Community
The Forum of Young Global Leaders is a community of innovators from diverse backgrounds and experiences. Search current members and alumni by year awarded, sector or region.

Mohammed Al-Ghanim
Mohammed H. Al Ghanim is Chief Executive Officer of Hamad S. Al-Ghanim & Sons Group, a family-owned business, where he leads a group of companies to develop the best practices in the engineering field required to solve imminent and longstanding infrastructure and climate challenges by employing new technologies in the EPC field. Coming from a background of youth leadership and activism having served on several international youth advisory councils, including the UN Population Fund, Al Ghanim actively seeks to re-examine the business proposition from being purely a profit-generating institution to one that addresses society’s problem as a whole. Al-Ghanim holds a BA from Tufts University in Massachusetts and an MA from Georgetown University in Washington, DC in Political Science.

Lamya Al Haj
Lamya Al Haj holds a PhD in Structural and Molecular Biology from UCL and an MSc in Environmental Science and Technology from UNSW. She is a researcher on biodiesel alternatives to oil, and an Associate Professor at the Sultan Qaboos University. Lamya founded a speakers' platform in GCC region “Jalasat Mulhimoon” to showcase role models and inspire younger generations. She has spoken at conferences and corporate events including Harvard and IMD Middle East Alumni conferences on leadership. She was recently selected as a judge for an MIT based competition “Innovators under 35” organized by MIT Technology Review. She is the founder of “Coach4Change” where she worked alongside and supported senior government officials, CEOs, business leaders and boards around the country. She received numerous awards & recognitions including the “Boban Marcovic Prize in Environmental Science”, The “Gulf Intelligence - Occidental Award”, “National Research Award”, “Omani Woman Award 2019” for her innovation, and the prestigious “L’Oréal UNESCO award for women in science- Middle east fellowship award”- 2018. She is featured in the book "100 most successful Omani woman" and more recently classified as top 20 most inspiring persons in Oman by TAS ICON awards. She is also a Fellow at The World Academy of Science (TWAS 2019-2023 affiliate) and a YGL class 2020.
Her passion is in the fields of disruptive education, R&D, youth empowerment and community service.

Mohamed Al Hashemi
Mohamed Al Hashemi is the CEO of Union Coop, publicly traded coop in UAE. Previously held the role of Country Head of Majid Al Futtaim Entertainment in the UAE. He held previously the role of Country Head in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In his role, he leads a team of over 1,300 employees and is responsible for Majid Al Futtaim Leisure, Entertainment and Cinemas as well as Majid Al Futtaim Lifestyle. During his tenure in this role, Mohamed introduced Cinemas to Saudi and helped create and shape the industry. He focused his efforts on Customer Experience and Operational Excellence achieving market leadership in the Kingdom. Along with, Mohamed is serving as an advisory board member at the General Commission for Audio Visual in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (Ministry of Media), and a mentor at Endeavor, steering businesses to grow country’s GDP. Before being named Country Head in 2018, Mohamed was the Director of Business Development and Marketing at Majid Al Futtaim Healthcare, Management Reporting and Analysis at Majid Al Futtaim Ventures, Head of Treasury GCC at Majid Al Futtaim Retail. Prior to joining Majid Al Futtaim, Mohamed started his career as a Corporate Banker in Emirates Bank Group focusing on various industries as Aviation, Retail and Construction. Mohamed received both a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and an Executive MBA in Strategic Management from the prestigious Higher Colleges of Technology in the UAE, Dubai. Mohamed is a firm believer in empowering the youth to reach their full potential through business and about creating a sustainable business environments and business models for generations to grow.

