2020 Speakers Lineup

Star of the Turkish version of the television show Dragons’ Den, Chairman of the World Business Angels Investment Forum (WBAF), Vice President of the European Trade Association for Business Angels, Seed Funds, and Early Stage Market Players (EBAN), President of the Business Angels Association of Turkey (TBAA), the World Entrepreneurship Forum Ambassador to Turkey and the Balkan countries, and President of Deulcom International. One of the top global speakers on entrepreneurship, innovation, and angel investment invited by former US President Obama to speak at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Kenya. Recipient of the European Trade Association of Business Angels (EBAN) award for the Best Individual in Europe Globally Engaging with the Global Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in 2014 (Ireland), 2015 (Netherlands), 2016 (Portugal) and 2017 (Spain). The only entrepreneur to be granted a personal audience with former President Obama at the Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship in Washington, DC.

The developer of the world-renowned entrepreneurship theory, the Altuntas Start-up Compass Theory, researched by Sheffield University and used in numerous MBA programs. 

Advisory board member of the southeast Europe Research Council in Greece. Appointed as JCI Ambassador, following Ban Ki-moon, former Secretary-General of the United Nations. 

Profiled regularly by leading international media such as CNN International and Bloomberg. A co-author of Planet Entrepreneur: 

The World Entrepreneurship Forum's Guide to Business Success Around the World, published by Wiley (2013). Author of Off the Bus, Into a Supercar! How I Became a Top TV Star and Celebrated Investor, published by Balboa Press (2014) and translated into Chinese, Croatian, Albanian, and Macedonian.

Angela Lee is an educator & entrepreneur.

She serves as Professor of Practice and Chief Innovation Officer at Columbia Business school where she teaches top-rated courses in venture capital and leadership. She was voted top three faculty by students in 2018. Angela started her career in product management and then was a strategy consultant at McKinsey. She has started 4 startups and is also the founder of 37 Angels, an investing network that has evaluated 12000+ startups, invested in 55, and activates new investors through a startup investment boot camp.

Angela has spoken at the White House and is regularly invited to advise decision-makers at the highest levels, including Prime Minister Trudeau. She is a sought-after expert on CNBC, Bloomberg TV, MSNBCand Fox Business. She was recognized by Inc. as one of 17 Inspiring Women to Watch in 2017, by Entrepreneur Magazine as one of 6 Innovative Women to Watch in 2015, and by Craine’s as a Notable Women in Tech in 2019. She serves on the boards of Fresco Education Fund and Cariclub.

Branko Drobnak is a serial entrepreneur and angel investor, with a lifetime of experience with setting up and managing companies. With a degree in Economics from the Faculty of Economics in Maribor and a post-graduate course in Macroeconomic Development from the International Institute of Social Studies in Haag, he began his career working for the Slovenian government. After, he joined one of the largest Slovenian trading companies, and in 1992 he went into the financial world on his own and created a brokerage and asset management company, Potenza. As such, he was very involved in the privatization process and investment banking in Central Eastern Europe.

He is currently the president of Business Angels of Slovenia and is investing in his own portfolio of startups, all while being an active supporter of the startup ecosystem and a member of EBAN (European Business Angel Network). He invests primarily into new technology, biotech, fintech, green energy, and lately in blockchain startups, together with taking a more visible role within the Slovenian blockchain community as such.

Mustafa Shamseldin is Senior VP & CMO – Africa, Middle East & South Asia at PepsiCo. 

He has more than 23 years of general management, sales, and marketing experience leading small and large scale enterprises covering more than 50 countries across four continents. He managed multi-billion dollar businesses, led some of the most valuable global brands and trademarks, created and launched numerous successful products and innovations, and built new brands from scratch. 

In his role as CMO for the AMESA sector, he leads the development of PepsiCo’s total portfolio of foods and beverages across one of the company’s key geographies and future growth drivers, with responsibility for the marketing, insights and innovation functions. He is also a member of the PepsiCo’s Global Marketing Leadership Council. In 2020 he was recognized by Forbes magazine the Middle East as one of the top 50 most influential marketing and communications executives in the region. 

Mustafa has been with PepsiCo since 2008 when he started as the Marketing Director for Pepsi Cola Egypt, before moving to different roles across the region including GCC Marketing Director, General Manager Saudi & Yemen Beverages, Vice President for Sales & New Business Development and Senior VP for foods in Asia, Middle East, and North Africa. Prior to PepsiCo, 

Mustafa worked across the Middle East, Turkey and Africa region in different companies including Procter & Gamble, Henkel, and Americana Foods. He has a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical engineering from the American University in Cairo and has attended executive education and development programs at Wharton Business School and Cranfield School of Management. 

His passions are social and economic development and the support for startups and small businesses, which he has fulfilled through mentorship, judging in major startup competitions, as well as contributing to key publications as a guest writer. Mustafa is currently based in Dubai, UAE.

Nina is the founder and Managing Director of Expandise, a consultancy focused on helping companies to develop their international strategy and launch new markets. She has launched companies into multiple countries across Europe and Asia, with active experience in over 50 markets. Nina is fascinated to learn the differences unique to individual markets and brings that knowledge to her clients. She is based in Berlin but regularly exploits her travel obsession to explore and discover new things about consumer behavior in other countries. Nina studied at the University of Cambridge in England and completed her Executive MBA at ESMT in Berlin, before embarking on Ph.D. studies in Amsterdam. She is currently researching the balance between scalability and localization during the expansion process.

