Women Of Influence 2025: Lean X Consulting's Asmae Lemniei
The founder and CEO of Lean X Consulting has been named one of Inc. Arabia’s Women of Influence 2025, which showcases 30 women rewriting the rules of business in the MENA region.
As the founder and CEO of Lean X Consulting, a Dubai-based systems-level innovation boutique that builds sovereign-grade ecosystems connecting government, industry, academia, startups, and future technologies, Asmae Lemniei operates at the intersection of policy, statecraft, strategy, and technology.
Lemniei’s work at Lean X Consulting has seen her design and operationalize the UAE’s first climate tech legacy initiative as part of the presidency agenda at the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28), alongside developing national cybersecurity and artificial intelligence (AI) innovation ecosystem models, frameworks, and world-first innovation strategies.
According to Lemniei, the value that having more women in the fields that she operates in is undeniable, with their presence shifting the energy “from transactional efficiency to purposeful architecture.” She says, “Women bring a systems-thinking approach that is not just analytical, but intuitive and relational. We build not only to scale, but to sustain. We challenge extractive models and replace them with regenerative ones, where trust, inclusion, and long-term vision sit at the core of every strategy. The ripple effect is unmistakable: when women rise to lead, they create space for others to rise differently. Not by emulating what came before, but by rewriting what’s possible—with grace, depth, and a new vocabulary of power. The business ecosystem is slowly learning that women in leadership don’t just contribute, they transform the game.”
Lessons Learned: Q&A with Asmae Lemniei
Looking back on your journey, if there is one piece of advice you’d give yourself before you embarked on your career, what would that be? Additionally, if you could go back in time and tell yourself something that you should avoid or simply not do, what would that be?
I would tell my younger self: "You are not too much. You are not too ambitious. You are not too different. You are exactly what the future needs, just a little ahead of time.”
I would also whisper: “Don’t wait for permission. Don’t seek validation from systems that were never designed to see you. And never underestimate the cost of staying quiet to keep others comfortable.”
If I could go back, I would avoid shrinking to fit roles that felt safe. I would remind myself earlier that building a path no one has walked before is lonely, but also sacred. And that every scar you earn along the way becomes part of the architecture you will one day stand tall upon.
Pictured in the lead image is Asmae Lemniei, founder and CEO of Lean X Consulting. Courtesy of Lean X Consulting.
Asmae Lemnie was one of Inc. Arabia's Women of Influence 2025, a showcase of 30 women rewriting the rules of business in the MENA region. For the full list, please click here.
