Atef El-Bassiony

My name is Atef Mohsen, a father of two; Shams, and Anas. I’m a Fine Arts graduate, with the 7th rank among class. I managed a family business in marble and granite contracting for 12 years, and my co-founded business in architectural design for 8 years. I’ve gained leadership, presentation communication experience from a variety of enjoyable voluntary work for 19 years so far, and more to come...
I was running a family business in contracting with a specialty in marble & granite, as a General Manager. This gave me a good opportunity to practice managerial and teamwork skills.
This family business was originally established in 1986; Since I have joined; we’ve worked in different kinds of projects such as museums, universities, hospitals, administrative and office buildings, court rooms, schools, and residential buildings. We worked in major national projects such as The Royal Carriage Museum, El-Gezira Museum, The Academy of Arts at Kafr El-Sheikh University, Tanta University, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Justice in The New Capital, ECAM Office Building, Petrogas office building, The national institute for cancer, a hospital for workers of the petroleum sector, and Family Park.
Between 2010 and 2018, I was the co-founder and Principal Architect of Arkan Architects Design Studio; where I got involved within the whole architectural service processes and overall industry. At Arkan, we worked in several projects and competitions in Egypt, KSA, UAE, Iran, Iraq, and Armenia. Our scope of work included architectural, urban, and interior design.
Before launching Arkan Architects; I worked as an architect and an architectural trainee in several Design offices; namely DMA (Dar Al-Mimar Architects), Architecture Integrated Center, Seniors Consultants, Professor Ahmed Anan Design office, and Professor Mustafa Lofty Design Office.
Since I was in college, I have had a passion toward design in general and Architecture design specifically, I love practicing design and enjoy creative work!
Since college, I’ve been interested in helping people which gave me a great opportunity to practice leadership skills while being the representative of my class for five years in college. This also allowed me to be a part of the 10th International Student Leadership Conference (ISLC) in the American University in Cairo (AUC); where the theme I chose to work on was “Change”.
When I was a student I represented my country in an international workshop for architectural students that was held in Turin, Italy. It was organized by the Union of Mediterranean Architects (UMAR) and I was the youngest student in the workshop.
In 2009, I participated in the Second International Youth Entrepreneurship Congress in Istanbul, Turkey; which was organized by Genç Müsiad. It was a great event that opened my eyes towards the importance of entrepreneurship.
In that same year, I volunteered in the Psychosocial Support for the civilian victims of Gaza war with the Arab Medical union. Then in 2011, I initiated a fundraising campaign to help People of Somalia by the name of ''Youth for Somalia'', in cooperation with The Arab Medical Union’s Relief and Emergency Committee – to support those who are suffering from hunger and disease in Somalia.
For my voluntary work, I was chosen by the japan foundation in 2012 to participate in MENA Leadership Program in Tokyo under the theme of “leadership in building community and nation"
Since 2014 and until this moment, I have been working on a project that helps People with Disabilities, especially children with hearing impairment, in order to overcome the lack of communication between them and their communities. I created a card game called “Sign Heroes”, to teach sign language in a fun and easy way. For that, I was selected as a fellow in The Game Changer Fellowship by The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in 2015. In 2018, "Sign Heroes" was chosen as one of the top 50 innovations in Africa; where I showcased the game in The Africa Innovation Summit (AIS) in Kigali, Rwanda
I was also a panelist and speaker in the First Egypt Urban Forum (EUF) organized by UN-Habitat advocating for people with disabilities in a session titled "GOVERNMENT HOUSING PROGRAMS'
TEDx speaker in TEDx Youth @ Alexandria which was held in The Great Hall of Bibliotheca Alexandria in 2018 titled "Voice To The Voiceless"
I embrace creativity and innovation in my work and love to work through a coherent team. I’m passionate for learning from others and I think that my different experiences in life have given me a deep humanitarian perspective towards design and architecture.
I am a game design hobbyist, I love reading, sketching, pottery, and traveling. I have traveled to 8 countries so far; namely USA, Japan, Iran, Rwanda, Italy, Turkey, Oman, and Syria. I believe in the necessity of prevailing knowledge, freedom, and justice.
Atef Mohsen
Cairo, Egypt '20