Karima El Hakim is Partner for Africa at Plug and Play Tech Center, where she leads the firm’s venture capital activities across the continent and drives the expansion of its open innovation and corporate partnerships in African markets. Her investment activities and advocacy work spans fintech, cybersecurity, smart cities, and industrial innovation, with a strong emphasis on building scalable, market-driven ecosystems that connect capital, policy, and technology.
Karima is actively engaged in shaping AI anpplication and development across African markets, working through programs, enablement accelerators, and government partnerships to translate emerging technology into scalable, ground-level impact.
Karima is an MIT Foundry Fellow (2025), Co-Chair for Africa at the MENA Fintech Association, and Co-Chair of the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Committee at the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt. She also serves on the board of Valu SME a leading publicly traded financial services company in Egypt.