2018 SPEAKERS

Amr Talaat has been appointed the Minister of Communications and Information

Technology since June 2018, to the Cabinet of the Prime Minister Dr. MostafaMadbouly.

Talaat possesses over 30 years of solid experience in communications and information technology areas, with a wide experience in developing and implementing strategies across a vast spectrum of activities in Egypt.

Talaat joined IBM-Egypt in August 1988 and held various managerial positions. On May 23 rd , 2010, Amr Talaat held the position of the Country General Manager of IBM, and also served as IBM Egypt Territory Manager since 2005.

He held various managerial positions within IBM Egypt including Business Partner Organization (BPO) Manager as well as Systems and Technology Group Manager.

During his tenure, his scope transcended financial goals to strategic and operational elements such as building human capital, fortifying customer loyalty, corporate social responsibility and employees’ Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

He also sought to establish relationships with key officials and executives of various sectors, both at the national and international levels, to attract major investments, and Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) deals.

In addition, Talaat was an adjunct professor at Cairo University; teaching marketing and & sales strategies and tactics, organizational behavior and strategic management. He was, also, an honorary member at the ICT Board at Cairo University and member of the ICT Board of the Academy of Scientific Research and Technology (ASRT) and the Chairman of ICT Committee of the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham).

Talaat graduated in 1983 from the Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University, completing his undergraduate studies in Electrical Engineering at Cairo University.

He earned his PhD or doctorate of Business Administration (DBA) from the University of Paris - Paris School of Business (PSB) and Masters of Science in Computer Science from Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), in addition to an MBA from Paris ESLSCA Business School, France.

2014 – Present: Chairman of Egyptian / Russian Business Council 

2014: Member of the Committee of 50 for drafting the new Egyptian Constitution

2010-present: Chairman, ASCAME (Union of Mediterranean Chambers of Commerce & Industry)

2010 – Present: Chairman, Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce.

2010 – Present: Chairman, Union of African Chambers of Commerce, Agriculture, Industry and Professions.

2010- Present: Senior vice chairman, Islamic Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

2010- Present: Board Member, Arab Union of Chambers of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture.

2010- Present: Member, Board of Trustees, the General Authority for Investment and Free Zones, «GAFI»

2010- Present: Board member, the National Organization for Social Insurance.

2008- present: Board member, Internal Trade Development Authority.

2006-2010: 1st Deputy Chairman, Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce.

2006- Present: Board member, Alexandria Ports Authority.

2006-2011: Board member, Arab-Belgium-Luxemburg Chamber of Commerce, Brussels.

2006- Present: Chairman, Alexandria Chamber of Commerce.

2002-2011: Board member, Arab French Chamber of Commerce, Paris.

2002- Present: Chairman, Egyptian-Syrian Business Council.

1988-2006: Vice chairman, Alexandria Chamber.

1984- Present: Elected board member, Alexandria Chamber of Commerce.

2009- Present: Chairman Wakalex for Industry & Trade.

2008- Present: Board member Fast Bus Transport.

2004- Present: Board Member Antoniadis for the Civilized &Touristy Development Co.

1972- Present: Chairman and Founder, Wakalex Group.

Maha Rashad is the Acting CEO of the Egyptian Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA). In addition, she holds the position of an Associate to the ICT Minister for Marketing Strategies. 

With over 15 years of professional experience in strategic planning, marketing, and leadership, Rashad has led a number of flagship projects and key initiatives that contributed to promoting Egypt ICT sector and increasing the market outreach of Egyptian providers in key markets.

Maha championed different campaigns and activities for promoting Egypt as a leading outsourcing destination and promoting ITIDA as a thought leader locally and internationally. 

During her tenure at ITIDA, Rashad spearheaded a number of significant projects and strategic initiatives, the most important of which was improving the positioning of the Egyptian ICT sector and enhancing cooperation with international influencers, analysts, and major consultancy firms.

Thanks to the exerted efforts and effective communication strategies that Rashad oversaw, Egypt has strongly cemented its position on the global ICT map, advanced in the various world rankings and recent indices of the largest research and consultancy firms. This is in addition to helping Egypt win the award of the Outsourcing Destination of the Year 2016.

Prior to ITIDA, Maha worked at the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) where she led different developmental capacities with governments, NGOs, donor organizations, research analysts and the ICT community.

Maha earned her bachelor's degree in Economics and Political Science- English section, from Cairo University in 2001 and an MBA with distinction from the Arab Academy for Science Technology and Maritime Transport (AASTMT) in 2008, which qualified her to join the professional Ph.D. program in business administration (DBA) at AASTMT. Throughout her career, she managed to obtain a number of awards and training courses in e-government management and digital solutions.

•Board Member, Federation of the Egyptian Chambers of Commerce (FEDCOC), since 2015

•Chairman, Digital Economy and Technology General Division, Federation of the Egyptian Chambers of Commerce (DET-FEDCOC), since 2001

•Chairman, IT Division, Alexandria Chamber of Commerce, 1992-2006

•Board Member, Alexandria Chamber of Commerce, 2002-2015

•Board Member, Food Industries Chamber, Federation of the Egyptian Industries (FEI), 1986

•Head of Development Committee, FEDCOC

•Member of the Head Committee, PC4Egypt

•Member of the IPR Head Committee

•Chairman, Winner Trade for Imports and Agencies

•Managing Director, Winner Brands

Major Public Activities

•e-Alexandria Project for eradicating digital illiteracy in Alexandria

•PC4EachHome National Initiative with Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (MCIT)

•Economic GIS Project, Alexandria Chamber of Commerce    

•Articulation of Tax system for the IT industry

•Tanweer National Initiative with Ministry of Education (MoE), for availing technology for Educators and Students

Ambassador Jan Thesleff has been serving as the

Ambassador of Sweden to the Arab Republic of Egypt since September 2017.

From 2014 to 2017, Thesleff served as Sweden’s Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, residing in Abu Dhabi. In June 2015 and in October 2016, respectively, he was accredited as Ambassador to the Kingdom of Bahrain and the State of Kuwait.

Thesleff has previously been Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Sultanate of Oman, the Republic of Yemen and the State of Kuwait (2006-2011) and to Libya and Tunisia (2011-14). He also served as Sweden’s Special Representative for the Syria Crisis (2012-2014).

His previous diplomatic posts include serving in Brussels (Deputy to the EU Special Representative for the Middle East Peace Process at the Council of Ministers, as well as at the Swedish Permanent Representation to the EU) and at the Swedish embassies in Cairo, Tokyo and Damascus.

Ambassador Thesleff is a frequent speaker in international fora and has contributed to a number of publications, including on art and architecture.

Lauren Maillian is the Founder and CEO of LMB Group, a strategic marketing and brand advisory company; was a Founding Partner at Gen Y Capital Partners, an early stage venture firm focused on investments in mobile and consumer facing technology enabled companies; and is the author of the instant bestselling business memoir, The Path Redefined: Getting To the Top On Your Own Terms. Lauren’s passion for innovation-through-entrepreneurship and her unique ability to story-tell, brought her talents as an expert onto television as the Master Marketer and co-star of the startup focused docu-series, Quit Your Day Job, on Oxygen (NBCU).

At age 19, Lauren cofounded a boutique winery that quickly became an internationally recognized award-winning wine brand, making her the youngest self-made winery owner in the country. She served as the Chief Operating Officer of the company from inception through the brand’s acquisition in 2011.

As a change agent, connector, influencer and media spokesperson, Lauren has demonstrated her ability to create messaging that resonates with brands, millennials and women. Lauren has worked with brands such as J.P. Morgan Chase, DeVry, Cover Girl, Bumble and Bumble, and Secret Deodorant to humanize their brands and better tell their stories to more authentically connect with the consumer. 

Her multi-dimensional expertise has catapulted Lauren into a new type of marketer who has global influence as both a brand strategist and ambassador.

Lauren’s experience is both vast and distinctive given the roles and responsibilities she’s had ranging from entrepreneur, investor, advisor, talent, client focused strategist and brand marketing thought leader.

Lauren’s global market leadership leverages media, culture, strategy and technology to grow brands. Lauren is an innovative marketer, who is passionate about deeply understanding people and products to create an emotional connection through storytelling.

She is driven by the belief that there is always an impactful solution to every problem. She develops marketing initiatives with a concentration on the creation and implementation of dynamic yet strategic plans that are rooted in authenticity to build brand identity, influence and notoriety.

She is a detail-oriented strategist with a deep understanding of business operations, management, and formation across various industries. Having traveled the world to more than 40 countries, Lauren has a global perspective and a fresh forward-looking approach to content creation that is sensitive to the cultural nuances faced in global media and the highly-engaged digital consumer landscape.

Maillian has sustained and deepened her influence internationally through speaking engagements to address topics that include marketing, branding, business development, venture capital, women’s leadership, innovation and technology.

She has spoken at prestigious institutions including Harvard University, Columbia University, Cornell University; Fortune 500 companies such as Google, Shell, Dell, Ernst and Young (EY), Prudential, Ogilvy, Weber Shandwick, L’Oréal and Bloomberg; and at industry leading conferences and events such as Social Media Week, ColorComm and AdWeek.

