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Currently, a foreign correspondent for one of Africa's leading news stations - Channels TV - she reports on stories of global and African interest in the Middle East and has interviewed several high profile personalities including CEO Dubai Tourism Issam Kazim, Nigeria's Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Steve Harvey, Akon, world renowned British artist Sacha Jafri (creator of the world's largest painting on canvas), Congolese tycoon - Eric Mandala, World Heavyweight Champion - Francis Ngannou and many others. With over 10 years of multi-media experience, a laudable TV broadcasting career as well success in various leadership positions, Mayowa stands as an expert in event compering (MC), public and motivational speaking.   She has been recognised as Media Personality of the Year 2021 by Lovin Dubai, 1 of 12 Inspirational and Entrepreneurial Women In The UAE 2021 by the UAE Africa Networking Group, as well as Nominee, 100 Most Influential People of African Descent (MIPAD) 2021 and Nominee, Future Africa Awards Nominee 2019.   She is the co-author of ‘The Black & African Guide To Moving To UAE’ and is currently writing her first memoir, “Bloom”.

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Abdelaziz Al Maazmi has played a necessary role in positioning and defining the role of the Establishment since 2007

Driving the Establishment’s growth, Abdelaziz has significantly contributed to Support the young entrepreneurs. Abdelaziz commitment to spearhead an entrepreneurship culture among the UAE nationals has generated tangible results.

As part of his aim to offer exclusive support to members of the Establishment, Abdelaziz facilitated key cooperation agreements with several leading private and public sector organisations.

Abdelaziz Al Maazmi became as well a part of Young Entrepreneur Competition organizer and in the Young Business Leader Awards since 2008. His responsibilities as a member to support the Young students to start their businesses and Evaluation projects and businesses who apply for the Young Business leader award among the Middle East.

He has rich experience to know how Conduct studies & researches to identify SMEs needs related to the requirements of start-ups, licensing, partnerships and establishing companies. Al Maazmi has more than 20 year experience working in several Government Entities.

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Hans holds a BA, MBA and is studying for his PhD. For 10 years he’s been contributing to building the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Dubai, creating the largest tech hub in MENA, with 1000+ start-ups from 75 nations, attracting 1$billion+ in FDI, specialising on incubation, acceleration, venture capital investment, corporate innovation and knowledge. Previously, Hans founded 3 start-ups, raising $10m+ from renowned VCs, and pioneered corporate incubation in Europe.  

10 years building Dubai’s entrepreneurial ecosystem creating the largest tech hub in MENA,1000+ start-ups, attracting $1B+ in FDI. Specialises in incubation, acceleration, VC, corporate innovation. Previously, founded 3 start-ups, raising $10m+ and pioneered corporate incubation in Europe. 

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Elliott is a climber. An avid surfer. A wind-loving kiter. A proAm wakeboarder. An obsessive freediver. A keen cyclist. A powder-seeking snowboarder. A remarkably average golfer. And a make-everyday-count adventurer. When it comes to Startups, he also happens to hustle, hard. Elliott sits on the intersection between people, business, and technology. Having traveled the world helping startups develop, refine, and execute their go-to-market strategies, he now leads the Startup Programs team in Dtec Ventures. Notably, Elliott runs the landmark 12-month startup program, SANDBOX; the region’s landmark founder-focused 12-month program supporting early-stage technology entrepreneurs to scale, fundraise and grow. Launched at GITEX 2021, SANDBOX is fast becoming the most sought after startup program in the UAE. If you’re an early-stage entrepreneur, ambitious to make waves, get in touch with Elliott.

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Hans holds a BA, MBA and is studying for his PhD. For 10 years he’s been contributing to building the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Dubai, creating the largest tech hub in MENA, with 1000+ start-ups from 75 nations, attracting 1$billion+ in FDI, specialising on incubation, acceleration, venture capital investment, corporate innovation and knowledge. Previously, Hans founded 3 start-ups, raising $10m+ from renowned VCs, and pioneered corporate incubation in Europe.  

10 years building Dubai’s entrepreneurial ecosystem creating the largest tech hub in MENA,1000+ start-ups, attracting $1B+ in FDI. Specialises in incubation, acceleration, VC, corporate innovation. Previously, founded 3 start-ups, raising $10m+ and pioneered corporate incubation in Europe. 

