Member of the Advisory Board, Cambridge Judge Business School
CEO, Sayegh Companies
Cambridge affiliations
- MBA, Pembroke College (1994)
- MA Economics, Pembroke College (1987)
Professional history
A graduate of both the Faculty of Economics and Cambridge Judge Business School, Habib Sayegh is driven by a simple but powerful belief: that educating the next generation is the most effective way to shape a better future for the world.
Born into a family that deeply values education, Habib has dedicated his professional life to transforming how students learn and how teachers teach. His mission has been clear: to modernise and elevate education systems so they are fit for the demands of a fast-changing world.
From the outset, he focused on delivering rich, interdisciplinary content in mathematics, science, social studies, English, and Arabic. But for Habib, content alone was not enough. He recognised early that a shift was needed – from rote memorisation and traditional content-based curricula to skills-based learning that develops critical thinking, creativity and adaptability.
Central to this shift was the redefinition of the teacher’s role. Habib led large-scale professional development efforts to help teachers move from being knowledge transmitters to facilitators of learning – guides who can support students in navigating complexity and acquiring lifelong skills.
Over time, Habib came to a pivotal insight: ‘What you measure is what you get’. As long as assessments rewarded memorisation, students would continue to prioritise recall over deeper understanding. This insight drove his leadership of wide-reaching educational reform initiatives, developing new testing systems that assess not only knowledge, but also skills such as problem-solving, analysis and reasoning. When combined with modern, skills-based curricula, these reforms created integrated learning ecosystems that align teaching, learning and assessment in meaningful ways.
Over a 40-year career, Habib has overseen the production and delivery of more than 3 billion books and digital learning resources, as well as over 500 million assessments. His legacy is one of relentless innovation, large-scale impact and unwavering belief in the transformative power of education.
Under his leadership, Sayegh Companies, based in Lebanon, has expanded its reach to over 18 countries, employing more than 650 personnel. York Press, a key entity within the group, is a leading educational publisher with a presence in more than 100 countries, delivering innovative print and digital learning solutions.
Society and charity work
- Founder of the Educational Research Center (ERC) dedicated to advancing education quality across the Arab world.
- Spearheaded the creation of the International Arab Baccalaureate (IAB) and the Electronic Scholastic Test (EST) to provide a globally recognised culturally relevant academic qualification.
- Delivered to students and teachers school textbooks during major political, financial and humanitarian crises, most notably during the 2010 revolution in Egypt and the ensuing financial crises, the 2019 revolution in Lebanon and the meltdown of the financial system, followed by the Beirut port explosion in summer 2020, the 2010 to 2019 revolution and war in Syria, the delivery of textbooks to Syrian refugees in Lebanese schools, and a multitude of other humanitarian crises.
- Directs the corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives of Sayegh Group.