She has invested in several startups and serves on the advisory board of Digital Undivided, a social enterprise that increases the active participation of minority women in the digital space; CoSign, a technology company that allows you to monetize your social media and shareable content; LIQS, a brand of pre-mixed single serve cocktail shots; Levo League, a career content community for Gen-Y women; and Pipeline Angels.

Lauren’s work has been featured in national media outlets including Forbes, American Express OPEN Forum, Interactive ONE, Sirius XM Radio, 1010 WIN’s, HuffPost LIVE, AOL Build, Inc. Magazine, Mashable, UPTOWN Magazine, Jet Magazine, CNBC’s Nightly Business Report, MSNBC, FOX 5, CBS New York, Business Insider, Fast Company, and Black Enterprise. In 2011 she was recognized at The White House by the Kauffman Foundation as an Empact100 Award honoree which lists the top 100 entrepreneurs under 30 and in 2013, Essence Magazine named Lauren a “Shot Caller” to watch in business.

In 2014, the New York Urban League’s Young Professionals awarded Lauren the honor of Philanthropist of the Year for her charitable involvement and dedication to giving back, in 2015 Kia Motors and UPTOWN Magazine awarded Lauren for being Inspirationally Crafted for her leadership and fearless entrepreneurial journey and in 2015, Smart CEO Magazine named Lauren as a Smart CEO Brava Award Winner.

In 2016, Walker’s Legacy named Lauren to their WL50Power List that honors women making strides in the business and philanthropic community.

Lauren is involved in various philanthropic organizations that affect youth, poverty, education, and the arts. She serves on the Advisory Board of The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Multicultural Audience Development Initiative (MADI) Committee, as Vice Chair of The Apollo Theater Foundation Young Patrons Steering Committee, New York Urban League’s Development Committee, is a founding member of the Young Entrepreneur Council, and a Lifetime Member of the Children’s Aid Society. Lauren has a Bachelors of Science, Magna Cum Laude, in International Trade and Marketing from the Fashion Institute of Technology. She currently resides in New York City with her two children, Jayden and Chloe.

Corine is responsible for IM Capital operations, including deal sourcing, investment project evaluation and valuation, business models validation, value creation and mentoring in investments, and supervision of exits from investments.

She is also junior coach of the Seeders Business Angels group.

Prior to joining IM Capital, and for more than 9 years, Ms. Kiame was a Director at SHUAA Capital psc Dubai, UAE, where her responsibilities included Product Development, Strategy and Project Management, and Operations. In 2006 and 2007, Mrs. Kiame worked as an assistant fund manager on several regional funds representing USD 1 Billion in assets under management, covering fifteen Arab markets.

Corine holds a Masters in Finance from Paris IX Dauphine in Paris, an Executive Education Certification from Harvard Business School with emphasis on Private Equity and Venture Capital, and is currently a member of the “Grant Evaluation Committee” of the iSME Program, a Kafalat-World Bank program, and a member of the Lebanese League for Women in Business.

Andrew has helped investors, companies and entrepreneurs succeed in emerging markets for over ten years. His main focus is providing senior executives and startups with tailored consulting on market expansion, risk management and due diligence.

Andrew is also a shareholder in two Africa-focussed investment firms and a mentor to tech startups in the region.

Rita Makhoul is the Editorial Publisher at Arabnet, managing the content, distribution, and monetization of the editorial division which consists of the Arabnet website and The Quarterly publication. The ArabNet website is a leading reference for digital businesses in the Middle-East, featuring news, analysis, expert advice, interviews, and a vibrant community of startups, developers and entrepreneurs.

The ‘ArabNet Quarterly’ is the first print release for growing digital enterprises and leading companies with insights and special stories covering the latest e-business, technology, media and entrepreneurship news in the MENA. 

She has a wealth of strategic experience from her 16 years in the marketing and communications industry having led key accounts across industries and finding her passion in the digital, tech, and startup industry. Rita has also worked on several NGO accounts and has demonstrated the value a community success program or a CSR campaign can bring.

Agamemnon sits on the UK Department of Energy & Climate Change Community Energy Contact group, has an MBE for his service to the British Empire, is a London Leader, and co-founded of Repowering, Brixton Energy, Clean Marine, Energy Garden, Community Energy England The Edible Bus Stop, The Edible Overground.

Agamemnon has a Master degree in Architecture: Advanced Environment & Energy and a Baccalaureate in Pre-Medicine, Literature and Fine Arts. Overcoming cancer twice, he has spent 16 years working to bring arts into the health sector, making hospitals more hospitable.

Keith Wallace is a Scotsman with a passion for entrepreneurs and deal-making.  Having founded the Dutch Investors Club (DeInvesteerdersClub) he put his vision of joint investments within the Netherlands and further afield into effect.

With deals in Africa and Asia, as well as Europe, this small group of active investors has striven from the beginning to make impact as well as financial returns.

Working with the Hivos Foundation, he was part of the team that founded Hivos Impact Investments, where he sits in the investment team and manages the portfolio companies of the Hivos Food and Lifestyle Fund (Southern Africa) and the Hivos Mideast Creatives Fund (MENA).

Keith is also Global Ringmaster of Get In The Ring, an international entrepreneurial competition that takes place in over 100 countries and allows him to wear top hat and tails, even in the tropics.

Mark is a strategist, author, and entrepreneur.

His work combines collective intelligence with networks, complex systems, behavioral science and neuroscience.

He is the founder of Orcasci, a consulting firm designing scaling and growth strategies with recent clients including the $1m Global Teacher Prize with the Varkey Foundation.

Mark is also the CEO and founder of Vork, a business social networking application. Previously Mark co-founded Imaginatik plc, a pioneer in crowdsourcing and collaborative problem solving for innovation.

During his 16 years at Imaginatik, Mark worked with hundreds of companies, including Allianz, Bayer, Cargill, IBM, Merck, Novartis, Pfizer, Whirlpool and Xerox.

The World Economic Forum nominated him a Technology Pioneer and a Young Global Leader. Mark is a Professor at Hult International Business School.

Jessica Berlin is the Managing Director and founder of CoStruct, and co-founder of the MakerNet Consortium and BerLink.

Based in (and coincidentally named) Berlin, Jessica advises companies, governments, and nonprofits on innovation strategy, partnership development, and international scaling in emerging markets, and builds global programs that bridge the gap between business, tech, and development.

She has lived and worked in Afghanistan, China, Myanmar, Rwanda, the UK, and the US and is passionate about bringing people and institutions together to create practical, win-win solutions to global challenges.

Nicolas Rouhana is currently the General Manager of IM Capital, a $15M fund, part of USAID MENA Investment Initiative, providing Matching Capital, Equity Guarantee and Technical Assistance to early-stage businesses and investors in Lebanon.

Between 2002 & 2015, Nicolas was the Executive Director of Berytech Technological Pole, a leading Technology Business Innovation & Incubation Center in Lebanon. Between 2008 & 2015, Nicolas was senior technical advisor to Berytech Fund, a Lebanese VC technology fund for start-ups, and was Associate Professor at Saint-Joseph University. He is also Vice-President of Internet Society-Lebanon Chapter.

Nicolas has a Telecommunications Engineering degree from Saint-Joseph University in Beirut, a PhD in Networking Systems from University Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris, and is an EDP graduate from INSEAD, France.

Visiting professor of management sciences at the Egyptian and French universities for the MBA and the DBA .

Acted as consultant to the United Nations and occupied the posts of chairman , president and general manager of different companies in various fields .

Active in the public life in Egypt and was the board member of the Social Fund for Development , the State Holding Company for Chemical Industies , and the Alexandria and Damietta Port Authorities , the Alexandria Business Association and the Arab Management Association .

Was appointed as the first Honorary Consul of India in Alex and awarded the highest French academic award for his teaching . Also acted as head of the management department of Senghor University and is consultant to the Egyptian Japanese University for Science and technology .

Author of several books on economic and administrative development and write articles periodically in Al Ahram newspaper since 1990 . Member of the High Council for Culture and the Academy for Scientific Research and Technology .

More than 35 years of experience in the business and financial markets. She graduated with an Economics & Political Science bachelor’s degree from Cairo University in 1980, and a diploma in business administration from both Harvard Business School and London Business School. 

El Tahri started her career at the Chase National Bank of Egypt (Commercial International Bank - CIB) and held several positions until the post of Assistant General Manager of the credit and marketing department for the Petroleum, Tourism and Electronic. In 1994, with the re-activation of the Egyptian stock exchange, she founded several companies: one of the first Brokerage firms “Delta Securities Egypt” (later known as Delta Rasmala Securities, due to different partnerships)., EAB Delta Asset Management (later known as ABN AMRO Delta Asset Management and Delta Rasmala Asset Management), Delta Capital Investments, Delta Holding for Investments, Delta Financial Solutions and Nuun Fund Services.

