Building & Scaling Ventures
Founding companies and taking them from idea to scale: growth, operations, fundraising, and the systems that let a small team punch far above its weight.
Hamid Abawi
I lead teams, operations, and large-scale programmes, and I build the organisations that carry them. For nine years I've done that work where it counts most: in fragile, conflict-affected places where a plan has to become real, fast, and under pressure. Hand me something complex and high-stakes, and I turn it into something that works, and that keeps working long after I step back.
$30M+Programme budgets owned & delivered
1,600+People led across an international NGO
FounderTechnology, AI & a portfolio of ventures
SpeakerAt global, high-level forums: UN New York & Geneva, Safe Schools (Spain)
About
Nine years keeping children learning through crisis, and building the institutions that outlast me.
I turn strategy into delivery, and I build the teams and institutions that make it last. For nine years I've worked at the highest levels of government, the UN, and international NGOs, in some of the world's most fragile and conflict-affected places, where leadership isn't a title but whether the school opens, the teacher is paid, and the child keeps learning.
I've sat at the most senior tables of Afghanistan's national education response, and run a large international organisation end to end, leading people, operations, and budgets at scale under real risk. Today I do the same across ventures I've built myself, from a technology company at the frontier of AI to investment and social enterprise.
However different the room, the work is the same: lead the people, build the systems, make hard things actually happen, and build them to keep running long after I step back.
"Education is the first thing a crisis takes away. My job is to keep it on the table, and to build the teams and institutions that hold it there."
What I bring
I build, scale, and lead across very different worlds.
Technology & AI
Building products at the frontier of artificial intelligence, turning emerging technology into tools that solve real problems for real people.
Education in Emergencies
Designing and delivering multi-year resilience programmes in fragile and conflict-affected contexts, including crisis financing and continuity of learning.
Government & Multilateral Coordination
Convening governments, UN agencies, donors, and NGOs around shared strategy. Steering committees, evaluation panels, and high-level stakeholder alignment.
Strategy & Programme Design
Theory of change, results frameworks, joint needs analysis, programme costing, and resource mobilisation that move money to impact.
Inclusive, Cross-Cultural Leadership
Leading diverse teams and partnerships across complex environments, with equity, gender inclusion, and dignity built into how the work gets done.
Leadership & ventures
Leading in the field, and building for the future.
Current leadership
- Founder & CEOKyber Solutions · Technology & AIFounder and CEO of a technology company at the frontier of AI, leading its C-suite and the team building the product.
- President & CEOAbawi HoldingsLeading a diversified investment and ownership group across industries.
- ECW CORE Penholder, AfghanistanEducation Cannot Wait · ConsultantHolding the pen on ECW's CORE engagement for Afghanistan; convening government, UN, and humanitarian partners around a single strategy.
- Chief Executive OfficerStreet Child Canada · GlobalLeading the organisation end to end: governance, strategy, finance, donor engagement, and global partnerships for education in crisis-affected regions.
- Senior Manager, Centre for DiversityMOSAIC · VancouverEquity and systems change, cross-sector partnerships, and a growing social-enterprise portfolio.
Ventures I've founded
Career
A career spent where education is hardest to deliver.
- 2025 – Present
ECW CORE Penholder, Afghanistan Consultant
Education Cannot Wait
Holds the pen on Education Cannot Wait's CORE engagement for Afghanistan (the global fund for education in emergencies), convening government, UN, and humanitarian partners around a coherent strategy for one of the world's hardest education contexts. A current consultancy, and distinct from the earlier Multi-Year Resilience Programme.
- Aug 2024 – Present
Senior Manager, Centre for Diversity
MOSAIC · Vancouver, BC
Leads equity, inclusion, and systems change; sits on leadership tables and manages cross-sector partnerships; leads and grows MOSAIC's social-enterprise portfolio; and oversees the SCOPE program, which builds board-readiness for immigrant professionals.
- Mar 2023 – Present
Chief Executive Officer Part-time
Street Child Canada · Global
Leads the organisation end to end (governance, strategy, finance, fundraising, and international partnerships) for global education programming in crisis-affected regions, and provides direct support to Team Afghanistan.
- Mar 2024 – Aug 2024
Project Manager, Health Services Temporary
MOSAIC · Vancouver, BC
Launched MOSAIC's Community Clinic serving five priority populations (designing the patient journeys, clinic structure, and workflows), and partnered with Fraser Health and the Burnaby PCN for trauma-informed care.
- Dec 2022 – Mar 2024
Manager, Metro Vancouver Refugee Readiness Team
MOSAIC · Vancouver, BC
Directed initiatives with the Ministry of Municipal Affairs benefiting 30+ grassroots organisations and 1,000+ community members, and chaired Refugee Readiness meetings on housing, healthcare, and employment for refugees, protected persons, GARs, and claimants.
- Dec 2020 – Mar 2023
Director of Country Programs & Operations
Street Child UK · Kabul · Dubai · Vancouver
Ran all country programmes and operations across Afghanistan and the region, directing the operations, finance, IT, and security teams and a workforce of 1,600+, and owning budgets above $30 million across education, child protection, and emergency response. Reached more than 300,000 people, and built the institutional-donor and government partnerships needed to deliver at scale in one of the world's most complex, high-risk environments.
- Jun 2016 – Nov 2020
Senior Advisor to the Minister on Education in Emergencies
Ministry of Education · Kabul, Afghanistan
The Ministry of Education's most senior advisor on education in emergencies: government-side penholder and strategic lead on Afghanistan's ECW Multi-Year Resilience Programme (MYRP), and a member of its Evaluation and Steering Committees. Led all of the Ministry's humanitarian funding, oversaw the ECW First Emergency Response (FER) including COVID-era continuity of learning, and chaired the national Education Cluster (co-chaired by UNICEF and Save the Children). Served as the Ministry's lead focal point to ambassadors, UN leadership, donors, and humanitarian and development partners, at the centre of one of the world's largest education-in-emergencies responses.
Earlier & alongside
- Director of Philanthropy VolunteerGlobal Rights Defenders2022 – 2023
- Fund Development Manager VolunteerSurreyCares Community Foundation2022 – 2023
Education
BA, International Studies
Minor in International Relations
American University in Dubai · Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Recognition
In the media, and on the world's stages.
Speaking: high-level panels
- UN General AssemblyHigh-level panellist · New York
- 3rd Int'l Conference on Safe Schools Official report ↗Palma de Mallorca, Spain · 2019
- United Nations, GenevaHigh-level panellist · Switzerland
Let's talk
Let's talk about what you're trying to build.
A role, a board seat, a programme to design, a company to scale, or a partnership to build: if it's ambitious and it matters, I'd like to hear about it.