Huma Imdad

Enterprise Manager at Heriot-Watt University

Speaker

Huma Imdad is the Incubator Manager of the EBS Global Incubator at Heriot-Watt University Dubai, part of Edinburgh Business School. She leads the four-month, zero-equity fellowship that has supported around 100 ventures in Dubai since 2022, and manages its wider portfolio of ecosystem activity, including the Global Innovation Challenge, the Sustainable Packaging Symposium and partnerships across the UAE innovation ecosystem. Her career in incubation spans the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, the United States and Pakistan, with roles at Halcyon Incubator, Rainmaking, Atlas Corps and Helvetas, and as co-founder of HerQbator.
Alongside her practice, Huma is a doctoral researcher in Management (Entrepreneurship and Innovation) at Heriot-Watt University, where her research explores how university-based incubators develop and internationalise across the UK and UAE ecosystems. She is co-author of a forthcoming article in Higher Education, Skills and Work-Based Learning on the value of alumni in incubator communities, and is currently researching how incubators can turn alumni goodwill into lasting support for new founders.