Samah El-Shahat

An accomplished programme maker, Samah has worked closely with Al Jazeera in the past, most recently on a special film for People & Power called ‘A Bitter Clash’. This 15 minute film exposes the clash dividing rich and poor nations at the WTO, over proposals to reduce industrial tariffs, on a scale never seen before in the history of trade.

Samah founded Thingybob Productions, a film company, in order to raise awareness of development issues in the South.

Samah is also a development economist, and has been a consultant to the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), the Canadian Government, Foundation for International Training (FIT) and the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO). She has also been an economic advisor on SMEs and innovation policy to the governments of Kenya, Egypt, Ghana, Pakistan and Mauritius.

Samah will obtain her PhD in economics from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, in 2007.