African Leadership Academy is delighted to announce that Dr. Amel Karboul will be the keynote speaker for the Graduation Ceremony of the Entry Class of 2024.
Dr. Karboul’s life and work have moved across many worlds: Tunisia and Germany, Africa and Europe, engineering and public policy, business and government, leadership development and global education. Across each chapter, she has worked with people and institutions at moments of transformation, when old answers no longer fit and new possibilities have to be built with courage, imagination, and others.
Trained as a mechanical engineer, Dr. Karboul began her career at Mercedes-Benz through a highly selective international management associate program, working across Germany, South Africa, and the United States. She later moved into innovation, knowledge transfer, and leadership roles at DaimlerChrysler, before joining The Boston Consulting Group. She went on to found and lead Change, Leadership and Partners, a global leadership and organizational transformation consultancy working with senior teams and organizations across six continents.
This experience shaped the way she approaches complex systems: with analytical rigor, deep human insight, and a commitment to helping ambitious ideas become real structures, teams, and institutions.
In 2014, during Tunisia’s democratic transition, Dr. Karboul was appointed Minister of Tourism, becoming the first woman in Tunisia’s history to lead an economic ministry. She served at a defining moment for the country, helping to stabilize and reposition a sector representing more than 10 percent of national GDP, strengthening international partnerships, and contributing to the work of building a young democracy. Her public service was recognized with the Commandeur de l’Ordre de la République Tunisienne, one of Tunisia’s highest civilian honors.
Today, Dr. Karboul is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Education Outcomes Fund, a UN-hosted platform working with governments and partners to improve education and employment outcomes for children and young people. Under her leadership, EOF has mobilized more than 150 million US dollars in innovative financing and reached close to half a million children and young people.
She also contributes to global thinking on education, technology, governance, and the future of work through senior advisory roles with institutions and platforms including the Education World Forum, the World Economic Forum’s Education 4.0 Alliance, the Global AI Index, and previously the Education Commission.
Alongside this work, Dr. Karboul is also an interdisciplinary artist and curator of human gatherings. Through Studio-Amel, she works across painting, writing, installation, and the design of spaces that invite connection, insight, and cultural reflection. Her artistic practice is not separate from her leadership. It deepens her attentiveness to people, her ability to hold complexity, and her belief that transformation is not only technical, but also human, relational, and imaginative.
Dr. Karboul speaks Arabic, French, English, and German. She has studied mechanical engineering, public administration, coaching and mentoring, and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy. She brings together the discipline of an engineer, the courage of a public servant, the imagination of an artist, and the curiosity of someone who continues to learn.
We are honored to welcome Dr. Karboul to campus and to have her mark this important moment with the Entry Class of 2024.