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Selfdrive.ae is the largest car rental subscription platform in UAE.  Making it the region's first car rental & leasing platform to offer cars direct from the dealerships.  From the concept that stated from a one-desk workstation, Soham has led Selfdrive.ae to several milestone & has achieved 2 million days of reservation, Expanded its operations in 6 countries in GCC & the platform manages assets worth of 500 million US dollars.

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Belal Jassoma is the Head of Business Development of the Free Zone arm of DMCC, the most interconnected Free Zone in the world, and a leading trade and enterprise hub.  

After joining DMCC in January 2011, Belal assumed the roles of Products & Services Development Manager and Senior Business Development Manager before taking on his current position in January 2018.

Belal has been instrumental in expanding the Free Zone offering, introducing new products and services, member engagement programs, and developing key strategic relationships which resulted in both business growth and member retention. As part of his current responsibilities as Head of BD, Belal leads several key functions for DMCC including corporate sales, business setup, partnerships, and product development. DMCC is now home to over 18,000 businesses and was named Global Free Zone of the Year by the Financial Times’ fDi Magazine for 7 consecutive years.     

Belal holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the American University of Sharjah and brings over 15 years of experience in real estate, investment and government administration.

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Currently, a foreign correspondent for one of Africa's leading news stations - Channels TV - she reports on stories of global and African interest in the Middle East and has interviewed several high profile personalities including CEO Dubai Tourism Issam Kazim, Nigeria's Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Steve Harvey, Akon, world renowned British artist Sacha Jafri (creator of the world's largest painting on canvas), Congolese tycoon - Eric Mandala, World Heavyweight Champion - Francis Ngannou and many others. With over 10 years of multi-media experience, a laudable TV broadcasting career as well success in various leadership positions, Mayowa stands as an expert in event compering (MC), public and motivational speaking.   She has been recognised as Media Personality of the Year 2021 by Lovin Dubai, 1 of 12 Inspirational and Entrepreneurial Women In The UAE 2021 by the UAE Africa Networking Group, as well as Nominee, 100 Most Influential People of African Descent (MIPAD) 2021 and Nominee, Future Africa Awards Nominee 2019.   She is the co-author of ‘The Black & African Guide To Moving To UAE’ and is currently writing her first memoir, “Bloom”.

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Mareme is the lead for Market Strategy, Africa at venture capital firm 500 Global, where she's responsible for leading the market development and expansion of the firm into Africa and the neighboring regions, with a focus on increasing AUM and ecosystem development in emerging countries. Previously, she was Head of International Partnerships and Relations at Draper University and an Investor Associate at Draper University Ventures. Originally from Senegal, Mareme is a strong advocate for technology and innovation in emerging markets, particularly in Africa where she led several initiatives to increase funding opportunities for startups. She has more than five years of experience working as an investor associate, accelerator program manager, corporate innovation lead consultant, and as a member of the advisory board of several startups. She is currently a member of the Board of Trustees at Bennington College, her alma mater. 

CTF: Advocate for technology and innovation in emerging markets, particularly in Africa. Experience in investment, startup acceleration, advisory & corporate innovation.

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Having always had a passion for humans and driven by a desire to support and transform territories, Mame Aby Seye turned early on to sociology and demography. With a doctorate in Sociology-Demography, she joined the NGO ENDA Tiers-Monde in Senegal in 2004, an experience that made her able to apprehend and work on issues specific to Senegalese territories. After a few years in France in consulting positions, Mame Aby Seye joined the Senegalese Caisse des Dépôts et de Consignations as Project Manager for two years, then Head of the Territorial Development Division for two more years.  In 2019, Mame Aby Seye was appointed by H.E. President Macky Sall as Executive Director of the Fonds de Financement de la Formation Professionnelle et Technique (3FPT), where she carried the voice of vocational training in Senegal for almost three years and reinforced the country's leadership at the pan-African level.  In 2022, Mame Aby Seye was appointed by H.E. President Macky Sall as General Delegate for Rapid Entrepreneurship of Women and Youth (DER/FJ), where she accompanies women and youth in entrepreneurship, guided by a constant and sustainable focus on social inclusion and territorial equity. 

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Aya is an investment professional at Delphos International - a Washington DC based investment firm that targets impact investments in emerging and frontier markets. Aya has experience in large infrastructure projects and early-stage technology companies. She is also an early-stage investor focusing on pre-seed and seed start-ups in Middle East and Africa. Aya sits on the board of several companies in the African ecosystem in the areas of financial technology, logistics, retail, and health technology. Aya is also an advisor to GIZ's SAIS investment readiness program, which targets agribusiness and technology companies in Africa. She is a rising angel investor, having been featured as a shark on the Moroccan version of Shark Tank as the youngest investor on the show.  Aya aims to empower a new generation of investors on the continent.

