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.

David S. Rose is an Inc. 500 CEO, serial entrepreneur, super angel investor, best selling author, and keynote speaker who has founded or funded over 100 pioneering companies.

He has been described by Forbes as "New York's Archangel", by BusinessWeek as a "world conquering entrepreneur", by Crain's New York Business as "the father of angel investing in New York", and by Red Herring magazine as "patriarch of Silicon Alley". He is the New York Times best-selling author of both Angel Investing: The Gust Guide to Making Money & Having Fun Investing in Startups and The Startup Checklist: 25 Steps to a Scalable, High-Growth Business.

Peter Cowley, a Cambridge university technology graduate, founded and ran over a dozen businesses in technology and property over the last 40 years.  He has built up a portfolio of 75 angel investments with nine good exits (including one that is 107X his investment and returned all the cash he has invested) and thirteen failures.  He is a board member of the Global Business Angel Network (GBAN), President Emeritus of the European Business Angel Network (EBAN), former chair of the Cambridge Business Angels and was UK Angel of the Year 2014.  He has mentored hundreds of entrepreneurs and is on the board of nine startups.  

In 2011, he founded and ran Martlet: a Corporate VC, investing (currently £10M) from the balance sheet of Marshall, a £2.5bn revenue Cambridge engineering company.  He is a fellow in Entrepreneurship at the Cambridge Judge Business School and is on the investment committee of the UK Angel Co-fund.  He has also had 16 years’ experience as chair, treasurer and trustee of the boards of seven charities. 

With his son, Alan, Peter is sharing his and others’ experience and anecdotes in order to educate angels and entrepreneurs via  The Invested Investor which publishes two books and 75+ podcasts.  Peter is a public speaker on entrepreneurship and angel investing throughout the world.

Systems Analyst turned Tech Strategy Advisor, Public Speaker and Angel Investor, Harry ‘Tomi Davies (TD) is Collaborator-in-Chief at TechnoVision, co-founder of the Lagos Angel Network (LAN) and President of the African Business Angel Network (ABAN).  

For nearly two decades after graduating from the University of Miami TD led the implementation of innovative technology-led transformation initiatives in the Oil & Gas, Retail, Information Technology and Telecommunications industries for influential global brands Elf Aquitaine, Marks & Spencer, Ernst & Young and Sapient across Europe, the United States and Southeast Asia. 

In 2000 his focus shifted to Africa where he helped create the African Agriculture Technology Foundation (AATF), led the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) initiative in Nigeria and delivered a World Bank pilot of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel information system (IPPIS) that uncovered over 20,000 ghost workers in the Nigerian Government payroll system. Leading these kinds of innovative initiatives in Africa using his goal-oriented approach to project delivery which consistently delivered effective results inspired his 2014 book “The African Project Manager”.

TD is Chairman of TextNigeria (Telecoms) and Non-Executive Director at MBO Capital (Private Equity) and Big Cabal Media (Media & Entertainment). He is a member of the Lagos State Science, Research & Innovation Council (LASRIC) and sits on the board of Laptops4Learning (L4L) Nigeria, the World Business Angels Investment Forum (WBAF) and the Global Business Angels Network (GBAN). 

As a thought leader with increasing knowledge gained from nurturing entrepreneurs in a growing portfolio of tech-enabled early-stage business ventures originating from Africa, TD’s personal mission is “to help drive Africa’s development by supporting young entrepreneurs using innovation and technology to create social impact and economic value.”

TD can be reached at www.tomidavies.com and on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook as TomiDee

Dave Parker – Author, Entrepreneur, & Investor

Dave is a five-time founder and has been part of >15 transactions, as founder, operator, board member, and advisor. His primary time is spent helping founders scale their companies from growth and exit through his work at NextPath Advisors. His “20%” time (that can sometimes be 80% time) is as a community builder, and speaker he works with accelerators and startup programs worldwide.

The author of “Trajectory: Startup – Ideation to Product/Market Fit“.  The book helps early-stage founders understand what they can test and know about their startup idea before they take the leap and leave their day job. The book also includes research on 2,564 funded companies and the 14 revenue models that made them successful. A free excerpt here. Many of Dave’s talks are available on his YouTube Channel. A partial list of programs can be found here.

Omar Almajdouie is the founding partner of Raed Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm that partners with exceptional founders building transformative companies in the MENA region. Raed’s AUM exceeds SAR 500m and backed by top investors in the region including PIF’s Jada, SVC, Mubadala, Almajdouie Holding and many more. As an investor and entrepreneur, Omar founded Raed Ventures in 2016 as part of Almajdouie Holding diversification strategy, which has funded more than 32 innovative startups to-date.