Since he returned to Croatia in 2014, Ante Lucic has been leading A-Link, a strategic HR and career management consultancy, with a special focus on the future of work and education. Ante invented "Talent Capital" & ex-ANTE methodology - a new HR paradigm aiming to diagnose, evaluate, and develop human capital as the essential asset of every organization. Ante has also been an active startup mentor and advocates who founded Cronnect.me - a platform that c(r)connects Croatian startups with potential investors from the Croatian Diaspora. Two years ago he started a program to teach entrepreneurship in elementary schools, trying to raise a new generation of entrepreneurial innovators in Croatia. As an entrepreneur, Ante remains committed to empower companies and individuals to develop, maintain, and grow the most important of all resources - the human resource, as well as to harness the most powerful of all types of capital - the talent capital, in order to ensure competitiveness and innovation.

An electrical engineer by education, Bozidar recently decided to step outside of his comfort zone and replace his 21 years of international C-level banking experience in payments processing with a CTO role in an international SaaS startup Oradian.

Director at Startup Grind Warsaw. Startup enthusiast, marketing, and communication expert. Serving companies from startups, SMEs to Fortune 500s in growth, international expansion, and other strategic decisions.

Early-stage venture capitalist.

Ali is the co-founder of Seha Healthcare, Seha is building an integrated healthcare platform in Egypt with the vision of transforming healthcare services in the country. It has invested in diagnostics, specialty centers, and hospitals. Currently focusing on building a hospital platform for the mid-income segment across the main medical hubs in Egypt. With his role as Chief Operation Officer, Ali leads the business transformation and turn around in the acquired hospitals.

Ali is a serial entrepreneur, graduated as an MD, he had a determination to raise the quality of health care services for the Egyptian patient. After working on the health sector for more than 15 years, Ali has a unique portfolio of professional experience in the healthcare business sector. Additionally, Ali holds a Diploma in hospital quality management and a Masters in Health Economics.

Ali started his professional life right after graduation with founding City Clinic, a chain of polyclinics across Cairo serving more than 100,000 patients annually, and soon to expand across the nation.

Matthew is the founder of A1 AI, he previously worked in PwC’s Global Financial Services practice and sits on several advisory boards in Financial Services & Fintech.

He has advised C-Suite at global FIs, asset management professionals, VCs, and their legal counsel on Fintech innovation in multiple jurisdictions in EMEA, APAC & MENA/ GCC.

Matthew has recently spoken at: Money 2020 Europe & Asia with the FCA, ECB, DNB, MAS, BoJ, Next Money EMEA, APAC & MENA, ArabNet Dubai, Finnovasia, Bank of China, Tencent, The Emir of Kuwait Global Informatics Forum, Diwan of Royal Court of Oman, Bank Negara, The Global Leaders Forum, Institutional Investor, Global Fixed Income Institute Geneva, AIM Abu Dhabi, Arendt - Luxembourg, Gianni Origoni Rome, Techstars, Rise, Samsung, TEDXRoma & The Turing Trust.

Matthew is visiting faculty at Cass Business School and the Asian Banking School. He is a Tech London Advocate and a mentor at a number of international tech incubators. He advises HNW/ UHNW individuals and family offices on charitable giving and is a founding

Member of Techfugees, a global charity that promotes financial inclusion.

"Mohamed Shehab Eldin www.mohamedshehabeldin.com. Mr. Shehab brings in 17 years of experience as a social entrepreneur, Consultant, Executive Coach, Facilitator, and International Speaker focusing on Leadership, Strategic Planning, Conflict Resolution, Negotiation.

He is the founder of RESOLVE consulting and AL-SHEHAB & Partners. A confounder of: o AL-SONBOLAH Textile o Newstar Textile o AGRICYCLE for agricultural waste energy. 

A co-founder and a former board member of Nahdet El-Mahrousa, leading social enterprise incubator. The Founding Curator of the Global Shapers Community- Cairo Hub, established by the World Economic Forum. 

Currently Lectures at the American University in Cairo, Business School, School of Executive Education. Previously taught at: o The Institute for Peace Studies o Canadian International College o Modern Sciences and Arts University. Lectured at: o George Mason University o American University in Washington o Vienna University o The Institute for Peace Studies. 

Holds: o Masters degree in International Conflict Resolution from the University of Notre Dame in the USA o Bachelor degree in Business Administration and o A certificate in economic and political studies from Georgetown University o A Diploma in Negotiation and Conflict Resolution from Erasmus University in the Netherlands."

Corine is the Investment Manager at Insure and Match Capital Holding SAL (IM Capital) since April 2015. She supervises the matching & insurance capital process and manages the work of the analytical team. 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.

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, an Executive Certification from Massachusetts Institute of Technology with emphasis on Venture Mentorship, is a member of the Lebanese League for Women in Business, and a member Seeders LWAF Business Angels group and Rising Tide Europe 3.