Faisal Alibrahim
Faisal F. Alibrahim is the Minister of Economy and Planning of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Alibrahim is also the Supervisor of the Secretariat of the Council of Economic and Development
Affairs (CEDA) and a member of the council. His Excellency also chairs the Board of Directors of
the General Authority for Statistics.
Alibrahim is a member of several governmental committees such as the Finance Committee, the
Strategic Management Committee, the CEDA Standing Committee, the Supreme National
Investment Council, the Supreme National Council for Industry, the Supreme Transportation and
Logistics Committee, the Large Companies Investment Committee, the National Incentives
Committee, the Privatization Program Committee, the Financial Sector Development Program
Committee, and the National Transformation Program Committee. HE also serves on several
boards including the Public Investment Fund, National Development Fund, the Royal Commission
for Riyadh City, the General Organization for Social Insurance, the Local Content and Government
Procurement Authority, the National Center for Performance Management, and the Cultural
Development Fund. His Excellency served as secretary/second secretary of the Aramco IPO
Committees. He was also chairman of the Executive Committee and member of the Supervisory
Committee for the Kingdom’s participation in EXPO 2020 Dubai which has received multiple
awards and recognitions.
Previously, Alibrahim served as Vice Minister of Economy and Planning and prior to that held key
positions at Saudi Aramco including head of mergers and acquisitions, project manager of King
Salman International Complex for Maritime Services and Industries, project manager for the Vela-
Bahri merger, the largest transaction in Saudi at that time, and Vice President of Aramco
Development Company.
Alibrahim holds a master’s degree in business administration from the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, a bachelor’s degree in economics, a bachelor’s degree in accounting, and a Minor in
Management Information Systems from the Pennsylvania State University. HE is a World Economic
Forum Young Global Leader and member of the UCLA Health International Advisory Board.

Eyad Alkassar
Eyad grew up in Germany, where he earned a Ph.D. Summa Cum Laude in Computer Science from Saarland University. During his studies he was a fellow of the German National Academic Foundation. Since he joined Rocket Internet as CEO of The Middle East, Eyad co-founded and run over a dozen of companies which raised hundreds of millions of dollars in funding - and some of them are now the largest Tech companies of the Middle East fulfilling daily hundreds of thousands of orders. Among others Eyad is a Co-founder of Snapp (largest Internet company of the Middle East) and Namshi.com. In 2017 he was honored as Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.

Ghosson Al Khaled
Ghosson Ghassan Alkhaled began her career as an industrial engineer in the industrial sector of ACICO Group in 2002. Since then, she has made her way up the career ladder to become Deputy Chief Executive Officer of ACICO Industries. In her current role, Alkhaled is responsible for managing operations across all sectors, companies and Group subsidiaries in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar.
Since joining, Alkhaled has played an integral role at ACICO Group, achieving remarkable growth, expanding into new markets and increasing overall operational efficiency across all factories; thereby improving the Group’s asset quality and increasing profitability. Additionally, she worked on building an internal culture of teamwork among members and has continuously worked on finding new, innovative solutions to business challenges.
A notable national economic figure and thought leader, Alkhaled also represented Kuwait’s private sector in a number of international workshops and was appointed in 2017 as a member of the Supreme Council for Planning and Development in Kuwait by the Council of Ministers. Moreover, during the same year, she was selected to be part of a prestigious group entitled ‘Young Global Leader’ by the World Economic Forum, in which she worked to tackle global issues topics such as development and other pressing challenges faced by the global economy.
As a young, Kuwaiti businesswoman, Alkhaled held several leadership positions and was on the list of the Top 100 Most Powerful Arab Businesswomen by Forbes Middle East. She was also selected among the 100 World’s Most Influential Arabs by Arabian Business Magazine. Alkhaled was also awarded ‘Woman Game Changer’ at the Global WIL Economic Forum for Entrepreneurs and Businesswomen in Dubai.

Shaikh Mohammed Bin Essa Al Khalifa
1992, degree in Economic Theory, American University, Washington DC; 1994, postgraduate diploma in Business Studies, London School of Economics. 1995-99, Director, Crown Prince's office including 1999, Head, Court and Deputy Head, International Scholarship Programme, involved with initiatives to liberalize telecommunications sector, labour market and economic reforms; since 2005, current position. Chairman: Bahrain Development Bank; Young Arab Leaders, Bahrain.

