Waheed Majrooh

Said Waheed Majrooh (born March 18, 1986) is an Afghan-American working on social and business development projects throughout Afghanistan. He speaks fluent English, Pashto, Farsi and Dari. Majrooh currently lives in Washington, DC and travels frequently throughout the Middle East.
Background
Majrooh is from a family which includes Said Shamsoudin Majrooh, who was the architect of Afghanistan's first constitution in 1964 and who had served as the Minister of Justice and Head of Tribal Affairs; Syed Bahaoudin Majrooh, who had served as Governor and is still considered one of Afghanistan's leading intellectuals; and Shal Pacha, a tribal leader whose influence was particularly strong in the eastern region of Afghanistan. His father, Sayed Masood Majrooh was a delegate in the 2002 Loya Jirga in Kabul in which the Jirga began the initial restructuring of the Afghan government Since that time, two of his uncles have served as the Governor of Kunar Province in Afghanistan.
Majrooh by definition in Arabic means, "wounded," and also has a Sufi religious connotation, evoking the suffering of the believer separated from God, the Beloved. The Majrooh family is a small and politically involved family with its ancestral lineages from Kunar province and before that, of Arab descent. The family belongs to the Islamic lineage of Sayyid, an honorific title meaning to be accepted as direct male decedents of the Prophet Mohammad. Due to the prestige of the family, other families throughout Afghanistan have also chosen the Majrooh name as their surname, which in Afghanistan is highly shunned upon.
Majrooh's grandfather, Syed Bahaoudin Majrooh, also known as, "the Professor," had a PhD from an esteemed university in France and was once dean of Kabul University in Afghanistan. Majrooh was the Founder and Director of the Afghan Information Center (AIC) which was the sole source for news for the international community in regards to the war between an invading USSR army and the Afghan people. In July of 1987, he enraged leaders of the fundamentalist groups by publishing a survey of 2,000 Afghan refugees in Pakistan which revealed 71% of them supported the return of King Zahir Shah after the conflict in Afghanistan came to a halt. Majrooh, of the people and for the people, understood the risks of publishing such an article. In his defense, he stated that it was the voice of the people and it must be heard. Later that summer, according to a report from Peshawar by the British news agency Reuters, an unknown assailant went to Majrooh's office and shot him six times with a Kalashnikov rifle. Majrooh's body was found sprawled over the threshold of the front door. His son, Massood, told Reuters he had no idea who killed his father. It is highly rumored that the Islamic fundamentalist party, Hizb-i-Islami (Party of Islam), conducted the hit with support from the Pakistani intelligence service (ISI).
Education
Majrooh graduated from California State University East Bay (CSUEB) where he earned his undergraduate degree in Business Administration with a dual emphasis in finance and corporate management. After completion of his bachelors degree, Majrooh went on to attend graduate school at Notre Dame de Namur University (NDNU). He also holds a Masters degree in Business Administration (MBA) while graduating with honors and being the recipient of the honored Elaine Cohen Scholarship for Academic Excellence.
Career
While in graduate school, Majrooh completed a rigorous six month internship at a private equity / hedge fund advisory firm in Silicon Valley. During the summer of 2010, between his first and second year of graduate school, Majrooh decided to go to Afghanistan. While in Afghanistan, he attained several internships at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) , the Afghanistan Investment Support Agency (AISA) and the Afghanistan Ministry of Mining and Petroleum (MoMP). After attaining his MBA, Majrooh started private business consultancy work in Afghanistan and was then nominated to the the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of a startup consultancy firm . After growing the firm from initial startup to a stable firm with several procured research and logistic contracts, Majrooh resigned to join the American University of Afghanistan (AUAF) . At AUAF, Majrooh was appointed as Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship, the first time AUAF has offered such a course.
Majrooh has spoken at several distinguished universities in regards to the business opportunities and industrialization of Afghanistan. In February 2013, Majrooh lead a distinguished panel at the acclaimed University of Pennsylvania (UPENN), Wharton School of Business titled, "Afghanistan: A Noble past, A Brilliant Future."

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