Maryam Najafi

Maryam Najafi is a business designer and developer. She is an active player in the Iranian startup ecosystem and strongly believes that entrepreneurs are the fuel of economic and social growth in all countries. She found angel investment a very powerful platform to foster entrepreneurship and support startups. As the first executive manager of Karaya Angel Investors, she built up all requirements of creating an Angel investor group, which lead to the formation of the biggest angel network in Iran. To follow her vision she co-founded Hoomaan institute, which delivers management consultancy services and aims to help startups and SMEs achieving their goals. She is an energetic fighter and believes that “there is no dead end, there is always a solution". This attitude leads to acceptance of new business challenges. She is the business development advisor of Kaarmaan, Iran’s first business club. She’s building a vibrant community of professionals, entrepreneurs, traders and investors in Kaarmaan, as she did in Karaya. She is also the member of advisory board in some Iranian VCs and CVCs. She is an EFQM (European foundation for quality management) prize assessor in Iran which is held by Institute of productivity and Human Resource development. As her social responsibility she dedicates 3-6 hours a week to mentoring or evaluating startups as a pro bono activity. She is providing mentorship to all startups who approach her, not only Iranian ones, she enjoys helping business owners achieve their visions and make this world a better place. She is also Iran’s WBAF Senator and Secretary General in Global startups committee.