NU-Q student creates AI based job aggregator

Northwestern University in Qatar's (NU-Q) communication senior, Abenezer Bekele has developed an Artificial Intelligence (AI) based job aggregator- Loan Relief- to help students at Qatar Foundation (QF) with loan repayment options.
Students funding their studies through the QF’s financial aid programme have the option to repay their loans by working at an approved organisation in Qatar after graduation. Bekele’s platform uses advanced AI algorithms to aggregate job listings in companies in the list of QF-approved organisations in a streamlined, online platform accessible for students in Education City, helping them match with and apply for relevant and qualifying opportunities.
“Across the world, university loan repayment is an overwhelming topic for students, especially those who are graduating in the current state of the global economy,” said Bekele. “Through Loan Relief, I hope to assist students benefiting from the Qatar Foundation loan programme like me by offering them a streamlined job hunting process and making it much easier for them to repay their loans.”
An international student from Ethiopia, Bekele became interested in AI and data after taking courses as part of his data science minor at Northwestern in Evanston. In the years since, he continued to nurture his passion in and out of the classroom, founding the school’s first data science club, interning at the Qatar Computing Research Institute as part of the Qatar Centre for Artificial Intelligence, and most recently, using his coding and data science skills to develop the Loan Relief platform.
“As a storyteller with a data scientist’s toolkit, most of the work I do in fields of media and technology is geared toward making the world a better place,” said Bekele. “From designing job websites to using AI-powered algorithms to match students with paid service opportunities, I hope that my work leaves an impact on the lives of students in Education City and around the world.”
Marwan M Kraidy, dean and CEO of NU-Q said: “We educate students to become creative, ethical, and impactful communicators, and Abenezer’s initiative to support his fellow peers at Northwestern Qatar and within Education City does just that,” said Kraidy. “I am proud of Abenezer and the many Northwestern Qatar students who are making an impact in the region and the lives of people around the world through their work and mediamaking.”