Nadia founded Walk for Iraq in 2007

In June 2007, Nadia Al-Shadhir decided to organise her own movement called Walk for Iraq. “I was born and raised in London. My parents of Iraqi origin have been living in the UK for forty years now,” shares Al-Shadhir of her roots and upbringing. Growing up actively participating in charitable causes back home with the community, their friends and family, she was exposed to lending a hand to the less fortunate. Her first endeavour in arranging a small fund raising event was some ten years ago. And as they say, the rest is history…

Over the years, she would participate in various cycles of charity works particularly assisting beneficiaries in Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon and other countries with immense need of aid. For the past decade her initiatives have seen a $500000-worth of collection. Since creating her team in Walk for Iraq, the movement has been able to raise more than $100000 that was distributed among eight different charity organisations she has personally hand-picked. “Take note that the amount was not attained from corporate sponsorship. The whole amount was sourced from individuals alone. Imagine how much more we can come up when we involve companies in our mission,” she explains. Charity walks and fund raisers were mounted in UK, New Zealand and Canada – with the hopes of expanding their projects to other countries.

An Information Technology expert by profession, Al-Shadhir left her position at an investment banking firm back in London to pursue her career in Dubai two and a half years ago. A month ago, however, she finally decided to go full-time on her vocation and joined a French-based non-government organization as its Private Partnership Manager for their Dubai office. “I have come to realise that I want to do this on a professional level. Our organisation develops micro-finance provision to low-income earning individuals around the world,” says Al-Shadhir of her life-altering leap, “I look forward to taking this further. And in the meantime, I carry on with the rest of my activities on the side.”