Hi, I’m Alaa Alazem
a Corporate Financial Expert. Strategist,Trainer,Mentor. Startups ecosystem builder.

“Mrs. Alazem showed a high level of commitment to fulfil her duties, to represent the interest of SPARK to the best of her abilities and to follow the rules and regulations as established by SPARK. She also impressed the team with her strategic planning, leadership, team management, effective communication, and crisis management skills. It was the second time for SPARK to conduct a 100% online project for supporting SMEs where most of the team is not present in Iraq, and it was a success due to her contribution and commitment. Thus, we highly recommend the assignment of Mrs. Alaa Alazem in future entrepreneurial ecosystem development projects.”

“Alaa Alazem, one of the best financial experts I worked with, she is highly experienced, humble and simple, we worked together in mentorship program for the SME’s and she did very well, also she’s so corporative and very supportive person, personally I followed up her financial lessons and got benefits of, I hope we work again and I wish she could work in Baghdad. It will be great opportunity to work together.”

“I knew Alaa since 2017, the year when I started to learn about entrepreneurship. She was one of the main trainers at The Entrepreneurship Program 2017 organized by ICT Damascus and UNFPA, and she helped us understand and practice a crucial topic for every startup founder, the financial statement, and since that, I deal with it like a piece of cake, and that makes her the first name that jumps in my mind when it comes to startups and finance.”

“I have known Ms. Alazem since 2019. when she enrolled on our master’s degree in Entrepreneurship. In her time as a student, she has proved herself to be diligent, hard-working, highly motivated and committed to making a difference. Throughout the program, she proved to be a good listener and communicator, able to deal with criticism and to build on feedback received. I have no doubt that she will prove to be an asset to her employer.”

“I believe the greatest thing we give each other is encouragement...knowing that I'm talking to someone in this mentoring relationship who's interested in the big idea here is crucial to me. I met Alaa virtually this year during Startup Without Borders program. She was an impressive business mentor, she inspired me during the period of the program. She also helped me in developing my business model, my pitch deck to be effective, efficient, and direct to the point. I have learned tremendously from her.”

“Alaa is a wonderful business professional with great accounting and training experience. We have been collaborative colleagues on two projects I have worked on now in Iraq. She has shown dedication to her work and exceptional professionalism both to the end beneficiaries as well as the project teams.”

“I have worked with Alaa for a long time, she held several positions at my firm at several levels. She was always professional, always met targets and held upmost ethics. I feel happy that she continues to cooperate with us.”

“I have been knowing Mrs. Alaa since 2004 when I recruited her to join my team at Syriatel Mobile Telecom. During her work with me, Mrs. Alaa confirmed the impression I formulated when I first interviewed her: a self-driven & energetic person with a lot of ambition that fuels dedication and relentless passion for learning and development. This coupled with her creativity and good communications skills enabled her to gain senior leaders respect who listened to her advice. I used to describe Mrs. Alaa as a “sponge” because she was able to quickly absorb new information and learning whilst effectively applying those learnings to complex situations. I counted on her to finish tasks on-time and error-free and hence she played a key role in coordinating the creation & compilation of Syriatel’s Annual Report (Syriatel is a listed company). Further, she was heavily involved in analyzing Syriatel’s financial results (~$1bln in annual revenue at the time) and producing variance reports and recommending corrective / preventive actions. She was also involved in the economics (feasibility study) of one of the M&A deals that I was working on to acquire a telecom license. Over the past years, Mrs. Alaa and I continued to be in touch and I have been very pleased with what she has accomplished and contributed so far. Her perseverance, teamwork & leadership skills, initiative, and confidence are a testimony of her high caliber and potential.”

“Mrs. Alaa was clear in her action plan that a special attention will be given to the business area to retrieve its great history and show its importance for JCI Damascus positioning among other NGO's. This strategy proved to be very effective as more sponsors and partners were attracted to the organization and interested in being a stakeholder. For the first time, seven projects were planned and executed in the business area and members realized how essential this area is to the success of the whole chapter. Mrs. Alaa considered COVID 19 as an opportunity to accelerate digital transformation, so she personally mentored her Vice Presidents and Project Chairpersons to learn about Zoom and to adapt their plans and conduct their activities and meetings online. With her leadership, JCI Damascus succeeded in conducting 16 impact-full projects and more than 30 trainings providing excellent development opportunities for youth. Due to that, JCI Damascus attracted 62 new members in the middle of the year and retained 188 old members (83% Retention Rate). She successfully managed 250 members, 7 Local Directors and 7 board members, and published 4 Newsletters, signed 7 Memorandum of Understanding with different partners who supported JCI Damascus projects execution while promoting the Corporate Social Responsibility concept.”