Alumna Shayma Al Naimi Shares Path to Success on Education City Alumni Panel
A diverse group of seven accomplished alumni from undergraduate and graduate programs across Education City recently converged on the GU-Q campus to share valuable advice and tips with students as part of a Qatar Foundation-wide Career Readiness Week.
In a discussion moderated by Thanos Sardellis (GU-Q’16), Assistant Director for Alumni Relations at GU-Q, the alumni shared their unique experiences within Education City’s multiversity setting, highlighting the transformative educational opportunities that shaped their successful careers as professionals and entrepreneurs in energy and petroleum engineering, journalism, design, and diplomacy.
Representing GU-Q, Shayma Al Naimi (GU-Q’17), discussed how her experience at GU-Q prepared her to work in a variety of sectors giving her the insight and experience to advance her family’s business interests in her current role as Director of Operations at Artan Holding, a company with a diverse portfolio in education, real estate, and industrial sectors..
“Applying to Georgetown, I had one goal in mind: to work in foreign policy. I was at Georgetown at a very exciting time. It was the Arab Spring…Qatar was playing a pivotal role in shaping the region. Georgetown exposed me to all these different classes: government, statistics, macro- and microeconomics. I paused to try and understand Qatar’s foreign policy and quickly understood that it was the financial muscle that had permitted [Qatar] to act in ways greater than our geographic measure allows.”
Encouraged by two of her GU-Q professors, Shayma was able to connect this insight with her interest in foreign policy and decided to pursue investment banking. From there, she worked with the two largest local investment banks in Qatar, and, motivated to continue giving back to her country, transitioned to management consulting at McKinsey and, later, the Qatar Research, Development, and Innovation Council.
“I’m very fortunate to have had this experience, and I’m happy to share it with anyone interested in management consulting, investment, the private, and public sector,” she said.
Shayma was joined on the panel by Abdulla Jassim Alkhenji (CMU-Q’15), Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer, of Flare Business; HBKU-CIS graduate Paulino Rafael Robles Gil Cozzi (HBKU-CIS’18), Head of International Cooperation and Cultural Affairs, Embassy of Mexico in Qatar; Nayef Sabeh (HEC Paris-Q’23); Ola Diab (Northwestern Qatar’12); Tabarak Ali Al-Lami (TAMU-Q’18); and Ameena Al-Boinin (VCUarts Qatar’21). Each of the panelists went on to share valuable tips on how to set and achieve career goals and answered student’s questions, encouraging them to make the most of opportunities like internships and career fairs. They also offered advice on succeeding in interviews, and shared insights on the importance of ongoing skills development, lifelong learning, being adaptable, and building a personal brand.
The Education City Alumni Panel was co-organized and hosted by GU-Q’s Career and Alumni Centers as part of their comprehensive career offerings and support systems that help connect students and graduates with industry professionals and employers. Year-round initiatives include classroom visits by prestigious firms like McKinsey, as well as dedicated career days, networking events, on-campus career sessions, and employer-led information and interview sessions.