John Harbison is Chairman Emeritus of Tech Coast Angels – the largest Angel investor group, where he has led 14 deals and invested in over 60 startups. He is also an active investor in public companies and has realized returns from 100x – 1000x in five companies (Microsoft, Apple, Abbott Labs, Nucor, and McGraw-Hill). 

He currently serves on the ACA Board, and has served as a Director on Boards of many early-stage companies -- John enjoys mentoring and helping these companies succeed. Previously he co-founded Next Autoworks – a disruptive new American car company backed by investors such as Kleiner Perkins and Google Ventures. Before that, he served as CEO of network security software SilentRunner Inc., and as President of Raytheon Commercial Ventures Inc. where he launched four businesses in two years leading to two successful exits and a third company which achieved $700 million in annual revenue within eight years. 

Earlier in his career, he was a strategy consultant and partner at Booz•Allen Hamilton where he led the firm’s Aerospace/Defense Practice, it’s Strategic Alliances functional practice, and opened its Los Angeles office. He has a BA cum laude from Harvard College, an MS in accounting from NYU Stern, and an MBA from Harvard Business School with first-year honors.

John participated in the FundingPost event: Orange County VCs, Angels, Crypto, and ICOs Event on Thursday, October 11, 2018, in CA, Sponsored by McCarter & English, Crowded.com, ICOHolder.com, LDJ Capital.

Douja Ben Mahmoud Gharbi, more than 20 years of entrepreneurial experience. She has a long professional career as an entrepreneur and manager. Serial entrepreneur, she has created and managed several companies in various sectors: industry, services, and commerce. She has also been an expert on entrepreneurship, Counsellor, and mentor for more than 10 years. She’s lately co-founder and CEO of the accelerator RedStart Tunisia

Passionate and committed to economic development and entrepreneurship, Douja is very active on a voluntary basis within DAMYA-Tunisian Women Business Angels Network- that she cofounded, the CEDE Association -Centre e’Entrepreneuriat et de Développement Endogène- that she chairs, the international association FPAM- Finance Participative in Africa and the Mediterranean – where she is Vice-President, the network WBAF-World Business Angel Forum-, where she has been nominated as Senator for Tunisia since 2018 and member of the WBAF global women leaders Committee. Douja is also a founding member of CONNECT- Confédération des Entreprises Citoyennes de Tunisie- in charge of CSR, entrepreneurship, and employment projects.

Mr. Detelinov joined Riyad Capital in 2013 and is currently the Head of Private Equity Funds, overseeing among others the Riyad TAQNIA Fund (RTF), a technology VC fund focused on Seed and Series A opportunities. He brought to Riyad Capital a wealth of investing experience from North America and Europe.  

From 1996 to 1998, Mr. Detelinov worked in the Technology Equity Research department at Merrill Lynch where he covered publicly-listed Enterprise Software companies.  From 1998 to 2001, he worked at MWI & Partners, a Private Equity fund associated with Merrill Lynch.  Following the completion of his MBA degree (Finance) from New York University’s Stern School of Business in 2003, Mr. Detelinov joined the Financial Sponsors Group of Merrill Lynch, where he assisted in the origination, diligence and deal execution global PE and VC firms in New York (for seven years) and in London (for three years).  He is a CFA Charterholder.

Serial entrepreneur with software development background. More than 20 years of experience in software development (web, mobile, client/server, hardware).

A seasoned accounting and finance professional with over 15 years of Big 4 public accounting experience in the United States and in MENA. Currently living in Amman, Jordan, working as a freelance providing financial and accounting advisor to startups, non-for-profit and equity funds. Nisreen started her professional career in audit at Deloitte in Seattle, Washington working with some of the largest global companies to come out of the Pacific Northwest. After relocating with her family to Jordan in 2008, Nisreen’s career in public accounting saw her taking on leadership audit positions within EY’s Amman office and the wider MENA practice. Technically, Nisreen has extensive experience in researching and consulting on complex accounting issues in financial reporting under the U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), as well as leading financial statement audits and agreed-upon procedures audits in accordance with the International Standards on Auditing (ISA). Nisreen is an expert on the accounting treatment of investment transactions, business combinations, and employee benefit plans (including stock-based compensation), assisting several clients (venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, and start-ups) in restructurings and business acquisition transactions and facilitating client training and workshops on the latest developments in IFRS. Nisreen played a leading talent role, motivating, mentoring, and training the audit team members, building top-performing and diverse teams to serve a wide range of public sector and private sector clients to deliver quality service and build strong relationships with the clients. Leadership roles played by Nisreen during her career include being the Quality Enablement Leader for EY’s Amman, Iraq and Libya offices, Audit Transformation Leader for EY’s Jordan office, Office Training Leader for EY’s Jordan office, and EY Global Assurance Learning Technical Reviewer.

Raphaële Cohen is Innovation Project Manager at ANIMA Investment Network. She works on the EU-funded initiative THE NEXT SOCIETY, which aims to support innovation ecosystems in 7 countries of the South-Eastern Mediterranean region. In this role, she supervises two programs offering several services to entrepreneurs and cluster managers that help them access key markets, go international, develop new business partnerships and find investment. Previously, she worked in Morocco for four years on the sustainable development of creative industries in Africa and the Middle East with the underlying idea that art is an inspiration and an impetus for more equal societies. Her educational background associates International Affairs, Project Management and Social Sciences including an MA in Middle East and Mediterranean Studies from King’s College London, where she acquired in-depth, expert knowledge about political, social and economic issues in the Mediterranean region.