In 2007, El Tahri sold most of her stakes in a number of her companies to focus on supporting the SME sector to develop and embrace small and medium enterprises and entrepreneurs. With the rise in young entrepreneurial talent after the 2011 revolution, she established “Delta Shield for Investment” which focuses on advice for family businesses. While “Delta Inspire” the specialized incubation/acceleration arm, managing “138 Pyramids” the funding arm to partner & seed the process.

El Tahri is the first elected woman on the Board of Directors of the Egyptian Stock Exchange for two consecutive terms from 1997 to 2003. She also served on the boards of several companies, both public and private, including but not limited to the Board of Directors of Banque Misr, Telecom Egypt, General Authority for Investments “GAFI”, Egyptian Arab Land Bank, Egypt Information Dissemination Company “EGID”, Suez Canal Development Project “SCZone” on the Board of Directors and Head of the Investment Committee, Misr Capital Investments, Egyptian Railway Projects & Transport Co.  ”ERJET”, Cairo Oil & Soap, Egypt Mortgage Finance Support & Guarantee Fund, Cairo for Investment & Development “CID Group”, Egyptian American Enterprise Fund, the Board of Trustees of Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center “TIEC”; Cartier Women Initiative; Regina for Pasta & Food Products; Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority “EFSA”, Director of Representative Office and Member of the Middle East Advisory Board of the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) (previously ABN AMRO). 

She is currently on the boards of: “Orange Egypt”; Arab Moltaqa for Investments; Hassan Allam Holding; Export Development Bank of Egypt “representing Banque Misr Shares”; the AUC Dean’s Strategic Advisory Board in addition to its Editorial Board, on top of other non-profit organizations e.g. INJAZ Egypt and foreign entities e.g. OECD MENA Women’s Business Forum (Co-Chair), 8 Miles and YPO-WPO.

El Tahri was nominated and won numerous local and international awards such as: one of the best businesswomen in the Arab World by the Financial Times for two consecutive years (2007-2008), and locally, one of the ten awards issued by the Egyptian Ministry of Investment on International Women's Day in March for having positively contributed to the investment environment of Egypt. She was awarded Best Businesswoman in Egypt “Corporate Women in Egypt” by the American Chamber of Commerce in Cairo in December 2013. In 2014, she was also nominated by Forbes Middle East magazine as one of the 200 most powerful businesswomen in the Middle East, and was nominated in January 2016 by Amwal Al Ghad magazine as one of the “The Most Influential 50 Women in the Economic”.

Khaled Ismail is the Willard W. Brown Chair at the American University in Cairo (AUC) for the academic year 2014-2015.

He is also the head of the African Academic Association on Entrepreneurship.

Ismail is the Founder and Chairman of KIangel, an angel investment fund focused on investing in early-stage startups in the Middle East. The fund has invested in 11 companies since 2011 and is still growing. Ismail is a serial entrepreneur who has started 7 companies in Egypt since 1992.

His latest company, SySDSoft, which is a technology company focused on the design of wireless communication system modems, was acquired by Intel in March 2011. Ismail became thereafter and until January 2014 the Managing Director of Intel Mobile Communications.

Ismail was the Chairman of Endeavor Egypt between 2011 and 2014, board member of Orascom Telecom (2004-2011) and board member of the IT Industry Development Authority (2009-2012). Between 2005 and 2007, Ismail was the Senior Advisor of the Egyptian Minister of CIT, responsible for Technology Development.

Between 1997 and 2000, Ismail was the Managing Director of Gemma, a company specialized in Ceramic manufacturing, which he managed to take public in 1998.

Ismail was with IBMs TJ Watson Research Center in NY. He is the recipient of the IBM Invention Achievement Award and the IBM Outstanding Technical Achievement Award in 1997 and 1995, respectively.

Ismail received his Ph.D. from MIT in 1989.

He has been an IEEE Fellow since 1997 and has published over 160 papers in international journals, and is the holder of 22 US patents. He was the recipient of the Eta Kappa Nu Best Young Electrical Engineer in the US award in 1994, and the Shuman Award for the Young Arab Engineer in 1995.

Tarek Mahfouz joined Visa in November 2014 as a Country Director responsible for the Visa activities in Egypt.

Tarek oversees cementing relations with clients, government, and various stakeholders with the aim of proliferating electronic payments and financial inclusion.

Tarek has an extensive experience of 30 years in Banking in Corporate, Retail and Marketing in different financial institutions, with 15 years of which in Card Business.

The last 11 years he has been with QNB Alahli (former Societe Generale Bank) as Head of Retail Banking. Tarek has a strong commercial and technical knowledge and experience in Electronic Payment arena.

He has a BA in Commerce from Cairo University; he received his diploma in Banking Credit Management from the American University in Cairo in 1993.

He also accomplished other studies in Retail Banking management from Bank of New York, Money Markets from Union Bank of Switzerland and Card Business School from Cambridge University.

I have more than 30 years of experience in diversified fields including: Information and Communications Technology (ICT), Management, and the Development and Clustering of Firms including Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs).

My assignments took place in Egypt and internationally, and in various business sectors and vertical industries, including: ICT, education, manufacturing, consumer products, maritime & transportation, automotive, healthcare, oil & gas, tourism, environment, utilities, construction, pharmaceutical, agribusiness and retail.

Throughout my career, I have initiated and implemented large national Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) initiatives. These initiatives were conducted with many Egyptian governmental agencies, such as Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT), Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA), Ministry of Education, Ministry of Trade and Industry, Telecom Egypt, as well as with different developmental programs funded by international donors operating in Egypt, such as Euro-Mediterranean Private Sector Development Program (PSDP), Industrial Modernization Center (IMC), Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA), and USAID.

In these initiatives, I developed and implemented strategies and plans that helped in clustering and developing firms including SMEs, towards leveraging their competitiveness, innovation capacity and export readiness. These strategies and plans covered  areas related to corporate-business-technology strategic planning, business development, local demand and export development, market awareness, and building of international strategic alliances networks.

The alliances included potential buyers (both public and private entities), potential business partners, venture capitalists (VCs), investment bodies, donors, R&D funds, universities and research institutions.

Likewise, I established and executed strategies and plans for increasing the technology utilization across the different social and economic sectors, while decreasing the digital divide in Egypt, with a special focus on the base of the pyramid and youth.

Dean of College of International Transport and Logistics

President's assistant for Institutional Development - Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport

Logistics consultant for the Egyptian Federation of chamber of commerce 

Economic consultant for the Union of Arab Chambers

Dr Sara Elgazzar is the Dean of College of International Transport and Logistics and a professor of supply chain finance at the Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport. She is currently the logistics consultant for the Egyptian Federation of chamber of commerce and the Economic consultant for the Union of Arab Chambers.

Dr. Elgazzar has a PhD in supply chain finance from the University of Huddersfield (UK). She is certified Trainer and Instructor, The International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations (FIATA), Genève and, The International road union (IRU), Switzerland.

Dr. Elgazzar participated in a number of consultancy projects in the area of logistics for Egypt, the Arab League and the Arab region. She coordinated and participated in a number of EU Mediterranean projects. Dr. Elgazzar designed the reward system for several companies in food retail sector. She also developed a performance system for managing supply chain operations. Dr. Elgazzar participated in designing the logistics and the financial systems of supplying the commodities to the Egyptian food subsidy system.

Graduate of Electronics and Communication department, Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University with distinguished honor at year 2000

Worked at Electronics Components modeling at Mentor Graphics

Founder and CEO of Sico Electronics since 2003

Founder and Managing director of Sico Technology Ltd since 2006

Member of Intel Board of Advisors from 2010 till 2014

Head of Devices Department in CIT Chamber in the Egyptian Industrial Federation from 2011 till 2015

Board Member at the IT General Division at the Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce from 2011 till 2015.

Founder and Managing Director of Sico Trade & Distribution in Dubai since 2013

Chairman First Deputy of the Digital Economy General Division at the Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce from 2015 till now

Founder, Chairman & CEO of the Egyptian Silicon Industries Co, the first Mobile Phones and Tablets factory in Egypt, Middle East and Africa

Founder and Managing Director of SicoTech in Nairobi - Kenya

Board Member of El-Orman Charity Organization from 2008 till 2012.

With 20 years of experience in finance and IT, and a vision to enable nationwide electronic financial services, Sabry managed to establish Fawry as one of the fastest growing ventures in the Middle East.

Prior to creating Fawry, Sabry spent 10 years leading sales at IBM Egypt and later was key to the success of Raya Holding, Egypt’s leading ICT company where he directed the operations, finance, and business development for years before he eventually led the whole IT line of business for the group.

Sabry holds an MBA from Leeds University in the United Kingdom.

Hanny ElMessiry is a visionary who firmly believes that actions and results speak louder than words and passionately lives up to his own creed. He uses his achieved business results to set the bar higher with every new endeavor and has an astonishing record of turning loss into profit across various industries.

His professional experiences cut across an array of disciplines which include FMCG manufacturing, International Trade, Oil & Gas, Supply-Chain Logistics, Private Infrastructure Project Finance, Government Office, and Real Estate Development.

Along with his current Kraft Heinz CEO post, Hanny makes time to serve the community in his capacity as the chairman of INJAZ; an NGO that works on preparing young adults for the business world.