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Hema is an engineer, turned entrepreneur, turned investor. Hema is a founding partner at Five35 Ventures, a pan-African VC fund investing in women in tech. She is also the co-founder & CEO of WomHub, a boutique pan-African incubator and the first co-working space for female-founders in STEM in Africa. WomHub is a spin-out of her global, award-winning non-profit WomEng which provides interventions for girls and women at every stage of the engineering skills pipeline. Over the past 15 years Hema has built the full ecosystem of interventions supporting women in STEM from talent pipelining, venture building, incubation, acceleration through to investment.

Hema has a diverse and unique set of skills ranging from being a trained engineer, having practiced locally and abroad; to being a social entrepreneur, leading and growing a global social enterprise; as well as being a certified ontological coach and a noted international speaker and facilitator. She is an avid gender advocate and also serves as a diversity & inclusion specialist, providing advisory and informing policy at various levels. Hema has recently completed her Executive MBA at the Saïd Business School, University of Oxford. Hema is also an angel investor with Dazzle Angels, a female-focused angel fund in South Africa.

Her passion for the work she does has resulted in a number of accolades in recognition of her leadership. These include being awarded the South Africa’s Most Influential Woman in Engineering title, branded as a “Change-Maker” by Oprah Magazine, named as one of the Top 200 Young South African’s by Mail & Guardian and being selected for the Fortune Global Women’s Mentorship Exchange. She is a Vital Voices Global Leader and a member of the African Leadership Network, a community of dynamic and influential leaders in Africa. She has been named as a finalist for the CEO Most Influential Woman in Africa Awards and Trust Women Hero Award. She been named as one of South Africa’s Inspiring Fifty Women in Tech, a fellow of prestigious Archbishop Tutu Leadership Fellowship, and winner of the Fortune/Goldman Sachs Global Women Leader’s Award. Hema is a scholarship holder of the SoGal Diversity Scholarship for the VC Unlocked programme run by Stanford and 500 Start-ups. Hema is also board member of Ping Lady and ALA Student Enterprise Program. However, it is not these accolades that define her, but rather the impact that she has through her work.

CTF: Engineer, entrepreneur, investor. Oxford University Saïd Business School EMBA graduate. Fortune/Goldman Sachs Global Women Leader’s Award, South Africa’s Most Influential Woman in Engineering, named a “change maker” by Oprah Magazine & part of Fortune Global Women’s Mentorship Exchange.

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Janade du Plessis is the co-Founder of Launch Africa Ventures (the most prominent and active Seed stage VC in Africa) and Five35 Ventures (a leading Pan-African female-focused VC fund in Africa). He has previously started and managed a VC fund for a listed African investment bank as well as an impact fund called Abrazo Capital, investing in women in rural areas in Africa. He has invested in over 150 start-ups across these funds.

Janade’s background is as an entrepreneur, investment banker and human behavioural researcher with M&A/Corporate Finance, Management Consulting and Development Finance experience. To date, Janade has travelled to 50 of the 54 African countries. He is an Executive Coach with the International Coaching Federation (ICF), currently mentoring select entrepreneurs. Janade holds a Master’s degree in Finance, Economics and Business Administration and a PhD in Business Science researching the psychographic archetypes of African entrepreneurs.

CTF: Invested in over 150 African startups through various funds, currently GP at 2 of Africa’s most prominent VCs. Former entrepreneur, investment banker and human behavioural researcher and executive coach.

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Kola Oyeneyin sits at the intersection of Investments, Technology, Economic Development, Public Policy, and People, as a serial entrepreneur, investor & business leader. Kola is a Partner and Director at Volition Cap – an African-focused Private Equity company & Co-Lead of Opportunik Global Fund. As an impact-oriented business leader, he has founded multiple thriving businesses through Venia Group – a venture creation company. Venia was recognized as one of the "Companies to Inspire Africa" by the London Stock Exchange Group, after pioneering two new industries in Nigeria; the Coworking & Insurtech sectors. At Volition Cap, Kola drives strategic partnerships, deal origination and global growth. At Volition Blue LLC, a US-based company, he’s focused on bridging the Africa and the US Markets. Kola holds a master of Public Administration degree, from the Harvard Kennedy School and a Computer Science degree from the University of Nottingham. He’s an Edward Mason & Gleitsman Fellow, and a member of the Harvard Center for Public Leadership. He is also a Desmond Tutu Fellow. Kola was recently selected as one of the "The Most Influential People of African Descent”.

