Samar brings more than 17 years of senior leadership experience across international development, non-profit management, fundraising, and cross-sector partnership building. She sits on the Chief Officers Group and leads the development of Project Yananai's UK operations, connecting UK networks, funding, and expertise to the organisation's global mission.

Samar's career spans the United Kingdom, Africa, MENA, the GCC, and Europe, where she has led regional strategies, donor-funded programmes, and private-sector partnerships. She has worked extensively with UN agencies, governments, international donors, foundations, corporate partners, universities, and civil-society organisations, designing and delivering initiatives in employability, entrepreneurship, skills development, sustainability, and youth inclusion.

Concurrently, Samar serves as Global Senior Vice President, Investment & Strategy and MENA Country Manager at the World Sustainable Hospitality Alliance, a UK-headquartered global non-profit. There she holds senior responsibility for strategy, resource mobilisation, investment, organisational growth, and operational oversight. Her fundraising record includes personally securing a $10 million, five-year grant through an Islamic Development Bank alliance for youth development and poverty reduction, as well as developing multiple private-sector partnerships involving UK organisations, family offices, and angel investors.

Samar is also the founder of TGF Youth Development, a youth-focused learning and employability platform she scaled from approximately $40,000 to $1.6 million in revenue, building a diversified income model across donor funding, corporate partnerships, sponsorships, consultancy, and training programmes. Under her leadership, TGF reached more than 500,000 young professionals and students and directly trained over 27,000 participants in less than one year, establishing partnerships with 27 universities and major technology companies including Google, Facebook, Dell, and IBM.

Her commitment to safeguarding, gender equality, and beneficiary-centred delivery runs throughout her work. She led employability programmes in Africa that trained more than 500 participants and supported 400 people into employment over 18 months, with 77% women's participation. She has also supported UN Women advocacy and partnerships across MENA to advance women's economic empowerment and inclusion.

At Project Yananai, Samar's immediate priority is the development of the UK AI hubs, community-based centres for AI awareness, education, literacy, and skills development, grounded in the UK's regulatory direction and benchmarked against leading international guidance, with a focus on advancing Responsible AI Use in UK organisations and communities. She will also lead the build-out of the PY Volunteering Access Portal, connecting UK-based volunteers to training delivery opportunities through Project Yananai's Community Learning Hubs in India, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Samar holds a Bachelor's degree in Marketing & Strategic Management from the German University in Cairo, a Diploma in Private Equity from the American University in Cairo, and is currently completing MBA studies in Strategic Planning at Edinburgh Business School.