Njoud Al Yousef

Lead, Startups and SMEs Engagement

Njoud Al Yousef leads engagement with startups and small and medium enterprises at the UN Global Compact Network Saudi Arabia, the local network established in 2021 and hosted by the Federation of Saudi Chambers, which works to align Saudi companies with the Global Compact's Ten Principles and the Sustainable Development Goals under Vision 2030. She also serves as a programme manager there, running initiatives in the circular economy and in corporate ESG alignment for businesses across the Kingdom and the wider region. Her background is in venture capital and company building rather than in policy alone: she trained at Draper University in Silicon Valley, interned with the Draper Venture Network, and later worked as a venture analyst at Plug and Play Tech Center. She is a co-founder of Amaana.ai, a Riyadh-based company that used artificial intelligence to automate market entry into Saudi Arabia - licensing, bank account set-up and financial compliance - and which was acquired by the Saudi startup services group Tawaref in October 2024, with her continuing as an adviser through that transition. The combination lets her work both sides of the same question: how private-sector innovation scales, and how it is held to global sustainability standards.