“Founder & Partner of Gestluz Consultores & of Matching Ventures. Board Member of EBAN - European Business Angel Network. Member of the Fiscal Council of 321 Crédito - Instituição Financeira de Crédito and Playshop, SA. Founder & Emeritus President of Invicta Angels – Porto Business Angels Association and Founder & Vice-President of FNABA – National Federation of Business Angels Associations, from 2007 to 2015. Executive Board Member of IFD – Instituição Financeira de Desenvolvimento, SA. from 2015 to 2017. Former Board member of several SME´s and private associations, and Consultant of Strategy, Business and Cities Competitiveness. Former Professor of Higher Education of Courses of Management, Commercial and Sales, and Financial Management. Master's degree in Design for Sustainability, Postgraduate Degree in Political Journalism, Undergraduate Degree in Economics.”

Rui Falcao is a professional angel investor, co-founder of COREangels the new professional angel network, and managing partner of REDangels, the leading angel group in Portugal comprising more than 65 angel investors from 10 countries. Coming initially from a software engineer background, Rui is a serial entrepreneur of the internet booming days, participating as entrepreneur and angel investor in more than 20 startups in technologies and communications sector. Rui has the complete experience of the entrepreneurial cycle going from the founding stage, validation, failure, growth and internationalization, and successful exits. Rui has received several awards during his career, regarding entrepreneurship and creativity. He was the founder and board member of professional associations such as multimedia, management, and business angels. His passion and effort are driven to develop a professional angel network brand and support gatekeepers and angel groups to become more professional, providing excellent angel experience and active engagement. Rui is the founder of ESA a non-profit association to help foreign students social adaptation. Rui has an extra life challenge to create thought and credibility about angel investing by doing a Ph.D. on Angel Perceived Investment Value.

He is an international entrepreneur community builder who has helped strengthen startup ecosystems across 50 countries from Albania to Russia to Vietnam to Saudi Arabia. He has started and sold two companies, SocialEarth and Storefront. The first he bootstrapped.

Mr. Frad has extensive experience in corporate finance, asset management, financial & business restructuring, and valuations. Prior to joining United Gulf Bank in 2008, Mr. Frad acted as the head of the research department at a leading broker in Tunisia and led the listing of several companies in the Tunisian Stock Exchange. Mr. Frad holds a Certified International Investment Analyst (CIIA) and an MBA from UQAM (Canada) and a Master's degree from the institute of higher commercial studies.

Mehdi Alaoui is a serial tech entrepreneur, Startups evangelist, speaker, investor and mobile apps, advertising, innovation, startups... expert. He founded multiple startups (LaFactory.co, ScreeDy, Media Mobility, PubOnline, EMA Play & Meet) as well as Hack & Pitch NGO. Mehdi Alaoui graduated as an engineer from La Sorbonne, Paris, class of 2004. He also holds a master's degree in Information Systems from l’ESIAC, class of 2005. He worked in 30 countries, won several awards (MIT, Harvard…) for his innovative spirit and entrepreneurial achievements.

With 15 years of marketing experience of which 10 years have been in the online environment.

As a senior executive, I have spent my career developing market-entry strategies and then building Teams to aggressively execute on those strategies.

I have been responsible for international online Brand start-ups into the Italian market including PokerStars, PartyGaming, Betsson (StarCasino.it), and Everest Gaming, reporting at Board Level, covering budget and P&L responsibilities.

Actually Co-Founder and CCO of B2Book.net, managing all activities sales and marketing and fundraising.

Specialized: e-commerce, start-ups, team building and management, digital marketing, advertising ATL/BTL business planning, marketing strategies, branding, online communities, social networks, cross-selling, operational & financial requirements 

Janaïna Herrera is a French diplomat, holding the position of General Consul of France in Alexandria since 2018. After completing her Masters in International Relations in Sciences Po Paris in 2002, she joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2003 where she held a series of positions in Multilateral Desks (EU, UN) before being posted in Beirut (2007-2010). In 2011, she founded a think tank on Public Policy based in Beirut, providing multidisciplinary research and consultancy services on unemployment and healthcare policies. In 2015, she joined the Strategic Unit of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Paris to reflect on long term trends in the field of international relations, before being appointed in Alexandria as General consul.

She speaks five languages, including Arabic, is married and the happy mother of two.

Dr. Ronald Weissman, Chairman of the Software SIG, Band of Angels, has more than 25 years of experience in investment and executive management. Since 2000 he has been a partner at global venture capital and private equity firm, Apax Partners, where he focused cross-border deals and portfolio support and on software investing. Through his VC and his angel activity, Ron has invested in or advised more than 60 companies and has served on more than 25 private companies. His investment focus is on software, analytics, SaaS, text technologies,s, and health IT. He is Chairman of the Software Special Interest Group of the Band of Angels, Silicon Valley’s oldest Angel group, and a model for angel groups worldwide. His most recent angel investments include Decision Next (supply chain analytics), Practice Fusion (electronic medical records), Navera (employee benefits portfolio management), Gainsight (customer revenue optimization), Poetic Brands (food products), Wingtip (hybrid men’s furnishings and men’s club) Taulia (dynamic invoicing and payment management) and Sonim (ruggedized telephony). Before joining Verity, Ron spent more than five years working directly for Steve Jobs at NeXT, where he managed European and corporate marketing.

