and CEO of DreamxAmerica, a Knight-Hennessy Scholar and Siebel Scholar at Stanford Graduate School of Business, and winner of the Financial Times and McKinsey Bracken Bower Prize. Hanna has been named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list and graduated with honors from Harvard Law School, where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review.
He applied the “Page 99 Test” to his new book, 25 Million Sparks: The Untold Story of Refugee Entrepreneurs and reported the following:
Page 99 of 25 Million Sparks shares the stories of two inspiring women, Yasmina and Masika, as illustrations of refugee entrepreneurs’ exceptional risk-taking ability and commitment to their ventures. The page takes readers to the Sherkole refugee camp in Ethiopia and introduces them to Masika, founder of a bakery and restaurant in the camp. It also touches on the story of one of the central entrepreneurs featured in the book, Yasmina, who is a wedding dress shop and salon owner living in the Za’atari refugee camp in Jordan.Visit Andrew Leon Hanna's website.
From page 99:She would have much rather held off on selling her jewelry and waited for a return to Syria, but holding off would mean her children might not have enough to eat. Starting her salon was a risk that she knew she had to take for her family, and thus one she did not have time to second-guess as entrepreneurs with a comfortable ‘next best alternative’ might. Yasmina had to be fully committed from day one.The Page 99 Test works reasonably well! The highest purpose of the book is to tell the stories of refugees in a way that reflects their incredible power, creativity, and beauty. Page 99 highlights the stories of two amazing refugee entrepreneurs – Yasmina and Masika – to illustrate why refugees tend to be so much more entrepreneurial than the average person. And in doing so, it emphasizes the courage of refugees to start life anew and launch their innovations – their “sparks” – even amidst the most tragic experiences imaginable.
More broadly, 25 Million Sparks follows the lives of three refugee entrepreneurs in the Za’atari refugee camp: along with Yasmina, there is Malak, a young artist infusing color and beauty throughout the camp, and Asma, a social entrepreneur leading a storytelling initiative to enrich children’s lives. Anchored by these three inspiring stories, as well as accompanying artwork and poetry by Malak and Asma, the narrative expands beyond Za’atari to explore the broader refugee entrepreneurship phenomenon in more than twenty camps and cities across the globe. What I hope emerges is a tale of power, determination, and dignity – of igniting the brightest sparks of joy, even when the rest of the world sees only the darkness.
--Marshal Zeringue
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