As head of Middle East relations for the world’s largest
private foundation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Hassan Al Damluji is
helping to manage colossal change in the Arab world. Last year, he led a $2.5bn
development fund in partnership with the Islamic Development Bank that aims to
tackle poverty in the Islamic world. The Lives & Livelihoods Fund will
finance projects in areas of health, agriculture, and basic infrastructure. Al
Damluji also focuses on health issues including polio and malaria, which he
says are major health concerns in the Arab world.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation itself aims at
improving healthcare and education as well as decreasing poverty worldwide.
Though it focuses on Sub Saharan Africa, South Asia and parts of China, it has attended
to the Middle East’s poorer areas as well as sought cooperation from Gulf
countries, who have given heavily to the foundation.
Prior to taking on his position at the foundation, Al
Damluji worked as an engagement manager at consultancy McKinsey. He has an
Master of Arts in Middle Eastern Studies from Harvard University and a double
first in Classics and Arabic from Oxford.
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