Making QF a reality was an investment in Qatar’s economic future

Making QF a reality was an investment in Qatar’s economic future

Turning an ambition like Qatar Foundation (QF) into into actuality required financial resources – and, at the start of its journey, this was one of the greatest challenges facing the nascent Qatar Foundation.

In The Untold Stories of Qatar Foundation, HE Yousef Hussain Kamal, former Minister of Finance and one of the key figures in the establishment of the organisation, explained how overcoming this challenge rested on Qatar’s recognition of the economic importance of investing in education.

“It is no secret that, in the mid-1990s, Qatar did not have the financial capacity to invest in a project such as QF which required significant sums of money to achieve its aspirations, because at that stage, as economists, we focused our attention on oil and gas projects,” he told the discussion.

“However, investing in education was a noble goal for the country’s leadership, which stressed that supporting the education sector was a priority. And at the time, I noticed how insistent our leaders were about this.

”When we discussed the idea for QF, I felt that it was a noble national project for all Qataris: one that would contribute to consolidating Qatar’s legacy, and enhance the role of the Qatar on the global economic