am, because I will be traveling all over and constantly exploring!

5) Was there a particular travel experience that has stayed with you, two years later?

Too many to count! That said, my favorite was my first term on site in Dubai, UAE. We had our Rite of Passage, a week full of bonding activities that explained the TGS culture. On the last day, we had to build a boat with cardboard and race with it. It was so much fun but the best was yet to come.

At night, we had a safari excursion in the Dubai desert and got the different species living there. Although the spiders were large and scary, we got to immerse ourselves in the Emirate culture and reflect with nothing but the stars above us.

It got even more magical after seeing those stars up close through a telescope — It all felt so magical after such an intense week. I got to bond with people I had never seen before and others I had only seen online over a couple of days. I got so focused on the moment that I forgot my phone in the desert, haha! (no worries I got it back after a few days). The little moments of that day filled me with joy and will always be remembered.

6) What aspect of TGS do you miss the most? 

Definitely the community (and the stipend)! The advisory gatherings and weekly school meetups were also my favorite. I never thought I could have so much fun talking about what/who I am grateful for in the community or deciding what activities we would be doing altogether while the curriculum was so intense. And everyone, staff and students, all had their own amazing personalities and experiences to hear from. It is always a pleasure to reconnect with the TGS community! 

7) Any advice you’d like to pass on to current and prospective TGS students?

Enjoy every moment of it! There will be down moments, but they are nothing compared to all the great times you will have at TGS. And keep exploring and trying: If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have found and applied to TGS!

Thanks Nada!