Ranya Saadawi was appointed as Acasia Group new CEO, the leading investing and impact platform that aims to invest and support the next generation of technology entrepreneurs in the Middle East and Africa.
Saadawi joins Acasia following a two-year stint as executive director of the Pearl Initiative, a Gulf-based nonprofit that works in corporate governance.
Saadawi succeeds Aly El Shalakany (LinkedIn) who is now the managing partner of Acasia Ventures.
Saadawi went on to work at Ashoka Arab World as Search and Selection Venture Officer, while being an Impact Investment Consultant at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).
In 2013, she joined the Education for Employment Initiative in Washington D.C., where she managed a USD 3 mn grant portfolio in Yemen and Palestine, after which shemanaged expansion efforts and new office openings in the UAE and Saudi Arabia while securing over USD 5 million in new funding.
She also established and led the USD 100 mn grant management function Expo Live of Expo 2020 Dubai, building a portfolio of 140 global innovators from 76 countries who are developing solutions to the world’s greatest challenges across 14 sectors. Before joining Acasia Group as CEO, Saadawi was the Executive Director of the UAE’s not-for-profit, private sector-led organization Pearl Initiative, with the aim of building transparency, governance and accountability, as well as ESG strategies, across the GCC.