He is the former CEO of Almajdouie Manufacturing Co. and he’s currently the Vice Chairman of the Saudi Venture Capital and Private Equity Association, as well as a chairman and board member of several leading tech startups and companies. Omar has more than 20 years of enriched experience in various managerial and executive positions. 

Courtney is the COO of 500 Global. Courtney is tasked with helping 500 scales globally and explore new opportunities across both new and existing markets. She is responsible for driving day-to-day operations across the team to pursue 500’s mission.

Courtney is no stranger to the 500 family. She was co-founder and CEO of PublikDemand, part of Batch 4. She went on to become CEO of Agent Pronto, one of the largest real estate agent referral services in North America, recently acquired by Fidelity National Title Group.

H.E. Dr. Nabeel Koshak is the CEO and a Board Member of Saudi Venture Capital Company (SVC). Nabeel is the Founder and Angel Investor at Athaal (Angel Investors Group). He is the Chairman of GEN (Global Entrepreneurship Network) Saudi. Nabeel is a member of the Investment Committees of KAUST’s Innovation Fund. Formerly, he is the Founding Dean of Prince Mohammad Bin Salman College (MBSC) of Business and Entrepreneurship at King Abdullah Economic City. Nabeel is the Co-Founder and the Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of Wadi Makkah Company (Startup Accelerator, and Venture Capital Fund). Nabeel is a mentor at Endeavor Saudi Arabia. He is a Board Member and the Chairman of the Investment Committee at King Abdulaziz and His Companions Foundation for Giftedness and Innovation (Mawhiba). Koshak is a Member of the Executive Committee of King Faisal International Prize. Formerly, he was a Board Member of Oqal (Angel Investors Group) Jeddah branch and a mentor at Flat6Labs Jeddah (Startup Accelerator).

Nabeel is the former Co-Founder and Director of King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) GIS Technology Innovation Center. He is the former Co-Founder and General Supervisor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Institute. Nabeel is the former Co-Founder and Chairman of Board of Directors of Transportation and Crowd Management Innovation Center.

As an entrepreneur, Koshak was the Founder and CEO of five tech startups.

Nabeel received an Executive Education in "Venture Capital and Private Equity" from Harvard University in 2019, an Executive Education from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in "Regional Entrepreneurship Acceleration Program" and "Management, Innovation, Technology" in 2017, a PhD in Design Computing from Carnegie Mellon University in 2002, and a Master of Architecture (Computing in Design and Planning) from the University of Colorado in 1997. 

Amal Dokhan is a seasoned professional with experience in startup investments, corporate innovation, and consulting in the MENA region. Amal is the partner at Sanabil 500 MENA fund where the focus is to invest in early stage comapnies and support them throughout the journey of thier startup life. Previous to joining 500 Startups Ms. Dokhan was the CEO of Global entrepreneurship Network Saudi and the Managing Director of Babson Global for Entrepreneurial Leadership. Previously She was the manger of learning and Design at the Entrepreneurship Center at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology where she Led TAQADAM accelerator and Corporate Innovation Programs. Prior to that she worked at KAUST seedfund developing marketing and events, while also providing a range of services to startups. 

Ms. Dokhan sits on the board of several organizations and startup comapnies. Amal is also active in angel investing as she initiatied the Angel investors forum in Saudi under te ministry of commerce and Monshaat were many angel investors got hands on experince on the practice, she also invests personaly as she has 13 comapnies in her personal portfolio. Amal attended many executive programs at MIT, UCBerkely, Design school and Insead.

Marcia Dawood is an investor in over 100 early stage private companies. She is a Venture Partner with Mindshift Capital and a part of the investment committee for Next Wave Impact Fund. Previously, she was the COO of Portfolia (one of her portfolio companies) as well as a managing partner at BlueTree Capital Group where she was responsible for investment strategy, diligence research and member education. She was also a member of Golden Seeds in NYC and Dallas. She currently serves as the Vice-Chair of the Board of the Angel Capital Association (ACA) with a co-chair position on the membership and marketing committee. She will become Chair of the Board in July 2021. Marcia also is a founding member and current chair of the Growing Women’s Capital group building syndication and collaboration among US investment groups focused on women-led companies. She received an MBA from the Global Executive program at UNC’s Kenan Flagler’s School of Business, OneMBA. During her graduate studies, her group acquired the franchise rights to a new sports team. She served on the Board of Directors and managed financial and legal matters for the organization. This gave her experience as an entrepreneur from the start through the exit of a business. Prior to becoming an active investor she was with Kaplan Higher Education for over 16 years.