MAYS IBRAHIM (ABU DHABI)
From secure microelectronics to global investment strategy, Hoda Al Khzaimi has devoted her career to turning ideas into systems, and systems into platforms that elevate others.
Her journey began in the world of cryptography and quantum systems with a question: How do we ensure that knowledge does not stay ornamental, but becomes sovereign?'
Over two decades, Al Khzaimi has worked across science, technology, engineering, the arts, mathematics, economic policy and investment design.
Today, Al Khzaimi leads Emaratsec, a centre focused on secure AI, cryptography and frontier systems.
She also serves as Associate Vice Provost for Research Translation at NYU Abu Dhabi and advises on multi-billion-dirham innovation platforms across the Global South.
In a recent interview with Aletihad, Al Khzaimi was quick to point out that her successes are part of a larger project.
In just a few decades, Emirati women have stepped up from the margins to roles of influence across the UAE's science, business and policy sectors.
Sixty-one percent of UAE university graduates are women, and women now represent over 36% of the country's entrepreneurs, actively participating in venture capital, ESG investing, and sovereign asset design, Al Khzaimi noted.
"Women hold two-thirds of government jobs, 50% of seats in the Federal National Council, and are increasingly shaping digital economies, trade infrastructure, and fiscal strategy," she added.
"What is extraordinary is not just our presence. It is that we are shaping the frameworks that will define future leadership – in labs, in legislation, and in liquidity."
The UAE marked Emirati Women's Day on August 28, celebrating generations of women who helped build the families, economies and systems that shaped the UAE's story.
"This day honours not only the innovators or leaders by name, but the architecture of resilience that all Emirati women embody - from the ones who shaped policy to the ones who shaped children, from those who explored the frontiers of space to those who never left the confines of duty, yet moved mountains all the same," Al Khzaimi said.
Throughout her two decades in the realm of STEAM, economics and investment, Al Khzaimi has aimed to build structures that allow others, particularly women, the chance to take initiative in their fields.
"I am proudest when a young woman no longer asks whether she belongs in a sector but asks instead what she might reshape within it – be it the market, the model or the method," she said.
"That is the legacy I hope to leave behind: a leadership model rooted not in exceptionality, but in accessibility and authorship."