He also sits on various for profit company boards with the aim of sharing learnings towards a better business environment, This includes EFG Hermes Finance, EDITA Food Industries among others. His previous role was Chairman and CEO of Orascom Housing Communities; a company that focuses on building high-quality affordable housing communities that include schools, hospitals, commercial centers, sports centers, as well as industrial areas.

In 2015 Hanny took a hiatus from the private business world to fulfill a civic duty as he became the twenty-second governor of Egypt’s second capital, Alexandria. During his tenure, Hanny used his business ideology to propel growth. He applied the private sector principles of “Management by Objective” to deliver new ideas and was also able to significantly augment the assigned budget through private funding support.

Prior to his gubernatorial appointment Hanny acted as the CEO of IFFCO Egypt, the largest edible oil and fats refining and processing company in North Africa. The company services industrial, institutional, retail, and B2B clients across North Africa, the Middle East, and the Levant markets with strong presence across the globe.

Hanny’s association with the food industry had started when he served as Regional VP for Golden State Foods (gsf) Middle East and Africa operations. The operation consisted of three business units; Manufacturing of Liquid Products (Local & Export), a Bakery unit, and a Supply-Chain and Logistics unit. Along with his management role, Hanny expanded the post to incorporate Project Development, Strategic Alliances, as well as Mergers & Acquisitions.

Throughout the years of residing between Egypt and the USA Hanny always believed in the power of quality education.

He earned his DBA in Business in 2016, and earlier earned his MBA through a joint venture between George Washington University and Alexandria University. His undergraduate B.S. in International Business is received from California State University in Los Angeles, California. He holds certificates from Harvard Business school, Kellogg School of Business and the American University in Cairo as well as the training arms of ABB International and Bank of America.

Hanny is a graduate of the infamous Victoria College of Alexandria from which he earned his high school certification and was decorated for receiving the top student award. His belief in education led Hanny to teach Strategic Management for Graduate Students at the American University in Cairo, as well as take on a mentoring role at INJAZ.

Earlier on in his career Hanny worked at Al Baraka Bancorp and Bank of America, both in Los Angeles, California. Later he joined ABB Equity Ventures and became responsible for managing projects in the MENA region in the areas of Private Infrastructure focusing on the areas of Oil, Gas & Petrochemical, Telecommunications, Power & Water Plants, as well as Airports construction.

Hanny is also a Partner in Global Equity Ventures (GEV). GEV oversees projects in the MENA region with particular interest on Entrepreneurship in the areas of Franchising, Information Technology, Logistics as well as SportsTourism.

He actively serves on committees of various organizations in areas of entrepreneurship,investors associations, community development, chambers of commerce, and local industrial federations. He is an avid supporter of corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts.

Mohammad El Mougi joined Vezeeta in 2016 as Director of Product and in 6 months his team managed to re-launch great product features that are precisely fit for Vezeeta markets. He then moved to the role of VP of North Africa & Levant handling the commercial arm for Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon, while exploring other markets in the region.

Mohammad has 10 years of experience in Technology and Telecom industries that makes him a capable leader for driving results. He can identify growth opportunities and winning strategies and has a strong track record of generating game-changing ideas with successful implementation.

Prior to Vezeeta, Mohammad was Marketing Manager at Vodafone Enterprise and Research Consultant at the Technology Practice at Nielsen.

He holds a Masters of International Business from Hult University, San Francisco and a Bachelor in Pharmacy and Biotechnology from the German University in Cairo.

Studied at The American University in Cairo.

Holds a MSc in Economics from the University of London.

Experience in renewable energy and carbon trading working at Shell in the UK and Tunisia .

Co-Founder and CEO at KarmSolar.

AbdelMalek is a Guinness world record breaker and the CEO of Savvy Arabia; a technology solution provider specialized in e-commerce and e-learning based in Egypt. Years ago, he co-founded Savvy Era a U.S company that provides technology services to the U.S market. AbdelMalek has a master degree in International Business and a bachelor degree in Information System Management. The solid background of software engineering with business administration enabled AbdelMalek with his team to serve more than 80 clients from the USA, Arabian Gulf Area, and Egypt with a 70% success rate, and they are still seeking for the perfection. Recently AbdelMalek won the 2nd place out of 700 teams in the world largest Software Development Competition in Jeddah, KSA. The idea about a fintech solution called Hajj Wallet which is a mobile-based wallet for pilgrims. In the community work, AbdelMalek was the leader of Google Developer Group in Alexandria for two years, then he became the general secretary of Alexandria Software & Information Technology Association which is an NGO that aims to build a powerful ecosystem for companies in the software industry and to raise the awareness about the importance of digital applications for companies in other industries in Alexandria, Egypt.

Hello, I am Assem Younes, country manager of "gigaaa" in Egypt the first intelligent Virtual

Personal Assistant of its kind globally!

My background is mostly in the business operations of digital field with focus on e-commerce.

Overlooking all digital field challenges, made me believe in how the ecosystem needs to

develop more handy solutions for better exposure and easier experiences for users from all

ranges to better believe in the power of technology!

When gigaaa came along, I thought it was a great risk with great responsibilities, but it made me

better believe that taking such step towards an important role within Artificial Intelligence

industry will be of both a greater impact and return on the society, improving quality of life; that

is what really matters!

Mahmoud is an entrepreneur and co-founder at BADR, one of the leading software firms in Alexandria. During the 11 years life span of BADR, Mahmoud led technical teams for different startups in USA, Europe and MENA region which helped them raising multi million USDs of investments. His supervision and technical expertise helped to expand the specialties of the firm to include data science and AI to fill the gap between web/mobile apps, data engineering and analytics. And recently he won the second place in Hajj Hackathon the most participants hackathon in the world!BADR, 

Industrial Director of GS Egypt and Zahran Group.

Managing Director of Zahran Furniture and Decoration

Vice President of ABA Youth Committe 

Founding Member of ALEX Angels

Samer Mansour is the General Manager for Aramex in Egypt, a leading global provider of comprehensive logistics and transportation solutions, and a publicly listed company on Dubai Financial Market (DFM: ARMX) employing over 17,000 employees across over 60 countries.

Prior to his current role, Samer was the Regional Manager for InfoFort in Africa, the leading Information Management Solutions provider in the Middle East, Africa and Asia. InfoFort helps its clients, from SMEs to Fortune 500 companies, to secure, better manage their data, digitize and automate their manual process. He was responsible for overseeing the company’s regional presence, developing its strategy and leading its expansion and growth.

Samer first started his career in 1990 in the Air Express and Logistics at DHL. He held various commercial roles in Egypt and the Gulf region, before heading up DHL's commercial activities in Egypt.

Samer is a Chemist graduate from the University of Alexandria, and he is a Certified Information Professional (CIP) by the Association for Information and Image Management (AIIM). He has also acquired several advanced studies in the field of Logistics, Supply Chain and Information Management.

Hussein Rifai is the Chairman and Board Member of Inertia Holding Group (IHG).

He was the primary driving force behind forming the consolidated group structure of IHG, which includes Inertia Properties (IP), Inertia Construction Company (ICC) and Aura, this robust corporate structure coupled with the strategic management approach were put together to enable sustainability of growth for the whole group.

Prior to the formation of IHG in 2009, Rifai was the Managing Director and partner at Aura Designs from 2002 until 2009, and was responsible of the management of the design studio that delivers a full range of state of the art architectural, interior design and landscape designs. Rifai focused on the identification and acquisition of new business in Egypt, UAE and Libya.

Rifai is a member of the Egyptian Engineering syndicate and the Egyptian Junior

Business Association (EJB), a non-governmental organization, considered one

Egypt's finest and most prominent business associations with a strong objective to develop communities and networking, with 400 successful businessmen and women from different sectors.

Rifai earned a Master of Science in Construction Engineering from the American University of Cairo and a Bachelor of Science in Architectural Engineering from Cairo University. He was also a Teaching Assistant of Construction Engineering in The American University of Cairo (AUC).

Inertia’s developments aim to develop and improve unique communities, offering homes with advanced designs to provide a sense of unity and comfortableness.

INERTIA was founded in 2007, signified and brought projects of value with remarkable effort in Egypt and will be planning to expand in the MENA region.

Sherine Moneim leads the beauty and personal care category as the marketing director and is an executive board member EXCOM Unilever Egypt and Sudan. 

Her marketing expertise goes back leading most key Portfolio across Beverages, Foods, Home care and Personal Care. Formerly, She was the marketing director for Home Care, Foods and Beverages business leading Lipton and Knorr, two Unilever mega brands. She worked on steering the business towards profitable competitive growth in a VUCA environment.

Sherine’s contribution went beyond Egypt and Sudan, her influence went across 7 countries in the MENA region because of her focus on building passionate leaders with powerful consumer insights and digital capabilities who can win in a connected world.

She is a graduate of the faculty of commerce, English department Alexandria University and joined her career in Unilever back in 2003.

