Omar Wasfy

Director of Human Resources at Voco Dubai - An IHG Hotel

Speaker

At 21, I was captaining Egypt’s Olympic national football team, crashing into tackles like my life depended on it. I’d just returned from a World Cup in Argentina, convinced I’d soon be the best defender Africa had ever seen.

Then, like every plot twist worth telling, life nudged me off the pitch and into something wilder… HR.

Football taught me everything before HR had a chance to. How to lead under pressure. How to show up when you're tired, doubting, or done. How to compete with hunger and win with humility. Those lessons became the foundation of how I work and lead today.

I’m now Director of HR at voco Dubai, part of IHG Hotels & Resorts. Over the past 19 years, I’ve launched, transformed, and elevated more than 10 hotels across five brands and five countries. From the bold design of Hotel Indigo Dubai Downtown to the grandeur of InterContinental RAK, the sheer scale of voco Makkah, and a luxury launch in Luanda, Angola. I’ve lived the grit, chaos, and triumph of hospitality on the front lines.

I’ve led HR and L&D at icons like InterContinental Dubai Marina and Cairo CityStars, driven brand transitions like Holiday Inn Maadi, and designed talent strategies that blend precision with heart. My background in Economics gives me a sharp commercial edge. My MBA in Strategic HR helps me speak the language of the boardroom, and my passion for people keeps it all human and natural.

Somewhere along the way, I moved to California to earn a master’s at UC Irvine. Living solo in the U.S. taught me that independence isn’t about laundry, it’s about finding your voice in a crowd and fighting your way to stand out and excel, and that you only grow when you step out of your comfort zones.

Today, I combine data with instinct, finance with empathy, and locker room grit with business leadership. I believe HR doesn’t belong in the background. It belongs in the engine room of transformation.

And yes, I once jammed a floppy disk into a computer upside down and called it tech support. We’ve all come a long way.