Strategy / Corporate Excellence / Digital Transformation
FatemaAbbas
Thirteen years turning national mandates into systems that actually run.
- Currently
- Tamkeen
- Experience
- 13 years
- Based in
- Manama, Bahrain
Years inside Bahrain's economic development mandate
Roles held, from the operations floor to the boardroom
Institutions: KPMG, Tamkeen, the Prime Minister's Office
Corporate Excellence unit built from an empty mandate
In her words
I have spent thirteen years inside Bahrain's economic development mandate. First assessing whether programs worked, then rebuilding the ones that did not.
My work sits where strategy meets operations. I have led Tamkeen's largest digital transformation, coordinated its migration off legacy systems, and built its Corporate Excellence function from an empty mandate into a working unit.
Before that I spent a year inside the Prime Minister's Office, drafting policy and supervising a 24-hour operations room through the pandemic. That year taught me how decisions actually get made at the top, and how rarely the right information reaches them in time.
I am drawn to the unglamorous part. The process nobody has questioned in nine years, the handoff nobody owns, the report that gets produced because it always has been. That is usually where the value is hiding.
01 / Selected work
What she has actually built.
Six engagements from thirteen years. Each one is a system that outlived the project that created it.
Established and now lead a unit that did not exist, charged with keeping the organization efficient, effective and aligned to its strategic objectives.
- Defined the unit's mandate, remit and operating rhythm from a blank page
- Align organizational effort to Tamkeen's mandate, strategic direction and targets
- Own the development of annual plans, corporate strategy and KPI targets
- Support the alignment of organizational budgets and resource allocation
- Report to Senior Management, the Board of Directors and Team Bahrain stakeholders
A strategy that never reaches operations is just a document.
02 / Career
Thirteen years, one direction.
From verifying applicant finances to setting corporate strategy. The whole climb happened inside the institutions she was improving.
- 2024 - Present
Associate Director, Corporate Excellence
Tamkeen, Strategy & Transformation
Founded and lead the Corporate Excellence unit. Own corporate strategy, annual planning and KPI targets, and report at Board and Team Bahrain level.
- 2023
Change Lead, Strategy & Transformation
Tamkeen
Led the largest digital transformation program in the organization's history, implemented Open Banking, and ran the PMO function.
- 2021 - 2022PMO
Research Fellow
Prime Minister's Office, PM Fellowship Program
Policy drafting, comparative studies on national priority projects, and supervision of the 24-hour COVID-19 war room.
- 2019 - 2021
Impact Assessment Officer
Tamkeen
Evidence-based findings on the effect of Tamkeen's interventions, white papers and policy recommendations for the labour market and private sector.
- 2016 - 2019
Senior Business Development Specialist, Operations Assessment
Tamkeen
Program redesign, due diligence on enterprise and corporate requests, subsidy and grant vetting, fraud detection and price verification.
- 2013 - 2016
Associate Consultant
KPMG
Worked across Tamkeen's Technical Assistance Program and Tarweej schemes, controlling payment processes and financial verification of applicants. Shukran Award, 2016.
03 / Capabilities
How she works.
Grouped by what they are for, not by how impressive they look on a CV.
Strategy & Planning
- Corporate strategy
- Annual planning
- KPI design and target setting
- Budget and resource alignment
- Board and executive reporting
Transformation & Delivery
- Change management
- PMO and project governance
- Business process reengineering
- Agile and Scrum delivery
- Program and policy design
Evidence & Analysis
- Impact assessment
- Benchmarking and market research
- Policy development
- Advanced data modeling
- Power BI and Excel
04 / Credentials
On paper.
Education
BSc (Hons) Management, Accounting & Finance
University of Manchester, Manchester Business School
United Kingdom
Executive Leadership & Negotiation
Harvard Business School
2022
Certifications
Recognition
Employee of the Year
Tamkeen
Shukran Award
KPMG
Fully Funded Scholarship
Ministry of Education
Languages
- Arabic, native speaker
- English, fluent
05 / Contact
Let’s talk.
For advisory work, speaking, board and committee roles, or a conversation about transformation that has stalled.
The fastest way to reach her.
Send a connection request or a message on LinkedIn and she will get back to you.
Connect on LinkedIn