With a background in Engineering, Ahmed has started the first FOSS community in Alexandria in 2007. He started his career as a System Administrator and then a Team Leader, until he founded Spirula Systems in 2010.. He is a renowned public speaker in technology events, and has made TV appearances concerning data privacy and protection. He has. co-founded OpenEgypt organization that is concerned with FOSS strategy and culture, and also a board member in Mushtarak that is Egypt’s first tech hub. Mekkawy has worked as a consultant for the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology from 2012 to 2014. His notable work on Elections.eg portal has highly impacted the release of FOSS adoption strategy by the Egyptian government.
