Hala has over 25 years of experience in rural development, business management, local and international consultancy, coaching, communications and outreach, all of which she has built working closely with local communities and MSMEs to help them transform their lives, grow their businesses and improve their livelihoods. In the past years, she has had a constructive influence on sustaining and scaling entrepreneurs, MSMEs, and cooperatives in various donors funded projects with INGOs, NGOs, and academic institutions. She has also contributed to identify, document, evaluate and present successes in business, improved farming practices and yields, and better performance of community-based organizations.

Before joining the above-mentioned activities, Hala has worked in lead academic positions and has directed and restructured BA, MBA and EMBA programs. She has over 30 years of experience in the academic field, teaching Bachelor and Masters courses that range from principles of statistics, micro, macro, international economics and marketing, management and organizational behavior, to advanced managerial economics, leadership and project management. She has co-founded and is currently directing the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center (IEC) at the Lebanese International University (LIU), and believes that fighting unemployment is possible through the promotion of self-employment and the transformation of MSMEs and SEs into more productive and sustainable businesses that can better scale and employ, especially in rural areas.

She is an activist, a consultant, an evaluator, and a researcher in social justice (and inclusion) and social enterprise. She is also promoting co-sourcing and co-production, ecommerce and export potential strategies to enhance the livelihood of rural and urban economic activities and initiatives. In 2019, she co-funded the “Rural Initiative” to support rural Lebanon and empower its people. Hala has worked with the following organizations: UN, ITC, IPEMED, SPARK, OXFAM, COSV, COSPE, WHH, LLWB, LOST, INJAZ, BERYTECH, and others. Funded by a variety of donors: US, EU, German Government, and the Netherlands Government; for different programs like BADAEL, SEE Change, WFP, BEAT, and BMZ.