A business advisor and frequent conference speaker, Ron has published and lectured extensively on venture capital and angel investing, entrepreneurship, corporate governance, and software trends. He frequently guests lectures at Stanford and UC Berkeley and at the University of Santa Clara’s Law School and Business School on venture capital and on corporate governance. He is currently advising public storage leader Western Digital’s HGST business unit on its vertical market strategy a private, venture-funded technology leader Druva on its core markets, a European leader in maritime commercial applications of the Internet of Things and an award-winning Canadian bioscience firm exploring the predictive use of Big Data to drug toxicity.

Ron is a Fulbright Scholar and member of Phi Beta Kappa. He received his BA, M.A., and Ph.D. degrees from the University of California at Berkeley.

Stephanie Nour was most recently Wamda’s Director of Communications and Outreach, working on outreach and partnerships with multiple stakeholders in the MENA startup ecosystem. At Wamda, she focused on building the brand and community since joining in 2012 and led on projects such as the MIT Media Lab workshop Dubai, the American University of Beirut’s Reboot Beirut Hackathon, and the Crown Prince Court’s Minds on a Mission Design Thinking workshop. She has a BS in Computer Science with a minor in Creative Writing from the American University of Beirut. Previously, she worked on both the product and community fronts of converged communication media startup Telephone.com.

Prior to joining the SEAF Jordan Growth & Impact Fund, Ms. Haddadin was heading the Investment Banking arm of INVESTBANK and was earlier heading the Wealth Management department at INVESTBANK. 

Earlier in her career, Ms. Haddadin was an auditor at Ernst & Young, in both Amman and Dubai.  She was Vice President of Corporate Finance at Jordan Investment Trust (Jordinvest) and Head of Corporate Finance at Amwal Invest before joining INVESTBANK. 

Ms. Haddadin has extensive experience in financial advisory, structuring, and placement serving clients in a variety of sectors.  

Ms. Haddadin holds a BA in Accounting and Business Administration from Yarmouk University and is licensed by the Jordan Securities Commission as Financial Advisor, Investment Manager, and Issue Manager.

Private Equity professional. Kauffman Fellow. Eisenhower Fellow.

Dr. Nicolas Rouhana is currently the General Manager of IM Capital, a $20M program funded under USAID MENA Investment Initiative, providing Matching Capital, Equity Guarantee, and Technical Assistance to early-stage businesses and investors in Lebanon. Between 2002 & 2015, Dr. Rouhana was the Executive Director of Berytech Technological Pole, a leading Technology Business Innovation & Incubation Center in Lebanon. He is currently Vice-President of Internet Society-Lebanon Chapter, board member of Berytech, and the current Chairman of Speed@BDD the first tech accelerator in Lebanon.

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

Shmuel Ben-Tovim is the Managing Director of Ben-Tovim Consultants Ltd., an Israeli boutique investment banking firm, founded in 1991. He also serves as the President The Fintech Community of Israel - City TLV and a Founding Board Member of the Israel Smart Cities Institute (ISCI).

Shmuel’s career has encompassed both the private and public sectors. Among his previous positions: Assistant Director General of the Bank Leumi Group, President of International Communications Ltd., Israel’s Consul & Trade Commissioner to the USA based in New York, Mayor of Kfar Shmaryahu, Minister for Economic Affairs at the Israeli Embassy in London, Chief Economic Adviser to the Minister of Industry, Trade & Tourism. 

He has served as non-executive director in leading Israeli corporations, including Bezeq Ltd., Israel Chemicals Ltd. and The Jerusalem Economic Corporation Ltd. He was a board member of the Tel-Aviv Chamber of Commerce and the Israel Export Institute. 

Among his other interests Shmuel is the Chairman of the Israel-Malta Chamber of Commerce, and the Chairman of the International Committee of the Israel Directors’ Union.

Shmuel holds an MBA from the Hebrew University. He loves music and writes regularly opera reviews for the international website playstosee.com.  

Dan Dimitriu has been advising governments and Fortune 500 companies on how to be disruptors rather than get disrupted by technology for the last 8 years, as part of his role as Senior Management Consultant on Strategy at Detecon’s Abu Dhabi office. Nominated Forbes 30 under 30, Dan is passionate about innovation and actively involved with Global Shapers. Also an artist and entrepreneur, Dan plays cello and runs a successful art magazine and fashion business out of Vienna, called Fraquoh & Franchomme.

Patricia Letayf is the co-founder and Director of Operations of Five One Labs, a startup incubator in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq that runs entrepreneurship programs for early- and growth-stage startups from across Iraq and Syria.
Prior to Five One Labs, Patricia worked as a Middle East political risk analyst with a focus on Iraq and North Africa for the Dubai office of consultancy Control Risks. She obtained her Master of Public Administration degree in Economic Development from Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs, where she concentrated in economic and political development, and her BA in International Relations and Economics from Tufts University.

