Mr. Ahmad Ashkar is the Founder and CEO of the Hult Prize Foundation – named in a TIME Magazine cover story featuring the top five ideas changing the world. Recently ranked as one of the world’s, “Top 100 Most Powerful Arabs” by Gulf Business 2019 Edition, Ahmad and the Hult Prize have received numerous awards and recognition for their work in impact. In 2018, the Hult Prize was named by Fast Company as, “One of the World’s Most Innovative Companies” in their annual global rankings. Mr. Ashkar has been recognized by GQ Magazine Brazil as the 2018 Entrepreneur of the Year, the 2017 CEO of the Year by Arabian Business and the 2016 Esquire Magazine Entrepreneur of the Year. At only 36, Ahmad has already spent more than a decade creating, launching and advising for-good, for-profit companies in more than 100 countries.
He is a leading authority in entrepreneurship, innovation, venture philanthropy and endowments, and serves as an advisory board member of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and is a member of the Entrepreneurs Expert Network of the World Economic Forum.
Ahmad also serves as an adviser to family offices, religious institutions, private and government sector entities across the Middle East, Latin America, Europe and Asia. A resident of Washington, DC Ahmad serves as an adviser to the economic development department of George Mason University and is a guest lecturer at MIT Sloan, Georgetown, AUB and the Hult International Business School – where he earned his MBA in international business and was the 2015 alumnus of the year.