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Charles is the General Manager of 250STARTUPS Incubator where he is responsible for resource mobilisation, sustainability and overseeing all programs of the hub. He is passionate about startups and entrepreneurship and is actively involved in different mentorship programs with both local and international organizations. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Rwanda where he majored in Marketing. He then completed ‘’Mastering Design Thinking’’ from MIT which is a global tool used while supporting startups, and he hold an MBA in Project Management from Oklahoma Christian University from United states. Charles is the current chairperson of Unity Investment Board where the group invests in real estate for the last 5 years. He is also Founder and CEO Next Africa Group which is a business consulting firm that offers a 360 degrees business solutions ranging from Business development, , strategies for SME's, startups and Sustainability plan for hubs among other services with the aim of helping organizations achieve the optimum effectiveness

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As the Startups and SMEs Lead for Microsoft’s Africa Transformation Office, Maithya leads a team focused on empowering these organisations through digital technologies.   Based in Kenya, he has held various commercial roles in multiple industry sectors in the last 20 years, most recently as the Investment Director for ARCH Cold Chain Solutions East Africa Fund, one of the ARCH Emerging Markets funds. Together with the Managing Director, he was responsible for the management of the US$100 million East Africa Cold Chain Solutions fund.   Prior to this Maithya held various positions at Barclays Bank, where he gained experience in strategy, commercial development, consumer and corporate banking. His most recent role with the bank was as Head of Global Clients and Financial Institutions team for Barclays Bank in Kenya, which later rebranded to ABSA Bank Kenya.   Earlier in his career, Maithya worked at Cadbury Schweppes between 2001 and 2007 where he held positions in Sales and Marketing with responsibility covering emerging markets in Europe, Middle East and Africa.   During his career, Maithya has lived and worked in Kenya, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, South Africa, Nigeria and Uganda. He holds a BSc Physics and Mathematics from the University of Nairobi as well as an MBA from London Business School, United Kingdom, and a Chartered Institute of Marketing Diploma.   In 2005, Maithya founded the Precious Sisters Charity in Kenya. The Charity supports bright individuals from underprivileged backgrounds by paying their tuition fees through secondary school. As of January 2022, the charity had supported and actively mentored more than 320 girls in four schools, with 96 percent of them securing admission to local and international colleges and universities. In recognition of the charity’s impact, Maithya was awarded a Barclays Global Citizenship Award.

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Saeed Alhassan is an associate professor in the department of chemicalengineering and acting senior director of the Petroleum Institute, Khalifa University;and founder of Manhat, DeepTech start-up based in Abu Dhabi, the United ArabEmirates focusing on natural water distillation. Dr. Saeed has served as director ofGas Research Center for six years from 2013 to 2019 and he oversaw the growth ofthe Center that provided technical solutions to ADNOC Gas Processing.

Dr. Saeed is the first recipient of the inaugural Sheikh Mohamed Bin Rashid medal ofscientific excellence (2017) and two times recipient of the Sheikh Rashid Award forScientific Achievement (2008, 2012). Dr. Saeed has 105 journal articles, 2 bookchapters, and 6 patents.

He holds B.Eng., M.Sc., and Ph.D. degrees in Chemical Engineering from VanderbiltUniversity (2003), Colorado School of Mines (2006), and Case Western ReserveUniversity (2011), respectively. His research expertise is on water, colloids, polymericmaterial, and surface sciences with a focus on developing applications based on thesedomains in the areas of nanomaterials, enhanced oil recovery, and sulfur-basedmaterials.

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Bernard Laurendeau is the Managing Partner at Laurendeau & Associates. In Ethiopia, he’s advising clients in digital transformation, startup ecosystem building, growth strategy for startups. He also is an active angel investor with one of the portfolio companies having raised the largest funding round in Ethiopia. Bernard was also the Regional Director for Africa of a Silicon Valley based big data analytics startup. At BNP Paribas, he was focusing on offshoring and outsourcing strategies as Vice President of the Location Strategy group in San Francisco. Bernard draws from more than 15 years of global management consulting experience, he holds a Master of Science in mechanical engineering from ENSTA France, a Master of Science in aerospace engineering as well as a Master in Business Administration from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