EDUCATION • Rochester Institute of Technology, Associate in Applied Science WORK EXPERIENCE • Director of ACI marine Dubrovnik since 2009 • Regional Nautical Coordinator for the southern Adriatic region 2013-2014 • Branch Office Manager at Generalturist Dubrovnik 2005-2009 • CEO of Lanta Generalturist in Budva, Montenegro 2007-2009 • Chairman of the Supervisory board of Hotel Maestral d.d. 2005-2012, • Member of the Supervisory board of ACI d.d. on behalf of the Worker’s Council 2016-2017 SKILLS • Computer skills: Active use of MS Office • Languages: Good command of English in written and oral communication POLITICAL ACTIVITY • Head of the City Assembly of the Croatian Democratic Union since 2014 • Chairperson of the City Council of Dubrovnik 2015-2017 • Two-term Councillor of the Regional Assembly of Dubrovnik-Neretva County • Member of the Croatian Parliament 2016-2017 and the Head of the Delegation of the • Croatian Parliament to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe • Member of the Tourist Council of the Croatian Tourist Board since 2016"

Serial entrepreneur with one exit, 20 years experience in business management, and more than 10 years experience in the online travel market.
CEO and founder of Bakuun.com, an online platform built to facilitate and automate booking processes between hotels, airlines, and travel agencies in the event of flight disruption.

Experienced Operator with over 25 years of demonstrated history of working in the travel industry. Skilled in Incentive Travel, Hotel Booking, Hotel Management, Tour Operators, and Event Management. A strong business development professional with a Laurea focused in Economia del Turismo from Università Turismo Assisi. Founder of ANGELINAS TRAVEL DMC & DGROOPS.COM , SAAS platform for facilitating Group Booking reservations.

Tey's story is an unlikely one. Labeled as The Invisible Man at the age of 5 to becoming one literally in the Netherlands 25 years later. He is an early adopter of Bitcoin, Pioneering the use of blockchain to break financial and identity barriers. He started a tech4good company that helps others like him. His journey ultimately led him to the realization of his life's mission: turning invisible people into invincible ones. Through his work in a tech company, writer, speaker, and a holder of MSc in Digital Currencies and Blockchain Technology he is determined to become a billionaire.
Not in terms of money but in positively touching the lives of billions of people. Tey's story is a passionate account of perseverance and determination that will leave you on the edge of your seat.

Professor Singh serves as Chairman of NTUitive, the Innovation Company of the Nanyang TechnologicalUniversity, Singapore. He is the Chief Executive Officer of Solstar International Pte Ltd, a multinational company from Singapore. Prof. Singh was the founding President of the Singapore Chapter of The Indus Entrepreneurs, a network of entrepreneurs and professionals founded in 1992 in Silicon Valley, California.From 1995 to 2012, he was the Deputy Chairman of Action Community for Entrepreneurs (ACE), a Singapore national committee involved in Entrepreneurship Policy and Advocacy. Previously, Prof. Singh founded United Test and Assembly Centre Limited, or UTAC, a Singapore-based semiconductor test and assembly company, and served as UTACs President and Chief Executive Officer. UTAC was a Unicorn 3 years after Inderjit started the company. Before founding UTAC, Prof. Singh served at Texas Instruments Singapore (known as Micron Semiconductor Asia since 1999) for 13 years, holding the post of Director of Assembly and Test Operations for the Memory Division from 1996 to 1998 Prof. Singh also served as a Member of Parliament (MP) in Singapore, from 1996 to 2015 and was the Chairman of the Singapore Government Parliamentary Committee for Finance, Trade and Industry for a duration of his term as an MP. Prof. Singh serves as a Member of the Board of the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and in the past served as a board member in several Statutory and Public Bodies, including the Urban Redevelopment Authority, the Standards, Productivity and Innovation Board and Spring Singapore. He is an active angel investor and also holds directorship positions and investments in a number of start-up companies. Prof. Singh holds a degree in Electronics Engineering from the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore; an MBA from the University of Strathclyde, United Kingdom; and a Honorary Doctorate from the Amity University, India.

In the past 9 years, Dr. Doany focused on ICT & Renewable Energy Venture Capital, managing early stage investments in IT/internet (totaling 20), in addition to renewable energy, geothermal power generation, as well as biogas energy (organic waste). (Total invested venture capital around $70 million). This included three years as CEO of Turk Telekom, being reassigned by the Government, following a loan default by the controlling shareholders Sep 2016 (completed Aug 2019); during which he enhanced TT investments into Education, Health & Energy Verticals, and built up CVC (Corporate Venture Capital arm of the company). In the preceding 12 years, he was with the Saudi Oger Group, served as founding CEO of Oger Telecom, including 5 years as Turk Telekom CEO position, having led the 55% block sale privatization tender ($7.2 billion transaction), in consortium with Telecom Italia; a public listing on ISE (Istanbul Stock Exchange) in 2008, as well as IT company acquisitions in addition to International Wholesale 19 country operations (Pantel), peaking in market value to $20 billion. He also led the successful bid for the third cellular licence in South Africa, with its full operational launch of Cell C, in addition to all other group acquisitions (e.g. Cyberia in Lebanon, Jordan and Saudi Arabia). Prior to that he was in the telecommunications consultancy business, for 14 years, being Managing Director of Dar Consultants (London), as well as Director/Partner Dar Al Handasah Consultants (Shair & Partners), having built its telecom practice to revenues of over $70 million with 250 staff, as well as assisting with expansion into transportation/economics at his departure point (total staffing over 3000 across all disciplines). He also served as Senior Lecturer in the AUB in Beirut, in the Electronics/Communications Department fora period of 4 years, during which he also provided part-time consultancy work with Dar Consultants company in telecommunications (from their Beirut offices).

