Karim Samra

Karim spent the first 15 years of his career working for multinational companies. He started at Swicorp Capital as an analyst then associate on the private equity side, where he advised MENA corporations on private and public placements and evaluated multiple regional deals for direct equity investment. Following business school, he spent time with General Electric Capital (where he evaluated $2bn of renewable energy equity investments), Barclays Capital (as an advisor to the COO where he was also appointed to the firm’s global ESG investing committee), and Booz & Co (in New York and Cairo, working with global and MENA clients including the Egyptian Ministry of Finance).

He then made a career transition in 2014 and joined the Hult Foundation as its global Chief Operating Officer, to help build and grow the platform in partnership with the United Nations and the Clinton Global Initiative. He also ran the foundation’s startup accelerators in Boston and London, and in the process helped coach 200+ startups across multiple countries and sectors.

After six years with Hult, he left to found Changelabs, a dedicated platform for the Middle East and from the Middle East to make sure as many entrepreneurs as possible receive training, inspiration, and funding. The company now runs accelerators, festivals, incubators, and learning programs for young people in multiple countries and provides funding for early stage startups and scale ups. Karim leads the company’s activities and helped evaluate and negotiate stakes in OTO Courses, Youspital, Askova, Lifelabs, and more. He’s coached and helped more than 96 additional startups in the last 3 years, across MENA markets, both directly and through Changelabs.

In addition to being a recognized mentor to startups globally and a regular speaker at regional conferences, he also invests in early stage companies and sits on a number of boards across the healthcare, education, and energy sectors. He works closely with development organizations, the private sector, and MENA governments to help design and deliver cutting-edge impact entrepreneurship programs that help ignite and develop local startup ecosystems.

He holds a B.A. in History from Boston College, and an M.B.A in Accounting and Marketing from NYU’s Stern School of Business, where he was a merit-based scholarship recipient.