The Project Management Institute (PMI) recently honored 50 exceptional young leaders who are transforming the world by leveraging their project management skills to tackle some of today’s most pressing challenges. Among the rising leaders – all under 35 – who made it to the 2024 Future 50 list, are two noteworthy project professionals from Saudi Arabia, underlining the Kingdom’s rising prominence in the wake of Saudi Vision 2030, in empowering impactful projects.
The young honorees represent a diverse cohort of project professionals who are reshaping the future across industries like healthcare, environmental science, technology, and social justice. With 2.5 million project professionals required per year by 2030 to fill the current talent gap, the vital role of project management to build an inclusive, sustainable future for all and create meaningful change has never been more crucial.
“Many of the critical and complex challenges the world is facing will have to be addressed by a new generation of project professionals,” said Pierre Le Manh, President and Chief Executive Officer at PMI. “It is inspiring to see how they are channeling their passion, talent, and creativity to address climate change, technological disruption, inequality, and other pressing issues in our societies. They demonstrate the true power of project management to drive meaningful change, and we are proud to celebrate their contributions.”
“For true transformation to happen, highly skilled professionals must lead and inspire those around them to do the same,” said Hanny Alshazly M.Ed., Regional Managing Director of Middle East and North Africa at Project Management Institute (PMI). “The strong presence of project professionals from the MENA region in PMI’s 2024 Future 50 list bears testimony to the robust professionalism among young leaders whose passion and drive to embrace sustainable operations for the greater good of the future generations is commendable. As we celebrate them, we look forward to empowering even more young project professionals to help us shape our future.”
Ranked one of the top ten in-demand skills currently, the demand for skilled project managers capable of driving transformation to tackle global challenges such as climate change as well as ease AI adaption and technological innovation is currently at an all-time peak.
Among the honorees in the 2024 Future 50 list is Faisal Alsulami, Performance & Quality Senior Associate, Public Investment Fund (PIF), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia for developing a cutting-edge, AI-powered project management tool. Faisal’s innovative, AI-powered project management tool helps to boost efficiency through: risk assessment (identifying potential risks and offering proactive strategies to minimize disruptions), lessons learned analysis (analyzes past projects to extract insights to prevent mistakes), automated document generation (automatically creates PM docs), robust knowledge base (centralizes PM best practices and templates for easy access) and advanced language capabilities (real-time summarizing, paraphrasing, and grammar to enhance communication).
Walid Yahfoufi, Projects Director, Glassline Industries, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia also made it to the list for shining through adversity and directing large-scale construction projects. An accomplished project director with a career in large-scale construction projects, particularly in facade engineering he led the successful completion of the lauded Hamad International Airport in Qatar in just 10 months despite COVID challenges. His versatility was further demonstrated by successfully initiating projects in Nigeria and Algeria, while simultaneously leading the airport project.
These standout professionals are building, creating, and leading transformative projects that not only solve complex problems, but also help pave the way for a more inclusive, sustainable future. As they demonstrate, effective project management and project professionals have the power to create meaningful change.
Other honorees from the MENA region include Abdulla Al Haidan, Group Senior Manager, Group Planning & Project Management at DP World, for his work in innovating infrastructure across industry sectors and Abdulrahman Ahli, Group Director, Project Management at DP World, for leading high-end global infrastructure projects with a nod to sustainability. Anas Aleassa, Micromentor MENA Team Lead, Mercy Corps, Amman, Jordan, made it to the 2024 Future 50 list for his work in empowering small enterprises to grow sustainably. Yacine Oualid, Minister from the Ministry of Knowledge Economy, Startups, and Micro-enterprises, Algiers, Algeria was celebrated for championing Algeria’s emerging entrepreneurs and talent.
The full 2024 Future 50 List includes:
- Abdulrahman Ahli, PMP
- Abdulla Al Haidan, PMP
- Alejandra Muralles, PMP
- Ananta Gopal Metange
- Anas Aleassa, PMP
- Ankita Bhatia, PMP, PSPO, PSM
- Awa Bousso Dramé
- Bahati Innocent
- Benedikt Pielmeier
- Bernardo Martins, PMP
- Bledar Beqiri, PMP, CAPM
- Reed Schafer, PMP
- Celestin Nkeramihigo, PMP
- Christoph Wlotzek
- Cody Duplisea, PMP
- Darkhantsetseg Erdenetsogt
- Linzhuo Wang
- Duong Thi Nhan
- Faisal Alsulami, PMP
- Graham Garland, PMP
- Hollie Chapman
- Jay Kiew, PMP
- Jingyu Yu
- José Eduardo Durán, CAPM, PMI-ACP, PMP
- Joshua Willard, PMP
- Juliano Denicol, Ph.D.
- Kaushik Chandra L, PMP
- Kathryn Williamson Hall
- Kevin Kwakye-Safo, PMP, PMI-ACP
- Konstantinos Souroullas, PMP
- Kristen Moreno, PMP
- Lâm Thu Nguyên
- Lauren Szymura
- Marco Carlos
- María Gabriela Urdaneta Ocando, MGP, PMP, CSM, ITIL
- Michelle Twardzik
- Nguyên Thi Quynh Lan
- Peiyao Ni
- Prosperidade Sunguete
- Rahim Thompson, CAPM, DASM
- Robin Datko, PMP
- Swati Pundir, PMP
- Syed Saad, Ph.D., PPM
- Thomas Barling, PMP
- Vaibhavi (Vijay) Chavan
- Viktoriia Honcharova, PMP
- Walid Yahfoufi, PMP
- Yacine Oualid
- Yazhinidevi Devarajan
- Zachary Almer, PMP
PMI invites everyone to learn more about these 50 rising stars and their groundbreaking projects by visiting PMI.org/Future50. The next generation of project professionals is here, and they are not just changing the way projects are managed—they’re changing the world.
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