35 Facts About Amel Karboul

Amel Karboul is a Tunisian author, speaker, politician, philanthropist, and business leader.

Amel Karboul was formerly married to German engineer Marcus Gottschalk from 2002 to 2016.

Amel Karboul completed a master's degree in Mechanical Engineering in Germany, received a Doctorate in the United Kingdom, and has worked in four continents.

Amel Karboul cites her intercultural background and feminist upbringing as major influences on her political beliefs and career.

Amel Karboul is fluent in Arabic, French, English and German, and has knowledge of Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese and Greek.

Amel Karboul has worked in leadership roles for global consulting groups such as Neuwaldegg and the Boston Consulting Group.

Amel Karboul was the CEO and founder of the international leadership and change consulting firm Change, Leadership and Partners.

Amel Karboul wrote Coffin Corner, a book published by Midas Management Press in 2015, in which she describes a new leadership culture more suited to the complexities of the 21st century.

From May 2015 to October 2017, Amel Karboul served as the Secretary-General of the Maghreb Economic Forum, and a commissioner to the International Commission on Financing Global Education Opportunity.

Currently, Amel Karboul is the CEO of the Education Outcomes Fund, an organisation that aims to transform education worldwide by tying funding to measurable results.

Amel Karboul attended the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany, where she earned a master's degree with honors in Mechanical Engineering in 1996.

Amel Karboul was the project leader for innovation management and supplier relationship for the Mercedes-Benz Brand in South Africa and Germany, where she worked from 1996 until January 2000.

In 2001, Amel Karboul became a strategy consultant for the Boston Consulting Group in Germany.

From 2002 to 2007, Amel Karboul was first a senior consultant and later elected to be a managing partner of the consulting group Neuwaldegg in Vienna, Austria.

In 2007, Amel Karboul founded the international leadership and change consulting firm Change, Leadership and Partners.

Amel Karboul has served as a visiting professor at Duke Corporate Education, which was ranked first in the world in Custom Executive Education for 12 consecutive years by Financial Times.

Amel Karboul has lectured at numerous other schools such as the ZFU Business School, the Witten School of Management, and Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences.

Amel Karboul was named the Minister of Tourism for Tunisia in January 2014.

Amel Karboul was the first woman in Tunisian history to occupy the position, and served as the youngest member of Prime Minister Mehdi Jomaa's government from January 2014 to February 2015.

Mehdi Jomaa defended his minister, stating that Amel Karboul had never followed through with the trip in question after she was interrogated for several hours in an airport, reportedly for being Arab and Muslim.

Amel Karboul expressed her commitment to serve Tunisia, noting that despite several difficulties, the country still offers opportunities of development.

Amel Karboul helped ensure transparent elections took place, along with working to create more effective economic and social governance policies.

Amel Karboul has earned international awards for use of these social platforms to encourage youth empowerment in the digital world.

In 2015, Amel Karboul was awarded the Commandeur de l'Ordre de la Republique Tunisienne in acknowledgement of her outstanding service to her country.

In 2016, Amel Karboul became the Secretary-General of the Maghreb Economic Forum, an independent non-profit and non-partisan organization that aims to create a more inclusive and sustainable economy in the Maghreb region by helping leaders address challenges such as social growth, gender equality, and economic reform with a more innovative approach.

In September 2016, Amel Karboul was one of more than 20 world leaders named to lead the International Commission on Financing Global Education Opportunity.

Amel Karboul explained in a separate interview that she believes education reform is critical as new generations have continued to fall behind the educational curve.

In 2018 Amel Karboul became the founding CEO of The Education Outcomes Fund.

Amel Karboul spoke at the Government Outcomes Lab's 2018 and 2020 Social Outcomes Conferences about the ways that outcomes-based funding can encourage collaboration between civil society organizations and improve transparency and accountability from governments.

In October 2021, Amel Karboul attended the Global Steering Group for Impact Investment Summit to chair a Keynote Fireside session titled 'improving education through new financial models'.

Amel Karboul currently serves as an Advisory Board Member at the Global AI Index, which ranks nations based on their level of investment, innovation, and implementation of Artificial Intelligence.

Amel Karboul is a Commissioner at The Education Commission, which is chaired by former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Gordon Brown and seeks to ensure that all children have access to learning within the next generation.

Amel Karboul has appeared in wide variety of lectures and publications, often working to spur advances in business leadership and educational advancement.

At a zenithTalk in Casablanca in September 2017, Amel Karboul outlined what she believes the dangers are if children in developing countries are denied access to education.

At the 2019 CogX festival, Amel Karboul contributed to a panel discussion about the future of work and education, where she highlighted the ways that AI could help provide solutions to the learning crisis in the Middle East and Africa.