Omar Yousry :

I am writing this exactly 6 years after the GUC signed the approval for
GUCMUN back in February 2009. If GUCMUN has taught me one thing, it is
that there is no such thing as impossible. It has taught me not to complain,
just to try harder. Difficulties are there to show our dedication; to distinct
those who really want to achieve their dreams.
GUCMUN was a call for change; a change in the mindset of GUC students and
their attitude towards their future. GUCMUN promots an effective citizen,
impacting his society and being brave enough to pursuit his personal dream.
GUCMUN is all about valuing feedback, using it and showing gratitude. At the
end of the Conference, each and every participant will have a story to tell, a
moment to remember and many friends to cherish.
Delegates, Members and Board, what you make out of this experience is
totally up to you; so make full use of it. Make every session, every
discussion, every outing and every game a medium in which you gain
something or another, may it be a piece of information, a personal skill or a
new friend.
Having the chance to give back is a blessing; and being able to see your
impact no matter how little it may be fills me with joy. I believe in GUCMUN,
and I have faith that GUCMUN is and will continue reaching people as long as
those in GUCMUN have the faith and will to positively impact others lives.
One of the founders once said that in GUCMUN we are pursuing Perfection. I
now believe we couldnt have wished for anything better.
Once a GUCMUner, Always a GUCMUner. See you in the
10 Anniversary J
th

Ibrahim Shams :
"The journey of making an impact"
If you ever had a conversation with college alumni/working generations
they'd probably give you the "college days were the best" talk... Which I
never related to until my GUCMUN journey started. One that I would
summarize as "making an impact".
Before joining MUN, college life was only about tutorials, lectures (well... The
few we attended anyways) and catching the earliest bus home but not until I

started my student activities life with MUN in Cairo University (GUCMUN

didnt exist back then). I understood what its like to learn something new,
engage in debates, workshops and above all discover and unleash potential I
never knew existed. The above was just phase one which is impacting
yourself.
Then came up the second phase which Im proud to have been part of:
Impacting others. We decided to establish the model in the GUC. Cutting all
the hard work and effort put by every single member of the 1st year, we
finally came to the closing ceremony where infront of us were over 75 people
who've tasted "that" impact!! Weve prepared, got sponsors, debated and
came up with resolutions but above all we made an impact on each
others lives and passed on a passion spark that brought out enterprenuers,
corporate leaders, diplomats but above all, a GUCMUN family...

Salma Amer
Eight years ago five friends of mine and I had a vision of modelling reality of
politics in a small room at the German University of Cairo. After these years I
got the chance to stand at the real human rights council in Geneva and all I
can think of is how everything in the fancy room at Palais des Nations look
exactly like what we shared together in that small room.
We, most of the times, criticize the international system for failing in its
responsibilities to address world crises, protect civilians, and end the suffer
of millions of people around the globe. The war in Syria is ongoing because of
states' double standards, 80% of the Yemeni population are suffering of a
humanitarian crisis and the world still chooses to stay silent, and terrorism is
growing in the Arab world and still governments are debating on "defining"
terrorism rather than discussing counter terrorism policies with respect to
human rights.
It is your role now and for the next months to envision what you want to see
the UN achieving. Modelling the Security Council could be fun, but it also
puts you in the shoes of state delegations and how decisions on certain
countries can be made. It is not everyday that you get to have this chance so
make the best out of it.
Make a difference, be the change.
Salma Amer
Founder and Senior Adviser 2009

Mohamed Hesham

GUCMUN is an institution that is based on the idealism of its people and their
belief in the development cycle. It is an endless cycle through which one
starts a chain reaction, affecting and getting affected by its people then
passing the experiences, passion and belief gained along the way to the new
joiners.
This basic principle was the foundation upon which the founders of this
model where I was privileged & honoured to be one of them- have built
everything. This sense of self development through changing the
communities around us is what distinguishes us from everyone else. It is also
the hope for a better society that is helping one another to experience
development. Though such words could seem so abstract & not realistic for
some, it is what we GUCMUNers believe in the most.
It is us who are capable of dreaming and imagining who could change this
world. So keep believing in the development process & that WE are being the
change. Let us Dream On, until this dream comes
TRUE.
We the peoples of the GUCMUN; Determined to fulfil a Dream
Dream of being the Change

Essam Maged
I was blessed and honored to have started GUCMUN a long while ago with a
team that became my best friends till this day. GUCMUN was my very first
startup that helped immensely in starting up 3 companies later on in my
career and taking lots of other initiatives in life, some have succeeded, some
failed and others I still can't judge yet (hopefully they succeed :)). Building
organizations/companies that create impact is my true calling in life and
thats what I will continue to do for a long while so here is what I learned
throughout the past 8 years including my very unique GUCMUN experience
to create a winning organization.

1. Team, team and team: creating and retaining the right team that not
necessarily being your friends is essential. This team has to have the
same vision for the organization and values yet should be different in
terms of capabilities and even personality traits. Let me give you an
example where I failed, I started a company three and a half years
ago with my dear friend and GUCMUN alumni Mostafa ElKhouly along
with a third partner. The company was in the fashion e-commerce

space. The 3 of us had different capabilities yet we didnt have a

unified vision to where we wanted to go which stranded the company
and we became counter productive which made the company move
very slowly. Since Khouly and I left the company and it has continued
to grow very well as its team now has a clear vision on where they
want to head with it. I learnt this the hard way in business although I
should have rethought how we succeeded with this in GUCMUN, I
now remember what we did. We had this meeting where we said
what do we want to do with this organization and we started to
brainstorm a lot then we figured we want to make it sustainable
thats the end in mind. Then we thought how can we do that? the
answer was getting the right team and empowering and delegating
to them so they can learn from their mistakes and become the
leaders of the future.

2. Vision: when we started GUCMUN as I explained our vision was clear

and we all agreed on it, we wanted to create a sustainable organization
that delivers a great experience to its participants and to do that you
have to asses the current situation of your organization and the
different stakeholders that affect it and then working on formulating a
strategy on where do you want to head and how. A few months ago
with my current company called Unplugged we went throughout this
exercise our problem was that we had a great team and delivered good
quality but we didnt have any idea where should we take the
company. I reflected on my GUCMUN experience on how its still
running till this day with zero involvement of its founding team and
accordingly we hired one of the best management consulting firms to
help us with formulating our strategy transforming the company from
being a web design agency to a full digital agency and adding a third
partner to our team who will create a social media department and
grow our team from currently 15 people to 24 (mostly GUCians :)) by
the end of the year while tripling our revenue.

Finally, Jim Collins (author of Good to Great) after assessing hundreds of

companies over 40 years wrote: They start by getting the right people on
the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats.
And they stick with that disciplinefirst the people, then the directionno
matter how dire the circumstances.