Abdelhamid Benhmade is a doctoral candidate in Development Studies at the University of Ottawa. He specializes in development and the private sector. Abdelhamid focuses on two main research areas: geo-economics of global cities and international entrepreneurship. His passion for international affairs led him to conduct a thesis on emerging and developing global cities and their functions in the era of globalization. As a member of Open AIR’s New and Emerging Researchers Group (NERG), Abdelhamid works on informal entrepreneurship and innovation, as well as being the coordinator of Open AIR’s francophone engagement.