Motaz Hajaj M.S. Middle Eastern Consultant Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and USA

Motaz Hajaj, M.S. Engineering Management, is from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and currently lives and works in San Francisco, California where he works in a multicultural team to develop and execute digital marketing for B2C and B2B clients around the world. Motaz has lived, studied and worked in the US for six years in the early 2000’s, and from 2009-2011 to gain engineering expertise, first-hand application of U.S. business practices, and American marketing strategy. He is fluent in Arabic and English, and impressive in his ability to connect with people of any culture.

In his native Saudi Arabia, Motaz worked as an IT operations officer at the National Commercial Bank in Jeddah, the second largest city after the capital. From 2007 to 2008 he worked with local and foreign managers from various cultural backgrounds such as Eastern Asia, India, Europe, USA, and multiple Middle Eastern countries to identify IT needs and increase process efficiency by 40%. He created new credit verification processes, and built consensus for adoption in the organization.

Motaz’ passion for building global collaboration and cultural awareness stem from two critical situations in his life. Motaz began his studies in the U.S. Midwest in September of 2011, one of only 3 Saudi Arabian students on campus. The events of 9/11 catapulted him into practicing cultural sensitivity and dealing with prejudice. Prior to that he had recognized the strains, miscommunications and inefficiencies occurring when working in a multicultural team in the finance industry in Jeddah. Motaz is committed to bringing cultural awareness training to organizations in Saudi Arabia when he returns in 2012, therefore has maintained contacts among his network in the Saudi Arabia Ministry of Education and Jeddah Chamber of Commerce.

Motaz has visited Egypt annually since 1996 and considers Egypt “my second home”. Through family contacts and personal interest, he has developed a knowledge of the business practices, cultural nuances, communication styles and day-to-day considerations for doing business in Egypt.

Building relationships is a key strength Motaz brings to any project, across generations and cultures. As a Gen Y foreign student at Missouri University of Science & Technology, Motaz was President of the International Students Club and Director of the Comedy Committee, a natural outgrowth for his love of humor. At Santa Clara University graduate engineering program in California, he has networked extensively to bring faculty and Arab students together to improve communication, increase recruiting and acceptance of Arab students, and build community relations.