Professor Mehanna is a professor of ENT surgery and the head of the Head and Neck surgery department at the University of Birmingham Hospitals. He has a distinguished reputation in head cancer surgery and research.

Ahmed Alawadhi founded Doctori in 2019 with a mission to provide an instant, reasonably priced and accessible healthcare solution to everyone. Doctori has grown to become the largest healthcare provider in Bahrain and is expanding to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait next month.

Ahmed is a University if Manchester Alumni, a qualified lawyer in Bahrain, England and Wales. He has also been awarded with the Entrepenuer Award from His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Bahrain.

Entrepreneur passionate about improving healthcare, especially mental health. Startup mentor. Founder & CEO at Shezlong

Nevin Elgendy, founder of niVoforlife, has made it a life mission of inspiring others, helping them find their ‘inner child’ and authentic self, while guiding them towards living a happy and fulfilled life and reaching their North Star. She is a Certified Life Coach under the tutelage of Dr. Martha Beck since 2014 and an independent certified coach and speaker for the John Maxwell Team since 2017.
Over the past six years, Nevin's motto of ‘Making Change Fun’ has come to life through her retreats, workshops, one-to-one sessions, blogs, and Vblogs. In 2018, she wrote and published a twelve week Manifestation Journal called ‘CREAT IT’. In 2019, she ran her first live webinar and held her first Corporate Coaching workshop in January 2020, with the Forbes 500 company... Nestle. Nevin’s latest achievement was writing her first book titled ‘BE’, which was published in March 2020.
Currently, she is working on several new projects, set to launch very soon: a Podcast, a Digital Program, more Webinars as well as a Corporate Coaching program. Her services are all offered on her website ‘niVoforlife.com’, while her blogs and Vblogs are available on her Facebook page ‘Nevin Elgendy’ and ‘Nevin Elgendy Life Coaching’ and on Instagram @niVoforlife.

James is on a mission to stop great ideas failing due to poor communication. Far too many founders fail to raise the capital they need because they’re unable to convince investors their business is the one to back. James is passionate about working with founders to present a clear, concise and credible business case to investors.

James is the co-founder and COO of Robot Mascot, the UK's leading pitch agency. Their clients are 30x more likely to raise investment and they’re the trusted pitch partner to Crowdcube, Seedrs, Seed Legals, Swoop Funding and Dent Global.

James has been featured in Entrepreneur Magazine, on numerous industry blogs and podcasts, run mentoring sessions at Tech Hub, Google Campus and Runway East, and delivers mastermind sessions for The Chartered Institute of Marketing, University College London and the University of East Anglia.

Mohanad Fors is the head of commercial digital innovation and digital accelerator (digital garden) at Almirall previously the head of BIOME the digital innovation lab at Novartis.He is leading the externally focused digital innovation hubs in different locations in the world including Silicon Valley focusing on HealthTech innovation. He has more than twelve years of experience in sales, marketing and digital marketing experience with global, emerging markets, Europe and the Middle East. Mohanad is the founder of NTAM Tech/NTAM.health that creates new horizon on pharmaceutical promotion and successfully exited start-ups with strong knowledge in the start-up community. He won different global awards including the European Excellence, Clio and Cannes Lions awards for different innovative projects like the first navigation application for visually impaired patients that is available on smart watches.

Hussein recently joined Americana Group this April as the Regional Marketing Director MENA for the Restaurants Division
Hussein comes with more than 19 years of marketing experience across FMCGs and Durables during which he worked with organizations like Unilever, LG Electronics, Swiss Group Hero & Bongrain.
Prior Joining Americana, Hussein spent 11+ with Unilever, where he was responsible for driving insight based strategic marketing & product development for the Foods & Refreshment Category across MENA, & largely involved in managing some of the renowned brands such as Clear, Dove, Rexona and Axe, & most recently Lipton, Brooke Bond, Knorr, Magnum, Walls, Cornetto and Max.

Bert van der Vaart is the Co-founder and CEO of SEAF, leading SEAF’s global operations, including fund launch efforts, and also serves as a member of SEAF’s Global Investment Committee. Bert co-founded SEAF in 1989, when it was known as the CARE Small Business Assistance Corporation (CARESBAC). In 1992, he negotiated the establishment of CARESBAC/SEAF’s first fund in Poland, which grew to $16.8 million total capital under management under his leadership as the fund’s Director General. While serving as Director-General of CARESBAC-Polska from 1994 until 1997, the company completed 27 SME investments and realized its first 6 exits. In 1997, Bert was appointed CEO and President of SEAF, where he has since been involved with the establishment and supervision of every SEAF fund. In 2008, he became Executive Chairman of SEAF’s Board of Directors and became associated with Discovery Global Citizens Fund, an international investment firm. Bert moved to New Delhi, India in 2010, where he directed the initial phase of SEAF’s India Agribusiness Fund, completing his work in 2012.

