Giovanni Riad WRIT 340

Sometimes, it only takes $25. A loan that small can mean a new sewing machine for a tailor, a cart for a street vendor, or a water pump for a small farmer. Microcredit started with this simple but powerful idea: that small amounts of capital, when placed in the right hands, can unlock massive potential. But somewhere along the way, the spirit of microfinance was lost. As commercial lenders entered the space, the mission shifted from empowerment to profit. Borrowers were pressured into taking loans they couldn’t afford, interest rates soared, and in places like India, the human cost was devastating—including a tragic rise in borrower suicides. The problem wasn’t with microfinance itself. The problem was how it was twisted by market forces. Our Mission The MicroStart Initiative dares to reclaim what microfinance was meant to be: a tool for building futures, not deepening poverty. Our mission is to empower underserved communities by offering responsible microcredit, coupled with fin...

My first step in making the world a better place would be using the skills I’ve built to work on problems that actually matter to people—like access to clean water, stable jobs, and fair government. I’ve always been drawn to international work, especially in the Middle East, where I have personal ties and language skills. After graduation, I’m heading to Jordan to continue deepening that connection—working on the ground, improving my Arabic, and learning directly from local communities. I want to be involved in projects that aren’t just designed from a distance but are shaped by the people they’re meant to serve. That could mean working in policy, research, or consulting, but the goal would stay the same: helping communities build systems that last. I’m especially interested in how foreign aid, public infrastructure, and resource governance can be improved to better serve people in the long term. I believe effective change doesn’t happen through one-off programs—it happens when people...

     On June 6th, 2010, a young man named Khaled Saeed was sitting in an internet café in Alexandria when two plainclothes police officers arrested him. Multiple witnesses later testified that the officers publicly beat him to death. In contrast, the police claimed Saeed had choked while trying to swallow a small bag of hashish. Shortly after, Saeed’s brother released photos of his severely disfigured body from the morgue, directly challenging the official story. The officers involved were not prosecuted, and organizations like Human Rights Watch widely criticized the internal investigation. Although this was far from the first instance of police brutality in Egypt, the case struck a nerve. It sparked widespread outrage, particularly against the “emergency laws” that had long enabled the Mubarak regime to suppress dissent, rule with impunity, and manipulate elections. Khaled Saeed became known as the “emergency law martyr,” symbolizing the deep mistrust Egyptians felt tow...