Qimam Foundation

The Qimam Foundation is a non-profit co-founded by McKinsey & Company that aims to identify, develop, and empower the most promising and distinguished university students from the Middle East, North Africa, and Pakistan (MENAP) region to achieve their full potential.

Qimam was founded on the belief that a crucial system to accelerate and secure economic prosperity for our region is to institutionally identify our highest-potential youth and provide them with the necessary support to make a significant impact. Our region is abundant in exceptional talent, and nurturing this talent is one of the best investments we can make for a brighter future.

The Qimam Fellowship Program was founded by McKinsey and Dr. Annas Abedin. Abedin is a McKinsey alumnus who sought to refute the narrative that there is a talent shortage in Saudi Arabia. To Abedin, who was raised in Germany, it was very clear that his friends and family raised in Saudi Arabia lacked the opportunities and exposure he had early on, so he decided to create a fellowship to nurture young people and provide these opportunities.

Given McKinsey’s long history of designing leadership-training programs and developing talent, and its commitment to the Kingdom, we were keen to make Qimam a reality.

Under the umbrella of the Qimam Foundation, the Qimam Fellowship Program—previously active exclusively in Saudi Arabia since 2018—has expanded to Pakistan and Jordan in 2025. Qimam and McKinsey alumnus Farooq Awad is the Founder of the Qimam Foundation, and is carrying the torch onwards to expand Qimam to the whole MENAP region.

The Qimam Foundation offers an international fellowship program supported by a coalition of leading national and international companies and hundreds of global executives.

Qimam launched its first annual Fellowship in Saudi Arabia in 2018 and has graduated 400 high-potential alumni to date, before expanding to the wider MENAP region in 2025 (Jordan and Pakistan) under the Qimam Foundation umbrella.

Following a rigorous application and selection process, Qimam fellows participate in an intensive, 12-day, in-person summer training program. The program includes the following:

• One-on-one mentoring sessions with senior leaders from industry or government
• Visits to leading private- and public-sector organizations
• Leadership-training sessions
• Networking and team-building exercises to encourage long-term collaboration and partnership among Qimam fellows
• Access to career opportunities and job postings through the Qimam network