Maha Anter

Maha Anter (مها عنتر) is Ignite’s Head of Operations and Program Support. A British/Egyptian national residing in the United Kingdom, Maha has spent her entire career championing for underprivileged and vulnerable communities worldwide in general, and in the Global South in specific. She brings over 25 years of extensive experience in programmatic management (from design to final implementation) and international development in the field of youth leadership, children’s and women’s rights both within grassroots organisations and the philanthropy sector. Maha’s biggest passion throughout her career is working on the ground closely with partners.

Prior to Ignite, Maha worked at Stars Foundation (UK) and then the With and For Girls Fund (UK), the world’s only participatory fund by and for adolescent girls, funded collaboratively by 13 strategic partners, as their Programmes Consultant. Her role was dedicated to empowering adolescent girls around the world via grantmaking and capacity building, all through a comprehensive participatory approach from start to end.

She previously worked for a decade at Al Tadamun (Egypt), Egypt, the Middle East and Africa’s largest female-focused Microfinance Institution as its Head of Microlending Programmes and Deputy Executive Director, where she enjoyed leading large, diverse teams to successfully achieve the exponential growth of the Microlending Programmes.

Maha holds a BA of Business Administration from the American University in Cairo, Egypt, and an MBA (Master of Business Administration) from the University of Bath, UK. She also holds the Certificate of Training Practise from the Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development, UK. Maha speaks 5 languages and is a proud mother of two.

“When I am not working, family is everything. I am busy taking care of my wonderful husband, son and daughter, while enjoy being spoiled by them in return. I am also an older sibling to two sisters who I consider my first borns and my best friends. I am already dreaming of the next generation of my family: I cannot wait to have grandchildren, when the time comes, so we can enjoy taking care of them and spoiling them”.