Her passion lies in creating a great impact on people’s lives through creating a disruptive consumer marketing that adds value to their lives. Also her inspiration gets fueled everyday by building a 2nd line of tomorrow’s leaders who can unleash their potential to the best of their capabilities and accordingly play an instrumental role in spinning the wheel of the economy.

Amr is the founder of GoodsMart, He studied Mechanical Engineering, ERP systems and database analysis. He worked with several companies in more than 15 countries around the world, travelling helped him shape his personality, expanded his awareness and introduced him to a great diversity of people.

Dr. Omar Sakr is the founder and CEO of Nawah-Scientific, the first private multidisciplinary research center in Egypt, catering for research in the fields of natural and biomedical sciences. He graduated as a pharmacist in 2005 from Ain Shams University, Egypt. He holds a PhD in pharmaceutical technology from the University of Geneva and an MBA degree from HULT business school in London. His career extends over 13 years of experience in the pharmaceutical field, both in academia and industry. His workplaces include Egypt, Switzerland and Germany where he worked for 3 years as a researcher at Capsulution Pharma in Berlin. Omar’s research activities are focused on nanotech applications for controlled delivery of small molecules and biological drugs. Also, Omar has worked as an adjunct assistant professor of entrepreneurship at Zewail City of Science and Technology. To his name, Omar holds several scientific and business awards for innovative product design. He authored and co-authored several peer-reviewed articles and book chapters that are published in top journals in the field. Omar’s own famous quote is: “Some stuff can only be done the hard way!”.

Jailan Yousri, Branding and Digital Marketing consultant, graduated from Faculty of Arts- English Department, literature section. Before working in Marketing and Media, she has got her professional masters in Freight Forwarding business and Economy, and then she shifted her career to advertising and Business Development.

Since 2006, she Volunteered in many NGOS, programs, projects and youth Initiatives; Model American Congress, Model United Nations, Bibliotheca Alexandria, U.S. Consulate General Alexandria and others, on different positions as Head of online marketing, public relations, media and Social media adviser. she was working as a Digital Community Manager in RAYA Social Media co. and social media consultant for Global Shapers

- Alexandria hub. Also, she has worked as Group Digital Marketing Manager, and Group Business Improvement Manager for Andalusia Medical Group in Egypt and KSA. Now she is Group Business Development Director for Elaj Group in MEA Region.

Finally, inspiring and engaging her teams to achieve the customer satisfaction and financial targets are her main goals. Gained her power of inspiration through her experience in all the marketing and communications fields with different teams in different locations and countries.

Evans Wadongo is a Co-founder & CEO at GreenWize Energy, which is advancing cutting-edge African-designed renewable energy solutions in Sub Saharan Africa. He is also the founder of Sustainable Development For All, an organization that has helped lift thousands of mostly rural people out of poverty. Mr. Wadongo is also the founding partner of Wadson Ventures, an angel impact investment firm working with promising African start-ups. At 19, he designed the first-ever African designed solar lamp, dubbed MwangaBora®. Evans has received several global awards including CNN Hero, Outstanding Social Entrepreneur in Africa, Pan Commonwealth Youth Award for excellence in Development, and the Mikhail Gorbachev Award for Man Who Changed the World. He has also been named among Africa’s ’30 under 30’ best young entrepreneurs by Forbes, listed among top 35 innovators under 35 by MIT Technology Review, and named among 20 Men who will shape the next 20 years by UK's Esquire magazine. Wadongo grew up in a rural village in western Kenya before earning a BSc. (Honors) in Electronic and Computer Engineering from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.

Twitter@evanswadongo

With almost 20 years of solid experience in the field of IT & Payment

Systems.

Middleware Integration & Operation Manager in the Central Bank Of

Egypt.

Fintech & Blockchain Expert & Trainer providing top quality “Fintech”

training for Bankers and Financial sector members.

Head of Middleware Integration Unit in the Central Bank of Egypt.

Among his professional milestones; PM for the RTGS, ACH, CCH, ATM systems,

Administration, Design and implementation of Middleware Solution, Digital Financial

Services at the Central Bank of Egypt.

Head of the Blockchain Task force, Member of the FinTech task force group, Cryptocurrency

task force group, Digital Fiat Currency task force group, National FinTech Strategy taskforce

group.

His professional trainings and accreditations are MBA in Financial Management, Project

Management, TOGAF, ITIL, Leadership & Decision Making (Frankfurt School Of Finance &

Management), System Admin, System Solution Design, Future Leaders Program (FLP Alumni

of 2016).

Laila Badawi is an architect, graduated in 2007 from Cairo University where she held a teaching position of for the following 3 years while she got her Master of Science degree in Building Technology. She also pursued a design career by working with Shahira Fahmy Architects from 2008 to the end of 2013. Upon receiving the Hassan Fathy Design Award, Badawi started acquiring projects as a freelancer until she started her own office "Grids Architects " in 2017.

Currently Grids Architects is an architecture and interior design office with a wide range of projects and clients in addition to a special interest in applying responsive architecture and environment friendly solutions. The office work has been published in many local magazines and was shortlisted in the Cairo Design Award 2017 in the interior design category.

Hossam Samy, AvidBeam Chief Operation Officer  

Hossam is a co-founder & the COO of AvidBeam Technologies. He is an ICT professional with 19+ years of experience. Hossam spent 15+ years in multinational organizations including Intel, Huawei & Motorola. He Participated in many ICT projects in Africa & Middle East.

Prior Co-Founding AvidBeam, Hossam was the Strategic Relation Manager for Intel Labs - Middle East, overseeing Intel labs relations with governments, universities and industrial partners. As one of Intel official spokespersons in the region, He represented Intel in local, regional and international events.

Prior joining Intel, Hossam has been working for Huawei for more than five years as a vice-director for WiMAX products in North Africa, he was responsible for marketing Huawei products in the region. He had participated in several projects with key ICT operators in the region. He had also represented Huawei in many local, regional and international events as an official spokesperson for Huawei in MENA Region. Hossam also worked for Motorola for five years as a wireless system engineer. 

Hossam holds an MBA from American University in Cairo (AUC), and a B.Sc. in telecommunications from Ain Shams University in Cairo.

I have a diverse professional background that spans social entrepreneurship, investment, UN, and international NGO.  In 2013 I attended SXSW for the first time and I was inspired to co-create RiseUp Summit, an annual technology and entrepreneurship conference which, in 2017, saw over 6,500 attendees from 50 countries and speakers from Microsoft, MIT, Tech Crunch, Google and Facebook.

I would like to consider myself a free spirit, connector, motivator and consider determination and dedication as the primary keys to success. I help entrepreneurs grow themselves and their ideas into great businesses. I would serve as a consigliere without displacing entrepreneurs, rolling up my sleeves to work through all the bits of building their businesses—strategy, recruiting, partnering, financing, leadership—the whole gamut. Their individual development is as important to me as the development of the business.

Ramy always liked taking on big problems head on, which is why he spent two years working for Google in the MENA region as the Public Relations & Communications Manager during the testing time of the Arab Spring and its aftermath. Seeing his growing passion for more challenges, he took on the route of private PR and worked with global brands including Coca-Cola, Vodafone, Barclays and many more.

Fast forward a few more years and Ramy has finally found the love of his life in the form of digital media where he now leads as the General Manager & Head of Operations at hug digital's - a regional advertising agency - Cairo office. Not one to shy away from challenges, Ramy is currently working on many exciting brands and taking their online strategies to the next level including Emaar Misr, HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, Alwaleed Philanthropies, Shell, Americana Group, Festival City Group, Abou Ghaly Group, Allianz, Marakez, Kempinski, Mondelez, Kraft, VOX Cinemas and others! 

When he isn't in the gym, Ramy is probably trying to coerce one of his two cats into taking a selfie with him.

Adel is working as a growth hacker at Mintrics, the social video analytics platform for more than a year now. Prior to that, he had been working in the digital marketing field, especially SEO, for more than two years. He was involved in many volunteering experiences including RiseUp summit and TEDx amongst other. after that, he found his passion Entrepreneurship so he co-founded a student organization called "X-Project" that teaches students Entrepreneurship.

Ayman El Nahass, CHT, MBA, Ph.D. 

Ayman El-Nahass is a Business Consultant and the owner of El-Nahass Consulting; he is also the founder and Managing Director of CBS for Training Services in Alexandria. For over 20 years Ayman has been working with people and organizations on different levels driven by strong personal passion of adding value and relentlessly promoting positive change and improvement in every setting he is at. He has worked in both, the hospitality industry and education inside and outside Egypt joining multinational companies.

Up till this moment Ayman has delivered thousands of practical training hours investing in the Human Intellectual Capital with corporate entities and organizations in different fields. In addition to leading successful projects transforming organizations; by providing guidance, counseling and advising on HR best practices that help achieve desired results through designing customized Strategic Plans; and planning, designing, and implementing Integrated Talent Management Program (ITMP) and Strategic Improvement Plan (SIP). 

