andrew leon hanna | co-founder
Andrew Leon Hanna is a first-generation Egyptian American lawyer, entrepreneur, and author from Jacksonville, Florida. He is the award-winning author of 25 Million Sparks: The Untold Story of Refugee Entrepreneurs (Cambridge University Press), a Financial Times Book of the Year and winner of the Financial Times and McKinsey Bracken Bower Prize in London. Hanna is the co-founder and CEO of DreamxAmerica, a social venture joining storytelling and impact to highlight and support immigrant, refugee, and first-generation entrepreneurs. As head of DreamxAmerica, which was recognized on Fast Company‘s 2021 World Changing Ideas List, he connected small businesses to $400,000+ in zero-interest loans during the COVID-19 pandemic and co-created/produced the DreamxAmerica documentary short film on PBS, which was nominated for a Chicago Emmy® Award. Hanna is also co-founder of two venture-backed startups he launched at Stanford: Mona (backed by Alpine Social Ventures), a gifting and media venture that invests in and showcases in underrepresented creators around the world, and Sawa Impact Labs (backed by NFX), a web3 venture centered on underrepresented artists. Previously, Andrew served in the White House, Justice Department, and as one of two State Department-appointed delegates to UNESCO's international youth forum in Paris.
Hanna received an MBA with honors from Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he was an Arjay Miller Scholar, Knight-Hennessy Scholar, and Siebel Scholar. He also received a JD with honors from Harvard Law School, where he was an Editor of the Harvard Law Review and winner of the Oberman Memorial Prize for Law & Social Justice. And he received an AB with highest distinction from Duke University, where he was Senior Class President and winner of the Terry Sanford Leadership Award. Hanna has been named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 List, and his work has been featured in or on the BBC, PBS, Fast Company, Forbes, Financial Times, and more.