From 1984 through 1994, Bert was a Partner and Associate with Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in Washington, D.C, Frankfurt, and Brussels where he specialized in corporate and financial transactions. Prior to working for Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, he was a management consultant with Bain & Company in London and Munich. Bert co-authored “Defining SMEs: A Less Imperfect Way of Defining Small and Medium Enterprises in Developing Countries” in Brookings Global Economy and Development, September 2008. He holds a J.D. from Yale Law School, where he also studied finance at Yale School of Management. His other academic achievements include a B.A. in Politics and Economics and an M.Phil in Economics from Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar, and a B.A. from the University of North Carolina, where he was a Morehead Scholar. A dual citizen of the Netherlands and the United States, Bert speaks Dutch, English, German, French, and some Polish.

Choucri is the Head of Partnerships and Strategic projects for AXA Egypt, he holds a bachelor in Economics from Cairo University and an MBA from Paris 1 Sorbonne and Paris Dauphine Universities, he left his carrier in FMCGs to join AXA team in Egypt to support through innovative partnership activities, the positive disruption of the quality of service, awareness, and trust to the insurance industry as well the healthcare quality of services which represent a strong focus of AXA in Egypt  (AXA is the Global number 1 insurance brand for the 9th consecutive year  - source: Interbrand report 2017) 

His vision is to revamp the healthcare services ecosystem toward a more human patient-centric quality provision with no worries, through hunting & scouting for great minds striving to solve Egyptians pain points in health through Health-Tech & innovation, to support them bringing their aspirations to reality on the ground.

Choucri also plays a volunteering role in the Egyptian Heritage Protection scene as head of the Heliopolis Heritage Foundation”

Experienced Managing Director with a demonstrated history of working in the events service industry. Persistent and determinate as she is, after more than 10 years of experience in a management of leading travel and tourism companies, in 2012 she decided to found her own company that deals with business consulting, event organization and providing tourist services in general. Furthermore, she organizes and implements projects from various field applications founded by EU. We can say that organization skills are her superpower and she is the one for managing key accounts and coordinates all processes from the project preparation until its implementation. She is also working as a consultant on designing new projects for foreign investors into Croatia.
Except the fact she has strong business development skills and specialisation in law and financial subjects, she gained Master’s Degree for Tourism and Foreign Affairs from University of Dubrovnik. She recently acquired the designation of Certified Croatian Meetings and Events Professional (CCMEP) and Certified Business Leadership. And last, but not less important, she is an active member of humanitarian organization with a special accent of helping those in need and spreading and mutual international friendship and understanding.

Sridhar is the founder and CEO of Elemental Machines, makers of smart IoT products for the life sciences industry. He previously was a founder of Misfit who developed elegant wearable products, which was acquired by Fossil in 2015 for $260M. Sridhar also founded AgaMatrix, a blood glucose monitoring company that made the world’s first medical device connecting directly to the iPhone and shipped 15+ FDA-cleared medical products, 2B+ biosensors, 6M+ glucose meters, with partnerships with Apple, Sanofi, and Walgreens. Sridhar holds over 50 US and international patents and received his Ph.D. from Cambridge University as a Marshall Scholar. He has been known to run 13.1 miles on occasion and has sometimes been spotted on stage behind a wall of drums.

Marta-Patricia Aparicio y Montesinos has been the Founder and Managing Director of Keymon Ventures since 2017, from where she invests in startups and scale-ups around the world. She is also co-founder and Chairwomen of  the  Keymon Angels, Business Angel Network in Zagreb. She holds an International Master’s degree  from IESE Business School and is a CFA Level II Candidate. She has over 15 years of early-stage equity experience as a Portfolio Supervisor, Investment Officer, LP, analyst, advisor, evaluator and mentor (220 entrepreneurs mentored and +3,000 start-up projects analyzed). Marta also works as Evaluator and Expert on Alternative Finance Instruments for the European Commission's HORIZON 2020 Program for innovative SMEs and is mentor at the EBRD Star Ventures Program. From 2009 to 2011 she was General Manager of IESE’s Business Angels Network and the Spanish Business Angels Networks Association (2009-10). Previously, she held a number of financial and general management positions in various multinationals.

Ahmad Al-Kabbany is an impassioned researcher, determined to adapt technology, art, and science for the good of the people. In 2016, he received his PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Ottawa in Canada, where he got two research awards. His research focused on the enhancement of user experience in image-based virtual environments. Afterwards, he founded of VRapeutic, a HealthTech software startup specializing in the development of therapeutic AI-enabled virtual reality solutions, with a current focus on learning difficulties and developmental disorders. He has led VRapeutic to several regional recognitions, including the 1st place of the Global Impact Challenge 2019, organized by Singularity University in California. VRapeutic was also shortlisted by the UNICEF Innovation Fund in 2019, and has obtained an IRB approval in 2019 from the University of Noura Bint Abdulrahman in Riyadh, KSA.