Freshman Amina Orfi loves a tight shot, when the squash racket whips the ball straight along the wall, making it difficult to receive and react to. 

It’s a shot she’s practiced many times — and one of many that have brought her to be ranked third in the world in squash. 

“I love the process itself, training and getting better, fixing my mistakes and obviously the thrill of winning. That match point when you win a tough match — it's really what makes me happy."

In July 2025, Orfi became the first athlete to win the World Squash Junior Championships four times and in October 2025 became the youngest ever to reach world number 3. 

At 18 years old, she’s preparing for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, where squash will make its debut as an Olympic sport, while balancing her first-year studies in economics as a recipient of AUC’s Excellence Scholarship. 

Keeping her vision aligned with her goals is the backbone a discipline Orfi applies to her academics and athletic goals. Managing a class-load, plus tournaments and training was a new challenge, but Orfi says communication with her professors has allowed her to hit her stride during her second semester at AUC.

Orfi chose to study economics to open new doors in the far future when she retires from squash. “I find it to be a bit interesting, and it's something I think I can balance well with squash,” Orfi said, “It's a very practical major.”

But for right now, she’s just getting started. 

Born to Play

Egypt is the home of international squash. International squash legends and the highest ranked players in the world hail from the courts of Om el Donia: current world No. 1 Hania El Hammamy ’23 and Asal Mostafa, No. 2 Nour El Sherbini, No. 5 Nouran Gohar ’21 and more call Egypt home. 

Orfi first picked up a racket at 5 years old and stuck with it. Youth squash in Cairo is a pressure-cooker, and Orfi began playing competitively at 8 years old in weeklong tournaments of 200 athletes playing to take the top rank. She says it's what created her competitive spirit.

Squash is a sport where you and your opponent are trapped in a box, and only one person walks out the winner. It’s a mental game and the desire to win, cultivated in the courts of Cairo, has helped Orfi climb through international competitions in the United Kingdom, United States and Singapore.

She has won and lost matches against legends she grew up watching, winning against Nour El Sherbini in the semi-finals of the 2025 U.S Open Squash. Better known as ‘the Warrior Princess,’ El Sherbini is the current number 2 in the world and is currently tied for the world record of most women’s squash World Open titles.

“Seeing someone that you've been watching ever since you were growing up and finding them all over the news and social media, and then to compete and beat them, it meant a lot. It gave me a lot of motivation.”

“I really want to get to world number one and make the Olympics. Having these goals helps direct my mind in a positive way instead of thinking about the pressure.”

Orfi has spent over a decade of her life playing squash competitively, and her family has supported her all the way. “I know the amount of effort they put into this for me to achieve my dream. It means a lot to me, and I really enjoy when I win and see them proud,” Orfi said.

Orfi joined the professional circuit at 15, traveling more often and playing in professional environments with mature and experienced players five to ten years her senior. The switch was initially intimidating, but Orfi says what helped her adjust was knowing that as the young underdog, she had nothing to lose.

“I just wanted to play my best squash and show what I'm capable of,” she said. 

Now that she’s aged out of being the underdog, Orfi faces a new pressure to keep her space in the top three and climb toward the first position. She practices six times a week to stay sharp, in two sessions a day alternating between drills, fitness and match play.

“I think it's more pressure, but having goals and things you want to achieve lifts that pressure because you don't think about it as much. You just think about what you want to do and what you want to achieve,” she said.

The next goal? Playing in the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, California.

“I really want to get to world number one and make the Olympics. Having these goals helps direct my mind in a positive way instead of thinking about the pressure.”

Focused on advancing Egypt’s capabilities and competitiveness in the electronics design and manufacturing sector, this university-led strategic initiative is set to directly impact the country’s growing technology start-up ecosystem. Through a partnership between CEI and the Center for Nanoelectronics and Devices (CND) at AUC’s School of Sciences and Engineering, the alliance brings together stakeholders from academia, investment, venture capital and the public and private sectors to address critical resource gaps and build an integrated, growth-oriented system.

In light of the Egypt Vision 2030, the alliance was designed to support sustainable economic development by reducing market-entry risks for startups and enabling their long-term success in the face of challenges. While Egypt has a significant technological potential, it needs targeted support in order to unlock it. This is why the alliance focuses on youth capacity building, developing industry-aligned academic programs, localizing production and manufacturing as well as attracting foreign direct investment (FDI).

Furthermore, the alliance promotes a hands-on approach to learning by hosting hackathons, advancing AI-driven applications in electronics, integrating startups, and fostering applied research and commercialization opportunities.

Hala Barkat, director of CEI emphasized the alliance’s potential in bridging academia, innovation, and research:

 “When we first heard about the Alliance and Development initiative, we knew right away that this is the perfect opportunity to bring in different stakeholders from our network toward such a promising and strategic national objective. We formulated internal and external partnerships with the aim to ignite innovation in Egypt’s entrepreneurial ecosystem and untap academia’s potential in research commercialization”.

In the same vein, Yehea Ismail, Director of the Center for Nanoelectronics and Devices, highlighted the impact the alliance will have on Egypt’s economy:

"The DTS Alliance is really unique because it does not just focus on software development, it actually addresses Egypt’s potential in designing and manufacturing hardware technology. We have been working with regional stakeholders on this scope specifically and now it is the time to go full-scale in our beloved country, Egypt, and support our private sector to compete globally and attract FDI.”

Through taking the lead in initiatives such as the DTS Alliance, Onsi Sawiris School of Business strives to be an agent of change, fostering excellence and innovation across sectors shaping today’s economic development. 

As Egypt advances toward Vision 2030, the need for capable, adaptive and values-driven leadership has become critical to achieving sustainable economic and institutional development. Focusing on this national priority, Onsi Sawiris School of Business Executive Education (ExecEd) has developed the Leading Change in Dynamic Organizations program, which targets capacity building across multiple sectors.

In November, ExecEd celebrated the graduation of the program’s fourth and most recent cohort, which exclusively included 35 members from Egypt’s judicial and legal sector. Aiming to support the development of different specializations in the public sector, the program bridges theoretical knowledge and the lived professional experience of participants.

The program is delivered collaboratively with the School of Global Affairs and Public Policy (GAPP) Executive Education at The American University in Cairo (AUC), in partnership with the National Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development (NIGSD) and the Ministry of Planning, Economic Development and International Cooperation (MPED). This ensures that the content is tailored for impact, targeting specific gaps that affect the efficiency and efficacy of higher management in Egypt’s national institutions.

Judge Haitham Mohamed Bahaa, economic court head and manager of the Judicial Governance Project at NIGSD, emphasized the program’s impact:

“The program was successful at making judges step into the role of the manager. After the training, the judges no longer feared change; instead, they started to focus on how to modernize the judicial system with their own hands.”

Similarly, Judge Yasmin El Isslambouli, member of the Public Relations Office at the Administrative Prosecution Authority (APA), highlighted how the program significantly changed her way of thinking.

“The program was a different professional experience for me. It was not just a theoretical training, but it was a real space to understand what effective leadership means.”

Leading Change in Dynamic Organizations builds upon the success of ExecEd’s Leadership for Government Excellence (LGE) initiative, which trained 120 government officials from 24 ministries and received the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD) Excellence in Practice (EiP) Silver Award in 2023. Through these programs, ExecEd helps shape Egypt’s professional ecosystem, uplifting the national workforce and those on the ground making real impact.

Learn more about ExecEd’s specialized programs click here!