A strategic communications and advisory firm partnering with governments, institutions, businesses, and individuals across the Middle East and beyond.
Saaba Consulting is a strategic communications and advisory firm partnering with governments, institutions, businesses, and individuals across the Middle East and beyond. We deliver integrated solutions across strategic communications, public relations, digital engagement, policy advisory, and intelligence reporting.
Drawing on deep regional expertise, global best practices, and rigorous research, we combine insight, creativity, and strategic analysis to help our clients communicate with clarity, shape public narratives, influence policy outcomes, and build resilient reputations.
Senior figures from British diplomacy, Westminster, international policy research and global broadcast media advise our work across the Middle East, North Africa and beyond — informing how we counsel governments, institutions and companies.
Meet the BoardOur Education Advisory Board brings together leading academics and education leaders across curriculum and instruction, teacher education, higher education policy, inclusive and special education, language education, STEM, and artificial intelligence in learning.
Meet the Board
Dr. Ruwayda Mustafah is a British-Kurdish political scientist and strategic communications advisor based in Erbil, in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. She is the Founder and CEO of Saaba Consulting (also known as Saaba Communications), advising governments, institutions, and businesses across the Middle East on strategic communications, policy advisory, reputation, and geopolitical risk.
She studied law at Kingston University London, and holds a master’s in international political communication, and a PhD in International Political Studies from the same institution. Her doctoral research examined state-building and referendums in contested political environments, work that continues to inform her counsel on institutional legitimacy, public narrative, and political communication in fragile and transition settings.
Through Saaba, Dr. Mustafah works at the intersection of policy, media, and institutional strategy. Her practice supports clients navigating sensitive regional contexts: clarifying message and mandate, strengthening institutional voice, and managing reputation under geopolitical pressure. She combines academic grounding in contested politics with practical advisory experience across government, education, and the private sector.
She also writes for leading international and regional outlets, including Al Jazeera, Gulf Times, and The National Interest, on politics, communications, and the Middle East. That public writing sits alongside her advisory work: clear analysis for decision-makers, and a public voice that stays careful about evidence and context.
In recent years she has expanded Saaba’s capacity building through Saaba Education, including the creation of an international Education Advisory Board to guide work on education recovery and rebuilding, spanning curriculum, teacher development, higher education, TVET, digital education, and institutional recovery.
She is also the founder of Women Beyond Network, which hosts business networking events for women business owners, SME leaders, managers, and professionals across the Middle East.