Khalid Alkhudair
Khalid joined SMC in 2022 to lead the company into becoming the largest Media, Sports & Entertainment company in the region. Today SMC manages almost 80% of the regional medias commercial assets which include BeIN sports, the saudi broadcasting authority, Rotana, SRMG, the inflight entertainment of Saudia and over 70 digital platforms. SMC operates Alawwal park which is the home of Alnassr football club and looks after the LED parameter boards sales for several clubs. Smc also looks after the sponsorship and marketing rights of the Saudi football federation and all its assets which includes the Kings cup and national team as well as a host of other IPs in the Kingdom.Khalids last role was the Chief Experience Officer (CXO) at Riyad Bank, leading the internal and external experience transformation which includes brand, internal/external communications, digital, all internal/external campaigns, PR, research and insights, CX design and customer journey's for all business lines ,business processes for all products, UX and UI, Customer & SAMA Care, Employer of Choice program, and establishing their core CSR department, for the entire Riyad Bank Group which includes Riyad Capital. Khalid also worked as an advisor to the Saudi Banks Media Committee in which he was tasked to restructure it in 2021 as an acting Secretary General and recruited the team to proceed with the job. Prior to this role Khalid Founded Glowork, an employment organization that created thousands of jobs for women and placed over 40,000 women thus far. He is the first Saudi Ashoka Fellow, Young Global Leader at the World Economic Forum & an Endeavor Entrepreneur. Previously he held the role of Chief Operating Officer- Markets at KPMG in Saudi, Kuwait and Jordan. In 2013 Khalid led Glow Group to an investment to expand its current operations into different verticals.
He has a Bachelors Degree in Commerce from Saint Mary’s University in Canada and has completed his Executive Education in Leadership at the University of Yale, and in Public Policy from Harvard Kennedy School.
Khalid has been awarded many awards such as the Chaillot Prize for Human Rights by the European Union, The King Salman Award for Entrepreneurship, Ranked #3 Most Influential Arab by Arabian Business, EY Entrepreneur of the year, amongst many others. Khalid also sits on a number of Advisory boards throughout the Globe such as the L'Oréal Global Panel of Critical Friends, The Global Agenda Council on Middle East and North Africa Issues at the World Economic Forum, and is an Amend’s Fellow at the University of Stanford.

Gassan Al-Kibsi
With McKinsey since 1997. Currently, Chairman and Managing Partner for the Middle East, Africa, Central Asia and Turkey. Passionate about supporting leaders on matters of economic growth and job creation for young people. Since 2000, he has been working with the public, private, and social sectors across the region to accelerate its economic and social transformation and develop next-generation talent. Served some of the world’s leading companies in energy, technology, and consumer-facing industries to enhance growth and global competitiveness. Author of various articles. Recipient of awards, including WEF Young Global Leader, National Achievement Award, Yemen. MBA, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, MSc (Hons) in Operations Research, MIT, BSc in Industrial Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology.

Omar Al-Madhi
Omar co-heads Direct Investments for the MENA Investments Division, overseeing PIF investments and opportunities in key strategic sectors.
He formerly held the position of Senior Managing Director & Member of the Board at Abdul Latif Jameel Investments where he led Abdul Latif Jameel’s diversification efforts, building and investing in businesses that support our growth and entry into new sectors and geographies.
Omar joined Abdul Latif Jameel’s leadership after three years within Volkswagen Group’s leadership as the Chief Executive Officer of Volkswagen Group Saudi Arabia.
Prior to that, Omar was a member of SAGIA's executive team. Prior to SAGIA, Omar worked in a multitude of positions within Saudi Aramco including participating in developing the company’s long-term strategy in the technology area. He was also an Associate at McKinsey & Company in Dubai, UAE.
Omar obtained his Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering from the University of Pennsylvania in 2002. He also received an MBA degree from the MIT Sloan School of Management in 2007.
Omar was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum, joining the class of 2017. In naming Omar, the Forum characterized him as "a recognized corporate executive who has emerged a champion of job creation, employment and infrastructure in Saudi Arabia".
He was appointed by Royal Decree to the Board of the Saudi Job Creation & Employment Commission and was later selected to also sit on the Board’s Executive Committee. He is chairman of the Board and the Executive Committee of the Saudi Fisheries Company and is also a member of the Board of the National Agricultural Development Company (NADEC) — key portfolio companies of PIF.
He is an Eisenhower Fellow having been selected as the Fellow from Saudi Arabia for Eisenhower Fellowships’ 2011 Multi Nation Program. As an Eisenhower Fellow, Omar was awarded the Ward Wheelock Distinguished Middle East Fellow honor. He is also the recipient of the 2007 MIT Sloan Martin Trust Fellowship, which recognizes excellence in members of the graduating class.
Omar is married with three children and is fluent in English, Arabic and Greek.

Hamad AlMahmeed
Director General of Bahrain Prime Minister's Office

Abdulrahman Essa Al-Mannai
Abdulrahman Essa Al-Mannai has been the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Milaha Group (Qatar Navigation) since 2015. He sits on the Board of Directors of Nakilat and QTerminals, a joint venture between Mawani and Milaha. Prior, Al-Mannai held various leadership positions at Qatargas, the world's largest LNG company where he oversaw the largest LNG supply chain, Europe's largest regasification terminal and the South Hook LNG Terminal. Throughout his career, Al-Mannai has developed extensive experience in multiple fields, including shipping, energy and commercial activities. He has a degree in aeronautical engineering.