Dr Ahmad Al Falasi

Dr. Ahmad bin Abdullah Humaid Belhoul Al Falasi was born November 24, 1977 and is an Emirati executive and politician. He was appointed UAE Minister of Sports in July 2024, overseeing the development of national sports strategies and talent development. He also serves as Chairman of the Emirates Growth Fund, a Dh1 billion growth equity platform launched in May 2025 backed by Emirates Development Bank.

Al Falasi's educational credentials are exceptional. He completed his PhD at Monash University in 2007 and holds a master's degree from the University of Melbourne in Australia, and a bachelor's degree in Communication Engineering from Khalifa University in the UAE. His PhD thesis was supervised by Dr Ahmet Sekercioglu and Dr Nallasamy Mani at the Department of Electrical and Computer Systems Engineering.

Al Falasi is also Chancellor of the Higher Colleges of Technology, the UAE's largest applied higher educational institution, and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the UAE Space Agency. From 2017 to 2020, he chaired the Board of Directors of the UAE Space Agency, during which the country witnessed the launch of the UAE Astronaut Programme and the "Probe of Hope" to Mars, which lifted off on July 20, 2020, and reached the Red Planet in 2021.

Career history

• Minister of Sports (July 2024–present)
• Minister of Education (2022–2024)
• Minister of State for Entrepreneurship and SMEs (2021)
• Minister of State for Higher Education (2016–2020)
• CEO of Masdar Company
• Executive Director of Strategy and Tourism Sector Development at Dubai Tourism
• Vice President of the Mubadala Industry Unit
• Consultant for McKinsey & Company
• Assistant Professor at Khalifa University

What Al Falasi could bring to the Emirates Growth Fund: Drawing on his extensive experience in higher education transformation, entrepreneurship development, and government strategic planning, Al Falasi is positioned to guide the growth equity fund's mission to support UAE SMEs. His background in supporting national SME sectors, combined with his role in UAE space and innovation initiatives, suggests he could help direct the fund toward strategically important sectors like manufacturing, technology and food security while leveraging government-private sector partnerships.