What We Do:
Gradberry is the Middle East’s online careers portal connecting students, graduates and employers. Launched in November 2011, Gradberry has reached out to a network of more than 5,000 youth across the region and successfully hired graduates for multinationals and SMEs in the UAE.
Conceptualized by recent graduates, gradberry primarily caters to internship vacancies for students and entry-level positions for university graduates with 0-2 years of full-time work experience.
The Fruit Bowl, gradberry’s career blog, provides career resources to support and facilitate the job search experience for students and new grads.
For students:
Our philosophy is to “plant fruitful careers” for students and graduates. Hence, all activities we undertake adhere to the below objectives:
- To enable free flowing information between employers, students and universities alike.
- To ease the transition from university to careers for students and graduates.
- To eliminate the “quarter life crisis” that graduates experience, once they enter the working world.
- To allow graduates to find careers and workplaces where they “do what they love and love what they do”.
For employers:
Our values involve assisting employers in finding the right talent, hence we aim to:
- Enable free flowing information between employers, students and universities alike.
- Encourage and facilitate interaction between employers and potential candidates.
- Assist in every step of the recruitment process.
- Educate and raise awareness on working with respective employers in the Middle East.
The Team:
Iba Masood
Co-founder and CEO
Iba Masood, is a 2010 Finance graduate of the American University of Sharjah. As a student, she was treasurer of the Business Student Committee, president of the Power Hit Radio Club, and a recipient of the BP Research award, the Student Leadership Award from the University of Pittsburgh, and the BUMUN Diplomacy award . After interning at GE and McKinsey & Co and working as an account executive, she quit her job to pursue her dream of entrepreneurship.
Syed Ahmed
Co-founder and CTO
Syed Ahmed, is a 2011 Mechanical Engineering graduate of the American University of Sharjah. As a student, he was president of the Power Hit Radio Club, and a recipient of several entrepreneurship awards. He has also been a brand ambassador for Pioneer as a dj, a record label producer and designed facebook applications and websites for multinational brands. Passionate about the business idea and determined to make it launch, Syed joined gradberry as a non-coder. He learned to code in multiple languages on his own. He is self-taught, and when he is not coding till the break of dawn, Syed can be found kicking some serious ahem, on his Xbox and other consoles.
Anum Akhtar
Editor in Chief
Anum N. Akhtar, is an International Studies graduate from the American University of Sharjah. As a student, she was an active member of the Model United Nations Club and represented her university in several competitions abroad. Her passion for writing paid dividends early on, as in her Freshman Year, one of her essays was chosen for publication in a Pearson Education Textbook. After having interned at a prominent NGO in Dubai, she found the perfect opportunity to make use of her writing skills, by becoming a part of the blogging team at Gradberry. Her resolute dedication to grammar did not go unnoticed and soon, Gradberry promoted her to the position of Editor in Chief, the position she holds today. She’s a staunch believer in the power of writing, and aims to help others inform, assist and entertain readers with their words.
Sarah Zahidi
Social Media Intern
Sarah Zahidi is a 2009 Electrical Engineering graduate of the American University of Sharjah where she is currently completing her Master’s Degree. As a student, she was Activities Coordinator of the Computer Club and received the President’s Cup upon graduation which recognized her achievement as ‘Bookworm of the Batch’. After completing 2 internships at BP, she decided to use her social media savvy to help other students gain a foothold in the job market and signed up with gradberry as Social Media Intern. Apart from being a notorious book lover, Sarah is fascinated by everything which means she has more hobbies than there are hours in a day. When not buried beneath her thesis work, Sarah can be found learning languages, photo blogging and doing Origami. A true engineer, she believes every day is a chance to learn something new.
Suraj Shirvankar
Web Development Intern
Suraj Shirvankar is a second year student of Heriot Watt University in Dubai. Suraj Shirvankar picked up an interest in programming learning languages like C,Java,Ruby and Python during his early years of high school, and continually expanded his experience since. Currently working for YoArabia and TheGadgetNation as a Web Dev. He is also a consultant and researcher specializing in Android and Web Development mainly focusing on PHP. When he is not programming you can find him playing MMOs until he is tired enough to sleep.
Valentina Swetta
Graphic Design Intern
Valentina Swetta has been working for Gradberry since February, notably working on the ‘Apples and Oranges’ webcomic for the Fruitbowl section. Fresh out of A Levels, Valentina has had two hundred and fifty six Oreos, twenty gallons of milk, yet still no clue as to what course she might take. Still searching through the many different opportunities the world has had to offer her, she hopes that she’ll soon find a course she’s actually interested in. When not working for Gradberry or freaking out about her life choices, Valentina does art in her spare time, or doing… things… that 18 year old girls do… like counting money.
