Rudayna Abdo

Rudayna Abdo is the Founder and CEO of Thaki, a nonprofit organization that advances digital inclusion by providing gently used laptops with preloaded educational content for underserved communities in the Middle East. Thaki’s educational features include a bilingual, content-rich app that enables offline learning, and a Digital Toolkit for teachers, acting as an educational bridge between ed-tech solutions and vulnerable communities, enabling children and teachers to interact with the digital world that would otherwise not be available to them. Its circular economy model is based on collaboration and low-effort contributions from the private sector, leading to a huge social impact. 

Abdo has a bachelor of science degree in Architectural Studies from MIT, a master’s degree in Urban Planning from McGill University, and is a graduate of Amsterdam’s THNK School of Creative Leadership executive program. Her original career in urban planning involved envisioning, managing, and tailoring solutions to challenging housing, land use, and urban transportation issues across diverse urban geographies including the Arabian Gulf region where she held leadership positions in the private and non-profit sectors.  

Abdo received the 2017 TEDxAmsterdamED Award and has been featured in several publications and podcasts. Under her leadership, Thaki won numerous recognitions and awards including MIT Solve and selected among HundrED’s Global Collection of 100 of the brightest innovations in K12 education from around the world.