UN ECOSOC Development Cooperation Forum in Brussels
Discussing sustainability and social impact during King Charles III’s state visit to Bahrain
BIO
Leena Al Olaimy is a systems alchemist and serial social entrepreneur as Founder and CEO of Symbaiosys, an imaginarium advancing reciprocal planetary economies and governance systems through science, technology, and art. Leena is also cofounder of three other impact ventures: 3BL Associates, a sustainable development strategy consultancy; Public-Planet Partnerships, a framework for human-nature collaboration; Diversity On Board, which promotes human and more than human representation in the boardroom, and she is the award-winning author of Compassionate Counterterrorism: The Power of Inclusion in Fighting Fundamentalism.
Through 3BL's strategy consultancy, Leena has advised Nobel Peace Prize winners, impact investment funds, governments, and corporates, on multi-stakeholder and interspecies models to advance sustainable development.
Leena previously served on the Chatham House steering committee for the Future Dynamics in the Gulf project, on the advisory board of His Royal Highness Prince El Hassan Bin Talal of Jordan’s West Asia-North Africa Forum, and on the Board of Trustees for the Bahrain Foundation for Dialogue.
Post-Arab Awakening, she was invited to meet with leaders representing both sides of “The Troubles” in Northern Ireland and with the African National Congress and former de Klerk administration government leaders from South Africa’s Apartheid era to learn from their experiences in reconciliation. Since 2017, she has also been involved in civil society peacebuilding efforts between Arabs and Israelis, working to revive the Arab Peace Initiative, while the laying the foundations for a resilient post-conflict region.
Leena is a Fulbright scholarship recipient, and has been recognized as a Dalai Lama Fellow, Wall Street Journal “Woman of Note,” a Salzburg Global Fellow, a Business for Diplomatic Action Fellow, and an Expo 2020 Global Impact Innovator. She is listed among Bahrain’s most influential women, and was named among ChangeNOW’s 25 Women Changing Our Future. She has given over 300 talks globally engaging audiences like the World Economic Forum and several United Nations organizations.
Leena began her career as a communications consultant advising Fortune 500s, and later she worked at the Bahrain Ministry of Foreign Affairs on key regional security forums convening Middle Eastern heads of state, G8 foreign secretaries, and other dignitaries. She holds a BS in Culture and Interpersonal Communications from New York University and an MA in Globalization Studies from Dartmouth College, and is an alumna of both the THNK School for Creative Leadership in Amsterdam and Singularity University. Leena loves jazz, lions, and nature and is learning interspecies communication.
Fireside chat at the Saudi Green Initiative, moderated by South Pole cofounder and CEO, Renat Heuberger