Future only rewards initiators, and change will not come if we wait for another person or another time. We are the ones who create the future and we are the ones who initiate the change.
Sheikha Ohoud Al Sabah
Her Excellency Sheikha Ohoud Salem Al Ali Al Sabah
Despite her multiple personal, professional and philanthropic roles, Her Excellency Sheikha Ohoud Salem Al Ali Al Sabah has profoundly built her career as a Kuwaiti woman raised in an authentic Arab family with an honorable history in governance, leadership, and national impact. Throughout her professional journey, Her Excellency has practically broken all the stigmas on the women’s inability to foster work and family balance.
She managed to build a prosperous career as a chairperson to one of the most prominent public shareholding companies in Kuwait, become an effective social philanthropist that inaugurates humanitarian, educational and youth initiatives, and an inspiring leader in the field of social education and talents empowerment while being a wife and a mother to four children (two males and two females).
In addition to her philanthropic and social roles, she finds her family role as a mother to four different representatives of the upcoming generations a great opportunity to continuously contribute to nourishing young talents and empowering Kuwait’s most valuable resource, Kuwaiti youth. “On a daily basis I am in continuous discussions with my children, representing four promising different generations of Kuwaiti youth working in various professional fields. In addition, I get the daily opportunity to directly engage with a diverse team of two different generations working under my leadership. And, recently, I have been introduced to the rising generation of content creators and multipotentialite that I support through VO. From my daily personal and professional interaction with youth, I was able to envision the direction in which Kuwait is heading towards. Those discussions also helped me realize the gaps needed to be filled through the work I do to infuse the future of Kuwait with hope, optimism, creativity, and an effective approach to education,” Her Excellency Sheikh Ohoud Salem Al Ali Al Sabah
Sheikha Ohoud is a prominent philanthropist who was able to make history in Kuwait’s business world. Her philanthropic journey took a leap after setting the record in Kuwait’s business sector as she was the first Kuwaiti female to assume the Chairman and CEO position at a listed company, Kuwait United Poultry, from 2003 – 2007.
Her Excellency Sheikha Ohoud has built her humanitarian mission and national responsibility first through her belief in enabling everyone to obtain the absolute right to education. Her passion and aim for education is to be safe, qualitative, and in a social environment that enhances opportunities for creativity and success. Hence, Sheikha Ohoud launched her first initiative in the field of having education for all in the year 2011 through the establishment of a nonprofit company (Qalam), which specializes in providing educational grants to people with special needs.
A staunch advocate for the development of young talents, Sheikha Ohoud Al Sabah established Al Ahd Al Khaled in 2017, a philanthropic foundation that supports the development of education in Arab countries. The foundation provides various programs and services aiming to make a significant impact in the life of economically disadvantaged students who have no access to proper education.
Acknowledging the importance of integrating talent development programs in Kuwait’s education system, Sheikha Ohoud was driven to highlight and support Kuwaiti youth in various manners through her philanthropy work. Accordingly, she founded VO in 2020 to continue her journey of empowering and developing Kuwait’s young talents and position the country’s valuable human capital in the global market.
Due to her commitment towards the cause of youth empowerment, VO has rapidly become one of the most prominent talent incubation platforms in Kuwait. Through her successful leadership, she turned it into a comprehensive interactive platform that has excelled in nurturing young talents, identifying their potential, and provides them with an innovative space to develop their knowledge, skills, and capacities to foster their creativity and professional talents.
In addition to her renowned philanthropic role, Sheikha Ohoud also founded and managed several real estate and asset management companies, such as Al Ahd Al Mushtarak in 2001 and S4 Company in 2005.
Sheikha Ohoud Al Sabah earned her Bachelor’s of Arts in Political Science from Kuwait University and her Bachelor’s of Law from the University of Cairo.