Mohamed Nanabhay. Image by Flickr user @joi (CC BY-SA 2.0)

We're very pleased to announce that internet entrepreneur Mohamed Nanabhay has joined the board of Global Voices.

Mohamed, an early contributor to Global Voices, works at the intersection of media, technology and entrepreneurship and brings to the organisation a wealth of knowledge and experience about online news platforms, alternative media channels, audience engagement and online communities.

As the Head of Online at Al Jazeera English, he led the team that produced the award winning coverage of the Arab revolutions in 2011. During his tenure, the Al Jazeera English website saw a colossal increase in traffic, and was recognised by the Online News Association for general excellence in online journalism. In 2006, Mohamed founded the New Media division at Al Jazeera which focused on engaging audiences through social media and emerging media technologies. During this period he pioneered and launched the Al Jazeera's Creative Commons Repository.

As an Internet entrepreneur, Mohamed has been involved with developing online properties since 1995 and is also an angel investor, providing seed funding and mentorship to early stage internet companies. He was named a Creative Commons Pioneer by BusinessWeek, serves on the Board of Directors of the Media Development Investment Fund and is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Informed Societies.

Mohamed received his undergraduate degree in Computer Science and History at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, where he served as the Vice-President of the Student Union, and a masters degree in International Relations from the University of Cambridge.

“Global Voices is the first stop for anyone who wants to understand the issues affecting different societies from within,” says Mohamed. “As the world becomes increasingly interconnected yet ever more complicated, Global Voices is a refreshing and honest bridge across language and borders, providing news that is contextualised and translated by its global community of contributors. As a one-time contributor to Global Voices and former executive at Al Jazeera, I'm excited to share experiences and ideas with the Global Voices community.”

Global Voices’ nine-member board meets four times per year, and has been an active, engaged and vital part of the GV community since its inception. Our board is composed of our two founders, three community representatives, and four external members.