Ayman is well renowned for his outstanding strengths in leadership, communication, conflict resolution, facilitation, and influencing. These traits have always attracted people and organizations alike for inviting him as a speaker in their public speaking events, and also to be a representative in their business committees, as he is respected for his good judgment and foresight. Most recently, he is the Chairperson of the Employment Committee of one of the highly respected organizations in Alexandria.

Ayman strongly believes in the importance of continuous learning and personal development. Hence, he has pursued his studies and received his Ph.D. in Training Effectiveness, Masters in Business Administration (MBA), and is a certified trainer from several bodies.

Ahmed Korayem is a marketer turned entrepreneur turned academic turned investment manager. He is well versed in both sides of practice and academia of Entrepreneurship, Marketing, and Investment. Ahmed worked with McKinsey & Company then joined Crispin Porter and Bogusky (CP+B) Creatives Team, then went to co-found startups like Konnectual (agreement-based job matching platform), Knellen (An online marketplace for arts and authentic creations), and Peerz (A peer-to-peer learning platform). Ahmed currently works as a lecturer of Marketing and Entrepreneurship at the University of London International Programmes and manages Nahdet Misr's Accelerator and Venture Capital Fund - EdVentures.

Korayem holds a B.Sc. with double major in Marketing and International Business with Highest Honors (Summa Cum Laude), an MBA degree with focus on Marketing for small and medium businesses.

Mr. Ramy Darweesh has over ten years of professional experience in private equity and management consulting.

Ramy is currently a Director at Darweesh Scan Center, a leading diagnostic imaging center in Alexandria, Egypt. Prior to joining Darweesh Scan, Ramy was an Investment Associate at the Richard Chandler Corporation where he was responsible for investments in the healthcare sector in Egypt in the range of $10mm - $100mm. Ramy was also a consultant with Mercer and Aon, working in both the Chicago and Dubai offices serving large governmental and private institutions. 

Ramy holds a MBA from INSEAD and a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from the University of Chicago.

With more than 15 years of experience in the healthcare industry, Dr.Walid El sayed is based in Egypt and KSA. He is now leading, Abouzeyada group, one of the largest pharmaceutical chains in Egypt, and offering several consultancies, through his firm, to multiple healthcare projects as well as startups related to healthcare technology.  

Dr. Walid was responsible for driving the continued growth and expansion of Andalusia Medical Group brand in the region from 2003 till 2017. He held various positions in healthcare management pursuing capacity building, business development, operational and strategic roles in MENA region. Dr Walid also focused on channel partners, start-up operation, mergers and acquisitions, turn around projects, and project management.

  Dr. Walid joined Andalusia group in 2003 as Head of sales unit, then sales and marketing director, ended by deputy operational director in 2008. He moved to the group strategic management since 2009 where he served as Chief strategy and programs management officer for the MENA region till end of 2017.

  Afterwards, Dr. Walid has joined Elaj Medical Group as –Elaj Egypt CEO. He served successfully the group and transformed some of its entities into profitable ones through adopting industry’s best practices, transferring state-of-the-patient management, and continuity of care in Elaj Egypt.

  As for the professional skills, Dr Walid is a highly visionary healthcare executive offering a proven success in all projects he has managed across the MENA region. He has excellent leadership, strong business acumen and comprehensive knowledge of the hospitals and diagnostic marketplaces. He possesses strategic planning skills to hospitals business models and healthcare market development. He is capable of providing vision, direction and guidance for his teams. He maintained a lot of exemplary Networks of business associates through outstanding communications and interactions with senior leadership.

  As for the academia, Dr. Walid’s academic experience includes B.Sc. in Medicine from Alexandria University, specialized in therapeutic nutrition. He holds a Master degree of Business Administration in healthcare management from the Arab Academy for Science & Technology in 2007. Also, he enrolled the Fellowship program of the American College of healthcare executives (ACHE) to be ended by end of 2018.

Mr. Maher Asham earned both his B.Sc and M.B.A. from The American University in Cairo in1990 and 1997 respectively.

Mr. Asham held professorial positions in a number of multinationals: as an IT manager in Santa Fe Drilling, then for Reuters since 1993 in several positions, in Cairo as well as in Geneva, ending as the Marketing and Business Development Manager for East Med. and North Africa. During that period he built the exchange data on Reuters platforms for MENA markets as well as developed several products and services related to MENA financial markets. Mr. Asham also currently serves as Chief Executive Officer and a board member of EGID, a Subsidiary of EGX and a JV with NASDAQ. In addition, he is the Managing Director of EGIT, Subsidiary of EGX and EGID, a board member of the Citadel Capital Financial Information Centre at AUC. Mr. Asham’s research is in the area of development of Middle East financial Markets. He was also actively involved in the development of electronic trading in Egypt, defining strategies of EGX and the automation of many financial markets in the region. Mr. Asham is a faculty of Finance at the School of Management of The American University in Cairo where he prepared and taught the first Fintech course in the Master’s program. He is also the vice president of AUC Alumni Association. Mr. Asham is a member of FISD and FPL in the Fintech arena, He is also, the founder and the chairman of Shorouk Misr, an Egyptian NGO in the field of microfinance active in Upper Egypt. He is also one of the founders and board member of BAST Ratings, an SME credit rating company, and Comtricks an Egyptian startup in the field of electronic commerce and Finchamps in the field of Fintech for banking and Microfinance.

The founder and president of the Egyptian Fintech Association, a non-profit organization that serves equitable economic growth through FinTech and entrepreneurship in general.

Noha Shaker is also the Head of Digital Ventures and Strategic Alliance at CIB, where she manages FinTech innovation and the supporting ecosystem of partners.

Over the past 18 years, Noha has held previous positions in banking such as head of business development & product innovation, as well as head of Operational Quality Assurance and customer experience.

Noha is also a management consultant who has worked on various key projects within the region across various industries including Tourism, Transportation, Energy, Telecommunications and Financial Sector.

She is also an active member of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Egypt and Africa, mentoring many successful and promising start-ups collaborating with various programs and foundations.

After graduating from the American University in Cairo in 2006 with a bachelors degree in Computer Science, Basil spent the following 10 years building expertise as a software professional with a focus on web & mobile development. His experiences ranged from startups to large corporations like Orascom to major software houses like Link Development where he was a Product Consultant. This is where he first encountered the recruitment problem as his department started to grow in size. A few years later, he would start the HireHunt pilot program where he built and battle-tested the next generation hiring platform which aimed to improve the process for both applicants and employers using Artificial Intelligence, automation and gamification. HireHunt now has over 30,000 applicants and 1,300 companies and is currently expanding in several new global markets. In addition to entrepreneurship, Basil is also a published author, journalist, startup mentor and international speaker. He has spoken at several global conferences and on stations like BBC Arabic.

I am an assistant professor of surgery, faculty of medicine, Alexandria university, Egypt. I am specialized in liver, pancreas and biliary surgery. I am the coordinator of the liver transplant program in Almowasaa university hospital. I treach surgery for the undergraduate and postgraduate student at Alexandria university. I have special interest in research related to liver surgery and transplantation with development of new devices that improve surgical outcomes.

Web development and E-business was always my biggest passion, so after 7 years of practicing dentistry in parallel with building web solutions I decided to shift my career completely, quit dentistry forever and start the journey of building my own company TASKTY. 

Taskty is an online marketplace for home services.We provide our customers with the best workers/ technicians in the market who can offer services like house cleaning, plumbing, electricity services, insect control and many other services.

Since we started early 2013 we served tens of thousands of customers in Cairo  with a remarkable growth rates and customer satisfaction.

This company was seed funded by SWARI ventures and incubated at flat6labs. Then we received 2 other rounds of investments from 15 of the top angel investors in the Arab region. 

Last year we received a pre-series A round of investment from 500 startups and growing exponential since then.

Waleed Rashed , Founder & CEO VOO , VOO is Delivery Marketplace for Merchants and Courier companies to connect.

Tarek Aboualam carries over 22 years of ICT management experience with a track record of significant accomplishments in the European and Middle-Eastern Telecommunications markets.

As Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Glint Consulting, Tarek leverages on his expertise to offer management consulting and investment services that aim to build successful companies and aid them in maximizing their value. Tarek brings forth widely diversified experience with a clear vision and understanding of industry trends and business directions. His high level managerial skills are backed by a solid technical background and several years of hands-on experience in different ICT business areas, managing the establishment and turnaround of different sized companies, from small startups to large-scale incumbent with thousands of employees.

His experience spreads throughout the Middle East and Europe as his career drove him from one leading telecommunications company to the next.

Tarek currently serves as the non-executive Chairman of ItaliaOnLine (Italy) and Inty (UK) and as board member of ITNet (Italy) . He also used to chair and sit on the board of different companies including Telecom Egypt, Vodafone Egypt, TE Data, Xceed, Soficom Communications (Egypt); Tellas (Greece); Tirocon (UAE); TEDJ (Jordan) and Mobiserve (Egypt, UAE & Pakistan). Before establishing Glint Consulting, Tarek played an integral role in leading mega-companies through turbulent times and safely securing their positions in the market with positive forecasts and sound financial performances.

