Trustee and Managing Director 

Yayasan Hasanah

As Trustee and Managing Director of Hasanah, YBhg. Dato’ Shahira works together with a network of civil society organisations to create positive long-term and sustainable impact within Malaysia’s social and environmental landscapes. Hasanah invests in the following focus areas - Education, Community Development, Environment, Arts & Public Spaces, and Knowledge & Research.

Under Dato’ Shahira’s leadership and guidance, Hasanah has assisted more than 1 million lives in Malaysia since its inception in 2015, alongside humanitarian relief initiatives. More prominently, in the two years since the COVID-19 pandemic (2020/2021), Hasanah quadrupled their giving to RM400 million (USD 95 million) in 2021 through partnerships with the public and private sector, resulting in five times more civil society partners and projects awarded in 2020 and 2021.

Dato’ Shahira’s role to Hasanah evolved out of her nine-year tenure at Khazanah between 2006 – 2015, where her last held position was Director in the Managing Director’s Office, in which she was instrumental in the setting up of Hasanah between 2013 – 2015. Prior to Khazanah, Dato’ Shahira led a regional role in Public Affairs for Procter & Gamble Malaysia; and also worked in a private think-tank at the start of her career.

Today, within her current capacity, Dato’ Shahira also serves as a Trustee on the Boards of several social-based organisations in Malaysia. Currently she sits on the board of trustees for Yayasan Khazanah (Education & Scholarship), Think City Sdn Bhd (Urban Regeneration), Yayasan Sejahtera (Poverty Alleviation), PINTAR Foundation (Education); and was also a board member of the National Visual Arts Development Board from 2017 to 2020. Internationally, Dato’ Shahira has also sat as the Global Council Member of the Social Innovation Exchange (SIX), United Kingdom from 2018 – 2020.

Dato’ Shahira holds a Bachelor of Arts from the International Islamic University Malaysia, and M.A. in Public Communication from American University, Washington D.C., United States, and has completed the Cambridge Business Sustainability Management Course from the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom.

Personally, Dato’ Shahira is a big advocate and voice for the power of collaboration in the third sector. She believes that listening closely to the grassroots’ voice while working with people grounded with the same principles, allow us to build meaningful, heartfelt, and longer-term impacts for society. Driven by this virtue, Hasanah, under Dato’ Shahira’s leadership, has galvanised various multi-stakeholder social projects in the country, under the Public-Private-People-Partnership (PPPP) Model. This collaborative spirit has pushed boundaries beyond imagination, as Hasanah co-helmed several impact coalitions, including the Government-Linked Companies (GLCs) & Government-Linked Investment Companies (GLICs) Disaster Response Network (“GDRN”) to streamline urgent assistance to Malaysians during a crisis.