Walid Salem

Walid Salem is a seasoned dynamic international development consultant with more than 20 years experince. Salem offers a unique combination of expertise given he worked in leadership positions for global private sector firms as well as managed donor-funded development projects. He was appointed as Chief of Party at the age of 28, making him the yougest ever to hold such a position for a USAID project. His work in development addressed gaps in economic growth, private sector development, export promotion, capacity building, and competitiveness policy. Salem's educational background is equally unique given the breadth of discplines it covers; he holds BA in Economics, and MA in Development Studies from the American University in Cairo, and an MBA from London Business School, one of the top five business schools worldwide. Salem's career includes working with the public and private sectors, bi-lateral development agencies as well as government institutions. He worked all over the world, where professional responsibilities have involved a wide variety of highly challenging initiatives, from fostering global business alliances, developing national strategies for export growth, to initiating and implementing private sector funded community development initiatives for disenfranchised populations. Salem served as Chief of Party, for USAID funded projects, and advisor for National Government bodies in Egypt. Salem’s work is, primarily, focused on private sector development and export-driven economic growth policy. His areas of expertise include: private-sector development, export promotion, cluster-based competitiveness strategies, work-force development and training, capacity building, institutional development, public-private partnerships, policy advocacy, economic policy reform, private sector led community development initiatives, managing relationships at senior level/ministerial level. In his most recent role, as Co-founder and Global Business Development Director, of a multi-million dollar privately owned global manufacturing and exporting business, Salem continued to work closely with a multitude of government bodies and quasi-government institutions on policy reform advocacy initiatives aiming at enhancing the business environment for exports and investments.