Samar Alshorafa

Samar is the co-founder of She is Arab, the first dedicated speakers’ platform for Arab women, working to address the issue of underrepresentation of Arab women in business leadership and public speaking roles. We aim to elevate the positioning of and reverse stereotypes on, Arab women. Prior to starting her business, she spent over 15 years working in the field of international development and management consulting. She also serves as Advisor to the Chairman & Board Member at Farm Food for Food Industries, a private family-owned business based in Egypt.

Samar worked for multiple organisations, including Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation; International Finance Corporation (IFC) covering 19 countries in MENA; the European Commission’s Industrial Modernization Programme (IMP) for Egypt; and, Education for Employment (EFE). Her areas of specialization included working on education & knowledge development, youth employment, policy reform and developing projects to support the creation of a business-enabling environment in the region. Her work in this domain helped her gain significant exposure to development challenges facing the Arab world. Samar also worked for the Talal Abu Ghazaleh Organization (TAGORG) in their management consulting division, as well as multiple freelance consulting assignments in the area of organizational restructuring and market research.

As a social entrepreneur, Samar holds a special interest in women empowerment and achieving gender equality, education, entrepreneurship and innovation. Samar is married and a proud mother of three boys. She holds a BA in Economics with a specialization in Business and International Relations from the American University in Cairo.