Tell us about your background and rise to CEO of MENA Impact
I am a French-Moroccan sustainability expert and the founder and CEO of MENA Impact, a UAE-based company. I spent over a decade in Audit & Risk Management roles across Europe and the Middle East before transitioning from a corporate leader to an impact entrepreneur. I am dedicated to advancing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through my work and advocacy in the region. I have also been recognized as a leading Top Voice on LinkedIn for sustainability in the MENA region. I have been living in the UAE since 2018.
What does MENA Impact do?
MENA Impact is a platform that serves as a one-stop shop for sustainability programs, courses, educational content, and community-building activities. Our mission is to empower organizations and individuals in the MENA region by providing them with all the resources, knowledge, and tools they need to create impact. We move beyond traditional consulting and advisory approaches by truly listening and adapting to the needs of our stakeholders.
What are your core values?
We are an impact-driven company, balancing purpose and profit. We are far from the traditional concept of business, existing instead to create systemic change in our society. We do this by walking the walk, embodying our values, and through the work we do. I spent years in the corporate world, feeling a lack of purpose and frustration at not contributing to the greater good. This experience fueled the values and approach with which I built MENA Impact—a workplace that provides a mission bigger than ourselves, driving my team and me to be truly in service and tackle critical environmental and social challenges related to sustainable development. It’s a reason to wake up in the morning.
You have recently achieved B Corp Certified status; can you tell us what that means?
This is a major milestone in our journey, and we are incredibly proud to be a B Corporation/B Corp certified company. B Corps are businesses that meet high standards of environmental and social impact, accountability, and transparency—essentially, companies that believe in using business as a force for good. The B Corp community consists of over 9,000 businesses worldwide, including 12 B Corps in the UAE and over 20 in the MENA region.
As part of our work, we help companies through their certification process, supporting them in measuring, benchmarking, and improving their environmental and social impact. We are ambassadors of the B Corp movement in the region and are committed to supporting its growth by encouraging more businesses to join this incredible community of change-makers.
What is your most popular training program/service right now?
Our most popular training program right now is the Impact Box workshop. This workshop is designed to help organizations navigate the complexities of ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) in a practical and results-driven way, focusing on their services and/or products. The workshop is fully customizable and employs an innovative approach based on collective intelligence to understand the impacts, risks, and opportunities from social and environmental standpoints. We recently conducted this workshop with a group of companies, using a simple product like a shampoo bottle as an example. The experience was eye-opening for the participants as they realized the complexities involved in a daily product—from raw material extraction to production, usage, and end of life—and its significant social and environmental impact. This workshop is a fantastic way to get teams up to speed and create engagement in a company’s sustainability journey.
Do you have a client success story/case study that you can share?
We helped The Surpluss become the first climate-tech startup to achieve B Corp certification in the MENA region. We were thrilled to support them throughout the journey—from raising awareness about the B Corp movement within their team, to measuring their impact, setting a strategy to meet certification requirements, and finally, celebrating the announcement of their achievement. It has been amazing to work with such a committed team, dedicated to embracing responsible business practices.
What do you see as the biggest trend driving businesses in the MENA region currently?
I am noticing a couple of interesting trends toward sustainability in the region:
First, companies are increasingly incorporating sustainability into their strategies and hiring Chief Sustainability Officers (CSOs). According to a 2024 PwC Middle East survey, one in two companies now have a CSO or plan to appoint one within the next 12 months. This is very encouraging.
We are also seeing more partnerships between corporations, government entities, and impact entrepreneurs working towards the achievement of the SDGs. These long-term relationships enable them to amplify their impact, recognizing that by providing resources and finances, these entrepreneurs can truly drive change in society.
Lastly, we are slowly transitioning from traditional philanthropy to impact investing, especially with the new generations. The region has a legacy and culture of giving back and supporting local communities—it’s part of our DNA as Arab people, which is truly amazing. Now, this ethos is entering the investment field, with a focus on risk, return, and impact. Investors are increasingly considering the impact outcomes that companies can create, not just financial returns, especially when it comes to impact startups.
What motivates you in your role as CEO on a daily basis?
For me, being a founder and entrepreneur means being a creator. That’s the part of my work I love the most—spotting gaps and problems, and building solutions that serve not just one client, but an entire community, ultimately creating systemic change. That drives me every single day and keeps me going. I am a systems thinker, and while it can be challenging at times, my purpose keeps me moving forward. I’m also fortunate to meet bright and amazing people from around the world every day, building lasting relationships for impact.
What has been the biggest success you have achieved as CEO at MENA Impact?
I would say our B Corp certification! We’ve been in business for three years now, and for an early-stage startup, this is an incredible achievement that I am truly proud of. Being able to demonstrate our environmental and social impact in the way we run our business is commendable, especially in a region where the B Corp movement is still in its early stages.
What is your favorite quote?
“You must be the change you wish to see in the world” by Mahatma Gandhi. I love this quote because it encourages me not to wait for things to happen, but rather to take the leap and embody the change I want to create in our region.
What are your goals for the next 5 years and beyond?
Over the next five years, my goals are to strengthen our platform with more innovative offerings that support our regional community and to build large-scale programs that connect and foster collaboration within the impact ecosystem. We need a stakeholder approach and must join forces with partners to achieve a greater impact. We aim to play the role of facilitators and connectors, nurturing this ecosystem.
Where can we find out more about MENA Impact?