In 2012, Tarek led the turnaround of Egypt’s incumbent operator Telecom Egypt (TE) in a challenging environment acting as TE’s CEO & Managing Director after serving as the Senior VP for International & Wholesale. TE is the largest fixed line service provider in MENA region offering capacity and International voice and data wholesale services to the Mobile operators. As TE’s CEO, and following a turbulent year in 2011, Tarek succeeded in leading the company’s 50,000 employees to achieving a very positive start to 2012 with sound financial performance and good progress against the company’s strategic objectives.

Between 2005 and 2008, Tarek actively contributed to the turnaround of the Italian integrated operator Wind Telecomunicazioni acting as the Planning and Business Intelligence Director of its Fixed Business Unit in charge of the business planning, market & business analysis, strategic program management and commercial product development. After returning from Italy, Tarek joined Wind’s holding company Orascom Telecom as the Fixed & Broadband Development Director.

Tarek co-founded and managed one of the first ISPs in the MENA region (Soficom Communications SAE) acquired at a later stage by Batelco of Bahrain. Tarek is a member of the Management Committee at the Egyptian Supreme Council for Culture. He holds a bachelor degree in Telecommunications engineering from Alexandria University.

Mr. El Akhdar founded LimeVest Partners in 2017. He is the Managing Partner, member of the investment committee.

Mr. El Akhdar was previously a Partner with BPE Partners (formerly Beltone Private Equity) since 2008 where he led the firm’s team building efforts and was responsible for fundraising, deal sourcing and origination, operational oversight of portfolio companies, and exit strategies. He led BPE Partners’ investments in MNHD, Total Egypt, PGESCo, and Pickalbatros. 

Prior to joining BPE Partners, Mr. El Akhdar was at American Capital Strategies, one of the largest US publicly-traded alternative asset managers. He started his career as a management consultant with Abt Associates.

Mr. El Akhdar is the co-chairman of the Capital Markets Committee at the American Chamber of Commerce and is a member of the Emerging Markets Private Equity Association’s Frontier Market Council and the Egyptian Private Equity Association.

Mr. El Akhdar received his MSc in Finance from the George Washington University School of Business and his BA in Accounting and Economics from the American University in Cairo.

Graduated from the American University in Cairo with honors and dual major (Marketing/Operations Management,) Mr. Messiry has more than 18 years of experience as Management Consultant/Trainer and Coach in the discipline of management serving several organizations such as Unilever, Majid El Foutim, Microsoft, MSC, Alexandria Chamber of Commerce, ABA, and lecturing at the MBA program in Eslsca School of Business and AAST. In addition to being a Management Consultant across several corporations and consulting engagement for private, public, and civil sectors, Mr. Marwan developed hands-on experience in several industries such as Information technology, consumer products, service, and transportation.

Nader Iskander, MBA ’97 Duke University, USA.  Bsc Computer Science ‘89, American University Of Cairo

After completing his MBA , Nader left the family business and returned to create his first startup ( EMEIT)  in 1998  , the first Microsoft Business Solutions partner. Currently ranked as one of the leading Microsoft partners in the region, EMEIT has led hundreds of clients in the journey of implementing complex Microsoft financial, distribution and manufacturing software solutions. This process involves continuous culture adaptation, consulting, delivery skills and process development while absorbing different industries, co-managing internal adoption, process re-engineering and resistance to change in the customer environment.

In 2004, Nader created his second start up ( EME International ) focusing on its fully developed enterprise mobile apps. This was very early in the industry. Coupled with global awards for innovation, EME pioneered solutions in mobile payment, employee and consumer engagement apps and  mobile sales force automation solutions. As a result, our technology was recently acquired by Fawry, ( the largest payment gateway in Egypt ) in their recent exit which valued Fawry at 100 million dollars. EME is now a shareholder and a vendor concurrently. The challenges in this business include how to sustain it while pioneering the market, how to build a continuous process for innovation, robust customer support, scaling operations at speed while investing in R&D, manufacturing, marketing, selling and support. Finally, attracting and developing talent , coupled with retention strategies as competitors started to enter this field is a source of sustainable competitive advantage. EME is considered the regional leader with one of the few exits in the fintech space in the whole region with customers in 9 countries.

In 2006, Nader created MIT, the first experiential/executive coaching company in Egypt, building the first ropes course training facility in the region covering 4 acres. Clients were mainly multinational companies such as P&G, Orascom, Orange telecom and others. Nader’s role involved conducting numerous group coaching exercises to executives covering a wide range of theme including team dynamics, leadership challenges and development, Intranpreneurship, culture transformation & change management. This involved several speaking /training engagements in parallel too. Nader is also trained as an executive coach by the college of executive coaching, USA and currently coaches executives/entrepreneurs on a one to one basis.

In 2017, Nader’s vision of many years came to fruit. Serving the middle class in Egypt, we ( 3 co-founders) created a new chain of primary care medical clinics “Dawi“ to disrupt the healthcare industry in Egypt by combining technology, service industry best practices in customer service processes, shifting paradigm shift in consumer and doctor’s eyes,  continuous process audit,  and branding the chain , rather than the doctor, to create an effective , affordable, scalable and profitable model. Currently we have four clinics operating with a major expansion plan.

In parallel, Nader spoke at Tedex in Egypt, served as co-chair at the Amercian chamber of commerce innovation and entrepreneurship committee. Nader also mentors several start ups and is an investor in several inside and outside of Egypt. Nader acted as executive chairman of the family business ( created in 1975 ) during the turbulent years of the Arab spring in order to guide in steering this entity ( over 400 employees across 12 branches) and still maintains this role.

Nader is particularly passionate about taking companies and individuals to the next level towards peak performance attainment, high impact leadership development, change management, cultural transformation and strategic digital disruption. Public speaking, training, coaching, and leading/co-leading workshops at different levels of management and across cultures, is a continuous source of inspiration.

Yasmin H. Abdou is currently the Head of Accounts and Partner at MagnaBlitz, marketing consultancy and digital agency. She completed her BSc degree double-majoring in Marketing and Innovation Management at the German University in Cairo in 2012 and her MSc Degree in Global Management at Antwerp Management School, Belgium.

Throughout her academic studies, Yasmin delved into the fields of consumer behavior and digitization, highlighted by her BSC thesis in The Effect of Religiosity on Price Consciousness and Shopping Impulsiveness in Egypt and her Master’s Research on Factories of the Future (conducted in Germany). The BSc thesis research was nominated to be discussed at an International conference at the Ajman University of Science and Technology in 2012 and the Master’s research was taken by the Government of Antwerp, Belgium as a best practice for the digitization of factories. Afterwards, Yasmin immersed herself into the digital field with a variety of clients including BMW, AXA, Magrabi Optical and Total, working on the digital transformations of brands and advising on dealing with consumers’ changing preferences online.

Yasmin believes in the power of knowledge transfer across fields and industries. Her exposure to varying industries and countries in research and in digital strategy setting have helped her develop a knack for spotting opportunities for brands that leverage on consumer behavior and digitization simultaneously.

Dalia Ibrahim is what we can confidently name as a true AUC alumni; being a holder of

a B.A. in Business administration (with Honors), then a Master’s Degree of Public

Administration (1999) and later an Executive MBA (2014) all from the American

University in Cairo.

Upon her graduation she started working in Nahdet Misr for Publishing. With perseverance and

diligence she moved on in her career path to be chosen among her uncles and siblings to hold the

position of the Vice President in 2004, setting up two sister companies; one dedicated to periodicals,

such as Disney and National Geographic magazines- and another for software and animation; managed

each of them for several years and then later handed them to a family member. She also assisted in the

establishment of Nahdet Misr for Trade to be managed from the start by another family member.

On the grounds of her business achievements, Dalia was nominated to be the CEO of Nahdet Misr for

Publishing in July 2011. Deservedly, Dalia’s efforts earned several awards in the field of publishing,

whether it be educational or cultural.

Driven by a sense of commitment to the society, Dalia volunteers to serve as a mentor or a judge to

start-up projects of young entrepreneurs which triggered her to later initiate the establishment of

EdVenture, the first corporate venture capital specialized in education in the MENA region.

Ambition, advancement, perfection and communication are key drivers for the publisher; Dalia Ibrahim,

who seeks, through Nahdet Misr, to assert a system of values including a sincere sense of belonging to

the Arab culture and society as well as efficient connectivity to the ever changing contemporary world

and worthy groundwork of the future.

Kareem Elsirafy is the Founder and Managing Partner of Modus Capital, a New York - Los Angeles - Cairo - based hybrid venture capital firm changing the narrative on how to engage entrepreneurs in the start-up ecosystem, whilst driving positive returns for investors and social impact initiatives. A seasoned entrepreneur and investor with extensive strategic and operating experience in early-stage tech, Kareem dedicated almost two decades of his career toward technological solutions for business and social challenges. He is a United States Marine Corps veteran, Columbia University alumnus and firm believer in the power of technology to drive positive social change.

Tarek is a Managing Partner at Algebra Ventures. He started his career as an engineer at Lucent Technologies then as a software developer for SAQQARA Systems, an internet startup in Silicon Valley. He later became General Manager of CID Consulting where he led the company’s high growth, helping it to become one of the leading local consulting firms in Egypt.

