Ibrahim Osta

Ibrahim Osta is an adjunct professor of management at the George Washington University School of Business (GWSB) teaching Human Capital Development and Managing Tourism and Hospitality Industry.

Ibrahim brings over 30 years of experience leading international development projects, with total funding exceeding $350 million, including $120 million from US Government finance. These projects have generated over $7 billion in economic growth, enhanced infrastructure, strengthened institutions, and positively impacted millions of lives worldwide.

His expertise spans areas such as international trade and investment promotion, enterprise competitiveness and growth, access to finance for businesses, youth entrepreneurship, organizational capacity strengthening, and tourism development. He has spent two decades as chief of party for various USAID projects across the Middle East and Western Balkans and has provided advisory services on economic development in the MENA region, Southeast Europe, the Caucasus, and Latin America.

Currently, he serves as the senior advisor for Economic Growth & Trade at Chemonics International, where he advises on business development in various countries worldwide and increasingly working with programs focused on the reconstruction and development in Ukraine.

He served on Chemonics international stock ownership advisory committee, pioneering global employee stock ownership in the industry.

Most recently, (2020-2023) he was designer and chief of party of USAID Developing Sustainable Tourism in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where he led the country’s largest economic sector COVID-19 recovery and positioned the destination internationally for growth with impacts like new aviation routes created. During his tenure as senior economic growth advisor and Middle East & North Africa Region director for Chemonics International (2017-2020), he directed the $24-million USAID Lebanon Enterprise Development Project focused on providing firm-level assistance to companies to enhance production, investment, sales, and exports.

From 2005 to 2017, he designed and led USAID’s largest tourism development portfolio in the world, the $100+ million program in Jordan, which helped grow the tourism economy by several billion dollars. His expertise extended globally as he advised and supported economic development initiatives in countries like Uzbekistan, Nepal, Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, Timor Leste, Egypt, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, and Lebanon.

Recognized globally, he served as a member of the United Nations World Tourism Organization Panel of Experts; the Governing Body of the United Nations Foundation World Heritage Alliance (co-designed the People Protecting Places campaign adopted by UNESCO); the international Leaders in Resilience group, board of directors of Jordan’s Development & Employment Fund (received the King Abdullah II Award for promoting Entrepreneurship). He regularly speaks in international forums such as the World Bank, EBRD, World Travel Market, and Adriatic Chambers. Ibrahim co-led the UN International Year of Sustainable Tourism Global Forum with the World Bank and the Government of Jamaica and is a member of the Tourism Employment Expansion Mandate, an international coalition expanding hospitality sector employment.

Mr. Osta supported formulating Egypt’s business reform agenda in 1999, the first of its kind since the socialist revolution, and spearheaded capacity-building programs for 12 chambers of commerce and business associations. He led the creation of a youth entrepreneurship organization modeled after the US-based Junior Achievement International, which has now expanded, reaching over 7 million youths in over 12 MENA countries. In his early career, he was Executive Director of the US-based American Arab Chamber of Commerce.

He holds a degree in Finance and Economics (University of Michigan), Master of Tourism Administration (The George Washington University), a Graduate Diploma in International Business Law (University of London), and pursued postgraduate studies at the American University-Cairo.