Khadeja Albuhaliqa

Khadeja Ahmed Albuhaliqa is an entrepreneur, Executive Director of Hanks Garden, youth-affairs adviser at the Ministry of Sports and Youth, Director of the Youth Ambassadors of Al-Ada’am Programme, Vice-Chair of the ministry’s Youth Advisory Committee from 2020 to 2022, and owner of the content-development company Ideaphoria.

She was born and raised in Doha in a supportive, open and balanced middle-income family of seven. Her grandparents had traded in traditional bishts for decades, fostering her strong attachment to Qatari culture. Her father, Ahmed Mousa Albuhaliqa, was Deputy Chief Executive for engineering at Hamad Medical Corporation. Educated in the United States in biomedical and electrical engineering, he also maintained a strong interest in culture.

Born and raised in Doha, she grew up in a supportive, open and balanced middle-income family of seven. Her grandparents had traded in traditional bishts for decades, giving her a strong attachment to Qatari culture. Her father, Ahmed Mousa Albuhaliqa, was Executive Vice-President for Engineering at Hamad Medical Corporation and had studied biomedical and electrical engineering in the United States. News and detailed political analysis formed part of their conversations, while her mother grounded the children in religion, custom and tradition and gave them room to choose their paths. Her elder brother recognised her individuality early and became her closest friend; her grandfather’s accounts of earlier hardships taught her never to treat comfort as an entitlement.

Al Bayan Scientific Secondary School gave her ideas an unusually receptive setting. Established through the forward-looking vision of Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, it treated students’ views as part of school life. She quickly became a driving force in student activity, discovering abilities that strengthened her confidence and conviction that she could influence change.

Her volunteer work began at sixteen. At UNCTAD, one of the major conferences held in Qatar, she accompanied His Excellency Dr Hamad bin Abdulaziz Al Kuwari, then Minister of Culture. Observing his meetings and conduct taught her discipline, commitment and the foundations of diplomacy. Long days beside senior Qatari officials also introduced her to official meetings, international presentations, internal dialogue, planning and organisation.

After secondary school, she entered the American University of Sharjah, initially intending to move into international studies and later apply to the University of Leeds. During a year in Sharjah, she combined study with journalism and initiatives, becoming the first new student to win a Student Council seat in her first semester. Cultural work with Omani and Qatari students led to recognition from the Omani ambassador to the United Arab Emirates. Before turning eighteen, she also worked as a hall supervisor for Etisalat at GITEX and carried the Asian Games torch in Sharjah.

Concerned that activity and publicity might distract from study, her father moved her education to the United States. She immediately sought voluntary work there. When existing clubs did not match her interests, she and several colleagues established a UNICEF Club, contacted the United Nations and raised donations for Africa through partnerships with nearby restaurants and cafés. Within two months, the initiative had attracted considerable attention and demonstrated her ability to negotiate, build working relationships and turn proposals into action.

Five years in the United States produced two qualifications: one in international studies, specialising in journalism, media and Middle East communication, and another in international business communication. Guided by Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, she also trained and worked at Qatar’s embassy in Washington, becoming one of the first young Qatari women to receive such training and gaining practical exposure to diplomats, officials and political institutions.

Alongside that work, she designed modest clothes for herself that drew on Qatari culture. Requests from other students encouraged her to establish the Albuhaliqa business in Qatar with her brother Hussein. The venture fulfilled a promise to her grandfather that the family name and its long association with making and trading bishts would be carried beyond Qatar. She entered commercial life through a demanding field at only twenty.

Her designs drew the attention of a United Nations organisation, which invited her to represent the Middle East and North Africa. In September 2014, she joined designers from several continents in an initiative supporting girls and women in developing countries. A New York Fashion Week presentation directed its proceeds towards university scholarships. A later collaboration in South Korea placed traditional Gulf designs on dolls created with the international sculptor Rederico, presenting Arab and Islamic culture to a wider audience at an exhibition opened by Park Geun, South Korea’s eleventh president.

After returning to Doha in 2011, she reduced her design work and completed a master’s degree in public policy at Hamad Bin Khalifa University. She hoped to enter government service, but rather than wait for a delayed response, she accepted an offer from an American oil and gas company as a security analyst and safety officer.

The role took her on assignments to Libya, Russia, Kazakhstan and Dubai to assess facility safety and security. Although far from her academic specialism, four years in the sector taught her that achievement was not confined to a desk or fixed hours. A manager who recognised her confidence, persuasive ability and determination entrusted her with responsibilities beyond her age, showed her how to develop staff and made a decisive contribution to her professional formation.

A project created with friends from her master’s programme became Hanks Garden on 14 February 2017, one of the early Qatar-based companies specialising in European-style floral design. In 2022, she founded Ideaphoria to develop creative ideas, provide innovative management consultancy, design unconventional educational programmes and strengthen creativity among young people.

She launched the Youth Ambassadors of Al-Ada’am Programme in 2018 to prepare Qatari young people for international representation, introducing them to diplomacy, decision-making and relevant laws and concepts. Her own experience included a high-level United Nations conference in 2015, the United Nations Economic and Social Meeting and youth and Arab forums in America and Europe. The Ministry of Sports and Youth supported the proposal and brought it under its umbrella. Covid-19 delayed its launch until 2021, after which three editions were delivered, each nominating thirty young women and men for international-conference opportunities and leadership experience.

In 2014, she was selected among a group of young advisers to His Excellency the Minister and spent six months developing proposals for youth work, several of which became national programmes. She later contributed to the proposal for a Qatari Youth Council through the Youth Advisory Committee. Ministerial approval led to implementation, and in 2017 she joined twenty distinguished young Qataris on the committee advising His Excellency the Minister of Sports and Youth.

The committee became a link between the minister and young people, raising awareness of investment and preparing an electoral process for forty Qatari youth representatives. In the committee’s second election in 2020, she won one of seven seats and became Vice-Chair.

Her recognition includes the GCC Medal for Distinguished Young Women’s Leadership in 2016. In 2022, she was among the first young Qataris to receive the volunteer-work scarf, presented by His Excellency Sheikh Abdulrahman bin Hamad bin Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani, Minister of Culture, in partnership with the Points of Light foundation, marking voluntary service sustained since the age of sixteen.

The Youth Ambassadors model travelled beyond Qatar: Bahrain and Oman adopted the idea and established programmes of their own. She also advocated the Sustainable Development Goals, researched the field and helped restore confidence in the role of young people in international work.

In 2023, she entered the seventh Central Municipal Council election as one of four women among 106 male candidates nationwide. Her campaign rejected routine methods and used a distinctive public presentation to encourage more ambitious electoral communication, drawing attention well beyond Al Thumama and raising the competitive standard. Across her investments, public initiatives and return from the United States, she also had to overcome resistance to unfamiliar ideas and stereotyped judgements, relying on persistence, self-belief and a willingness to pursue a developmental path even when doing so left her standing alone.