Hana Alawi - Head of Community Investment

Hana is UAE National working in the field of finance and investment at home and abroad. She began with a bacherlor’s degree in business with a focus on finance from Zayed University in Dubai.

In 2006 she spent two years with Motorola in Dubai doing finance and customer relations. In 2008 she joined the Merger and Acquisitions unit at Mubadala Development Company. Since then she has worked on many investment opportunities in different industries including healthcare, aerospace and oil and gas. She has had short term working experience with Capital Investment Group in the USA and PricewaterhouseCoopers in London. She has vast training in finance with Morgan Stanley, Boston Consulting Group and other leading providers.

Her experience consulting with PriceWaterhouseCoopers in London, her experiences working with the NGO AIESEC and her passion for her country caused her become an active change agent. She believes firmly in the holistic thinking model and making a lasting impact while increasing the bottom line.

It is in her heart to increase the sustainability of the planet because of her life and how she lives for a clean desert, clean water, and a better future for the people of the UAE and the world. Serving the community is a high priority demonstrated by her unique leadership. As a result, she helped to create the British Petroleum camp for young UAE national women's leadership and contributed to UAE national's professional development through AIESEC. Cornered on her competencies and passions she reached out to help lead Sustainable Square.

Hana has a unique perspective of the Arab economy given her international experiences and her understanding of the Arab culture and business environment, specifically her the UAE. She is passionate about making a difference by providing sustainable solutions that would extend its benefits to the communities. Her specific interest is in community building and ensuring that companies act smart and responsibly, with a strong emphasis on eliminating waste and being progressive. Her lifeblood is solving problems that affect the average person and delivering high quality service.

Monaem Ben Lellahom – Head of Sustainability Services

Monaem is a pioneer and thought leader in the Corporate Sustainability and Responsibility (CSR) practices in the broaden Middle East and North Africa region.  He was the  1st Social Return on Investment (SROI) practitioner in the Arab world from the UK SROI Network mastering social impact measurement and managing research programs and authored research reports to demonstrate the social value generated of community development work through SROI analysis.

Monaem focuses on developing sustainability strategies and programs for clients across various industries, conducting gap analysis and community needs assessments and studying Socio-economic (SEIA) progress in various issues related to development projects, youth engagement, women entrepreneurship, social inclusiveness and business responsibility. Monaem also has extensive knowledge of Sustainable Value Chains and Product Transparency, and the linkages between Sustainability and Branding.

Monaem is a Co-founder and Head of Enterprise Sustainability consultancy services at Sustainable Square Consultancy and Think Tank, a regional United Arab Emirates based consultancy providing niche-localized CSR and Sustainability practices while improving organizations’ business operations, optimizing their internal processes and enhancing the well being of our communities.

Monaem is passionate about Sustainability, and believes that all entities have a responsibility to contribute positively to the development of their environment and communities.

Eric Hensel - Head of Think Tank Services

Eric Hensel is a pioneer in the blossoming social sector in the United Arab Emirates and broader GCC. He has a bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, USA.

Eric has been at the forefront of social startups in the GCC since 2004 including various positions with AIESEC, a leadership development platform and the world’s largest youth lead organization, developing their youth exchange programs in the UAE and expanding operations to Bahrain and Oman. In 2007 he joined the Emirates Foundation for Philanthropy, an independent UAE philanthropic organization, created to assist people, institutions and community organizations, initiating the Takatof social volunteer program.

In 2010, he began conceptualizing his own vehicle for driving social development in the GCC and Middle East. Partnering with fellow AIESEC alumnis Hana Alawi and Monaem Ben Lellahom, combining their broader experiences in Sustainability and Management, in early 2011 they put together the frame work for what would soon become Sustainable Square.

He is a unique mix of rational economist and passionate social leader with a western background but fully committed to the Arab region, specifically the GCC. He has ties in the UAE but has also worked extensively in Bahrain, Oman, and Tunisia on social projects, expansions, and startups. He is a long term board member of the University of Michigan Alumni Association in the Middle East and AIESEC in the UAE. He often hosts forums, conferences, symposiums, integrating his special "personal touch."

Although an American, he is anything but a foreigner in the region. He is passionate about the desert, sea, Arabic language, culture and people. His guiding principle is to always keep an open mind and understand the local reality from the ground up before asserting oneself.

Sami Lallahem - Sr. Environmental Consultant Associate

Sami is one of the top known researchers in the field of Water and Environmental issues in France. He holds a PhD in Hydrogeology and Environment from the Polytech-Lile – France and titled to lead researches groups in the environmental field (Habilitation à Diriger des Recherches (HDR). Sami is a Co-founder and CEO of Ixsane, a global consultancy firm specialized in environmental and urbane engineering and R&D and a  senior environmental consultant associate at Sustainable Square. Ixsane is the only company of Nord pas-de-Calais (North of France) to conjugate engineering and R&D in urban and the environment domains.

Ixsane leads high-level engineering studies and, at the same time, takes up collaborative projects with others companies and research units. It’s action radius is situated in three big domains: water and environment, sustainable development and energies, management of sites and polluted sediments. Ixsane expertise extends to issues related to carbon management, industrial waste, energy orientation, water management and sanitation. 

Prior to joining Ixsane, Sami was a department head management in an important French company in environment. He takes care of several spots among which: the business development with industrialists and communities, the development of partnership with other companies and the academic laboratories, finally he realize and valid studies carried out by the other members of the department.

Sami is an approved Hydrogeologist in health service for Nord Pas-de-Calais departments (North of France) where he realized and evaluated several connected studies to the prospecting, the management and the exploitation of the drinkable waters.