Najla Al-Midfa is General Manager of Sheraa - Sharjah Entrepreneurship Center - a government entity that aims to inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs and provide them with a launchpad for success. She is also Founder of Khayarat, a platform that enables young Emiratis to make informed career choices.

Prior to this, she was a Senior Manager at the Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development, where she led a team of business counselors through the due diligence process, helping to identify and select ventures for financing. During her tenure, she also designed and led several youth-related initiatives.

Najla was previously a senior associate at McKinsey and Company‘s New York office, where she worked on a range of strategy-related projects, primarily serving clients across the financial institutions sector. Her work experience also includes key roles within PricewaterhouseCoopers and Shell.

Najla is a member of the Board of Directors, and Risk Committee, Chairman of the Audit Committee at United Arab Bank.

She is also Vice-Chairman Young Arab Leaders, a founding board member of Education for Employment UAE, and Women Corporate Directors GCC.

She holds an MBA from Stanford University; she’s a fellow of the Aspen Institute’s Middle East Leadership Initiative and a member of the Aspen Institute’s Global Leadership Network.