Salma El Zayat

Salma El Zayat is an Egyptian conservationist pursuing an MSc in Biodiversity, Conservation and Nature Recovery at the University of Oxford. She is a Mastercard Foundation Scholar and a member of Mansfield College. Her interests lie in protected area policy and community-centred conservation.

A civil engineer by training, Salma has worked across sustainability, nature, and development finance. Her professional experience spans the World Bank’s Middle East and North Africa Environment Department, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s Climate Adaptation and Nature Finance team, sustainability consulting, venture capital under Egypt’s Ministry of International Cooperation, and Egypt’s first nanofinance fintech startup. She holds a Bachelor of Engineering from McGill University.

Alongside her professional work, Salma has remained committed to community engagement. She served as President of the Egyptian Student Association and Kumvana Fellowship Director for Engineers Without Borders at McGill, and later as Secretary of the World Bank’s Arab Association in Washington, DC. She has also remained actively involved in environmental advocacy to protect Egypt’s natural heritage.

Growing up surrounded by Egypt’s deserts, mountains, and seas inspired Salma’s lifelong commitment to conservation. Outside the classroom and office, she can usually be found hiking, kitesurfing, freediving, camping, or spending time with local communities. Through her master’s, she hopes to design and implement equitable conservation and nature recovery policies across Africa and the wider MENA region.

Salma aims to contribute to a future where Africa’s development is rooted in the ancestral understanding that people and nature are fundamentally interconnected.