Why this local risk consultant is helping Muslim students connect with mentors

Let’s get one thing straight: No minority student should ever be told to change their name if they want to get a job upon graduation.

But it still happens, just like it happened to Jihad Abouhatab, now a 26-year-old technology risk consultant with Deloitte, when he was attending an unnamed local college.

Abouhatab, reports Technical.ly Philly, used that experience to cofound LAMP (Leadership Advancement Mentorship Program), a volunteer-led mentorship program for Muslim students.

Support networks like LAMP are vital to the health of communities experiencing oppression — including Muslim communities trying to thrive in a post-9/11 America.

“This is how minorities flourish,” Abouhatab told Technical.ly. “It’s how the Irish, Jews and Italians did it decades ago. By building businesses, becoming leaders and developing organizations and institutions.”