Apart from his role at Algebra Ventures, Tarek is Managing Partner at Ideavelopers where he has been managing $50m of VC investments since 2009, including some of Egypt’s most prominent technology startups. Tarek is a director of Smart Card Applications, Siwareand IdealRatings. In this role, he was also responsible for the investment in Fawry, the leading bill payment and presentment company in Egypt, which realized a $100m exit in 2015.

Tarek holds a B.Sc. in Electronics and Communication Engineering from Ain Shams University in Cairo and an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business.

"Hesham Wahby is a Co-Founder and CEO of Innoventures. He is responsible for the company's strategy and relationships, access to ventures, and coaching entrepreneurs. Innoventures is a platform for supporting early-stage startups. The company's activities primarily include seed-stage startup acceleration, venture funding, business mentoring and training and creating and running innovation spaces. Through Innoventures, Hesham has also co-founded Ideaspace, a new innovation/hacker/maker/coworking space for innovators and entrepreneurs. Hesham is also Principal, Middle East & Africa for Mercator XXI, a professional services firm helping clients engage the global economy. In addition, Hesham is also a Co-Founder of the Radio El-Afkar (idearadio) podcast, and one of the main hosts for this online show. He has a background of 17 years in the startup and technology industries, with experience in strategy, business development, product design, software development and circuit design. Hesham’s previous employments included Human Network Labs, Scenario Design and Mentor Graphics. He has also been involved in economic development initiatives through affiliation with the IEEE, Egyptian Engineering Day and Global Entrepreneurship Week. Hesham holds an MBA in Entrepreneurial and Strategic Management from the Wharton School, as well as a bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering from Cairo University."

Shehab Eldin is the founder of RESOLVE consulting and ALSHEHAB Co. He is also confounder

of AGRICYCLE for agricultural waste energy, AL-SONBOLAH for textile industries and

AlexAngels and a senior consulting partner at IMPACT consulting.

Shehab ElDin brings in 17 years of experience as an entrepreneur, Consultant, Executive

Coach, Facilitator and Speaker with the corporate sector, Startups and academia as well as

development sector and governmental organizations focusing on Leadership, Strategic

planning, Conflict Resolution, Mediation, Negotiation, Dialogue, Irrational Behavior,

Personal Branding, Public Speaking and Social Entrepreneurship among other areas. His

scope of work includes advising, executive coaching as well as designing, delivering and

facilitating customized training and simulation workshops in Egypt and internationally.

Shehab ElDin is currently a Lecturer at the American University in Cairo, School of

Business/Executive Education. He Spoke and lectured at various reputable international

platforms and universities including George Mason University, The American University in

Washington, Vienna University Business School, Northern Virginia Mediation Services in

USA, Doha institute for graduate studies, the Institute for Peace Studies in Alexandria and

various international conferences and events. Between 2002-2010 he lectured at the

Institute for Peace Studies in Alexandria, the Canadian International College and at the

Modern Sciences and Arts University (MSA), teaching Conflict Resolution, Negotiation, and

International Relations, after his teaching fellowship experience at the University of Notre

Dame in the USA.

His social activities include being a co-founder and a former board member of Nahdet El-

Mahrousa, The leading NGO incubating social entrepreneurs and social ventures targeting

economic and social development issues in Egypt. He is also the Founding Curator of the

Global Shapers Community- Cairo Hub, launched by the World Economic Forum in 2011,

gathering key young leaders on one platform to work together.

As Founder and CEO of Fetchr, Idriss Al Rifai leads one of the fastest growing start-ups in the Middle East. A firm believer in the power of technology, he has championed the introduction of disruptive innovations in traditional supply chain and logistics. His goal is to solve the ‘no address’ problem in the GCC and other emerging markets, making delivery a seamless and hassle-free experience for customers. Under his leadership, Fetchr has grown 400% from 2014 to 2018 and has expanded services to 6 markets – UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt, Oman and Jordan – with a launch imminent in Kuwait. With ‘Customer First’ as one of the company’s cornerstone values, he has inspired his team of more than 3000 employees to work towards putting a smile on the customer’s face.

Despite facing numerous challenges when he first started Fetchr - from attracting and making clients think ahead of the curve, to making sure the product and software improved at the right pace as well as sourcing quality talent and fundraising, he has persevered and spearheaded the new age of revolution in Middle Eastern logistics. Armed with determination and a clear long-term vision, Fetchr became the first Middle Eastern company to raise Series-A funding from a top Silicon Valley VC – New Enterprise Associates (NEA), the world’s largest Venture Capital fund – in 2015. Two years later, the company raised a Series-B funding of $41M led by both NEA and regional powerhouse, Majid Al Futtaim Group. Having secured funding from other famous names such as Nokia Growth Partners and Beco Capital, and been decorated with several awards, Idriss has made sure Fetchr remains a forerunner for Middle Eastern start-ups to grow and secure capital from across the world.

Previously, Idriss headed operations for MarkaVIP, the then second largest e-commerce player in the MENA region, where he built an in-house logistics department for the company to expedite deliveries. Prior to this, he worked as a consultant with the Boston Consulting Group. From 2002 to 2008, he worked with the French Ministry of Defence in various capacities and received several accolades for his leadership roles in Asia and Africa. He was part of the French U-19 National Basketball team from 1999 to 2003.

Idriss holds an MBA from the University of Chicago – Booth School of Business and a Master’s Degree in Political Science from Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po). He is also a Rath and Fulbright scholar, and an Endeavor entrepreneur. He aspires to make addresses obsolete and empower the more than 2 billion people that live without structured addresses to receive anything, anywhere on the go.

Hani W. Naguib is a professional strategy designer. He is the founder and CEO of NOVUS, the first knowledge and business design studio in the MENA region, focussing on evidence based innovation and entrepreneurship. 

Based in Cairo, Egypt, Hani applies the unique combination of design's holistic view and business rational to guide organizations and startups create customer centric business model innovations.

Hani is an avid student of business design and has been conducting advanced research on the topics of Evidence Based Entrepreneurship, Jobs To Be Done and Design Thinking with the sole intent to develop a clear value creation framework. Hani was privileged to be trained and personally mentored by Alex Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur and has completed his training in 2016.

Hani has worked with 300+ startups and has trained over 1000+ entrepreneurs. He has offered over a 1000 hour of volunteer mentoring sessions to local entrepreneurs and is honored to act as mentor and advisor to some of the top Egyptian startups. 

He is proud to support the Egyptian entrepreneurship ecosystem key players on their efforts to design and implement advanced incubation/acceleration programs.

Ahmed is Cyber Security Consultant and Trainer, he has more than 16 years of experience in Security consultation, Security Training, Information Security Management,  Penetration testing, Forensic investigation, Develop security policies, Security Assessment, Security auditing, Vulnerability Assessment, Code Reviewing, Development and Writing Exploits

Ahmed won "Forensic Investigator of the year 2016" Award from Ec-Council, in addition to that he has been awarded as one of TOP 100 Information Security Managers in Middle East 2016 and 2017

Ahmed Delivered Many Training and Consultation Services in UK,USA, Ireland, Germany, Italy, France, Scotland, Poland, Hungary, Belgium, Netherland, Switzerland, Greece, Denmark, Sweden, KSA, UAE and Spain with excellent feedback

Ahmed have the Master Degree in the Information Security in addition to many international certificates like: (CISM-CISSP-CISA-CEH-CHFI-ECSA-ECIH-ECSP-CEI-SPISI-ITIL-MCP-MCPD-MCSD-MCTS-MCT).

Dr. Ayman Ismail is the Assistant Professor and Abdul Latif Jameel Endowed Chair of Entrepreneurship at the American University in Cairo School of Business.

His research focuses on entrepreneurship venture capital and private equity in emerging markets economic development in the Middle East industrial strategy international technology diffusion and knowledge transfer to developing countries technology policy and innovation energy and food security and political economy of development. Dr. Ismail is a former Research Fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Kennedy School of Government in Harvard University.

He received his PhD in International Economic Development from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He also holds a bachelor degree in engineering and an MBA from the American University in Cairo, and a master in city planning and geographic information systems from MIT.

He is also a co-founder and Managing Partner in Enovio, a management & strategy consulting firm operating in the US and the Middle East. Prior to that, he was a consultant in McKinsey & Company Business Technology Office, based in New York for several years.

Dr. Ismail has advised senior management in leading Fortune 100 companies, fast-growing startups, government agencies, and non-profits on key organization, operations and technology issues. He has also consulted and conducted research for international organizations such as the World Bank and UNCTAD, as well as multiple US government agencies.

Dr. Ismail has a broad multidisciplinary experience in economic development, business strategy, city planning and technology based on professional practice and academic research.

Dr. Ismail is a co-founder and member the Board of Directors of Nahdet El-Mahrousa, a leading NGO incubating social entrepreneurs and social ventures targeting economic and social development issues in Egypt. He is also an Endeavor VentureCorps Mentor, advising entrepreneurs.