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Currently, a foreign correspondent for one of Africa's leading news stations - Channels TV - she reports on stories of global and African interest in the Middle East and has interviewed several high profile personalities including CEO Dubai Tourism Issam Kazim, Nigeria's Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Steve Harvey, Akon, world renowned British artist Sacha Jafri (creator of the world's largest painting on canvas), Congolese tycoon - Eric Mandala, World Heavyweight Champion - Francis Ngannou and many others. With over 10 years of multi-media experience, a laudable TV broadcasting career as well success in various leadership positions, Mayowa stands as an expert in event compering (MC), public and motivational speaking.   She has been recognised as Media Personality of the Year 2021 by Lovin Dubai, 1 of 12 Inspirational and Entrepreneurial Women In The UAE 2021 by the UAE Africa Networking Group, as well as Nominee, 100 Most Influential People of African Descent (MIPAD) 2021 and Nominee, Future Africa Awards Nominee 2019.   She is the co-author of ‘The Black & African Guide To Moving To UAE’ and is currently writing her first memoir, “Bloom”.

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Mariam Bin Al Shaikh, Director of Sharjah Business Women Council leads formulating strategic plans for SBWC, and plays a critical role in determining new opportunities for the council and steering the team towards achieving its mission and vision.   Al Shaikh’s talent and application were rewarded with a membership to the Sharjah Consultative Council in 2019. As member of the Financial, Economic and Industrial Affairs Committee, she is part of an elite team of professionals who advise on public policies, laws and legislation as well as services and public utilities.   Al Shaikh holds a Bachelors’ degree in International Studies from the American University of Sharjah. She is also a graduate of the Sharjah Leadership Programme and has attended several management and leadership programmes conducted by leading international universities.   Apart from her profession, Al Shaikh is passionate about social work, having been a Board Member of the social organisation 1971 Team since 2014, She helps organise social charity events such as ‘Ela Jary’ and ‘Food Drive’ and coordinates with the Ministry of Youth and Ministry of Happiness throughout the year on initiatives to help the underprivileged.

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Najla Ahmed Al-Midfa is the Chief Executive Officer of the Sharjah Entrepreneurship Center (Sheraa), a government-supported entity launched in 2016, with a mandate to build the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Sharjah, and support entrepreneurs as they build and grow innovative startups that will contribute positively to the region’s economy. To date, Sheraa has built a portfolio of over 122 startups, which have raised around $128m in investment, created over 1400 jobs, and generated over $187m in cumulative revenue. Sheraa also hosts the annual Sharjah Entrepreneurship Festival (SEF), which has drawn participation from 300 high-level speakers and over 13,000 attendees from around the world. Prior to Sheraa, Najla held a senior position at Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development, focused on SME financing, and was a consultant at McKinsey and Company’s New York office, primarily serving clients across the financial institutions sector. Her previous professional experience also includes roles within PricewaterhouseCoopers and Shell. Najla is a member of the Board of Directors at United Arab Bank, Emirates Development Bank, and Dana Gas. She was previously on the board of the Emirates Schools Establishment. Najla is Vice-Chairperson of Young Arab Leaders, and a board member of Endeavor UAE. She is a fellow of the Aspen Institute’s Middle East Leadership Initiative, as well as an Eisenhower Global Fellow. Najla holds an MBA from Stanford University.

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Jessy El Murr is a multilingual, independent digital journalist and media consultant with over 18 years of international news experience.  

A seasoned field journalist and former BBC and Sky News Arabia correspondent, El Murr has led the coverage of major international news as well as executed several media consulting projects for government and private entities across GCC countries.  

An experienced public speaker, El Murr holds a Master’s degree in Integrated Journalism from Emerson College in Boston, MA and a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the American University of Beirut. She is fluent in Arabic, English and has an advanced knowledge in French.

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Najla Ahmed Al-Midfa is the Chief Executive Officer of the Sharjah Entrepreneurship Center (Sheraa), a government-supported entity launched in 2016, with a mandate to build the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Sharjah, and support entrepreneurs as they build and grow innovative startups that will contribute positively to the region’s economy. To date, Sheraa has built a portfolio of over 122 startups, which have raised around $128m in investment, created over 1400 jobs, and generated over $187m in cumulative revenue. Sheraa also hosts the annual Sharjah Entrepreneurship Festival (SEF), which has drawn participation from 300 high-level speakers and over 13,000 attendees from around the world. Prior to Sheraa, Najla held a senior position at Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development, focused on SME financing, and was a consultant at McKinsey and Company’s New York office, primarily serving clients across the financial institutions sector. Her previous professional experience also includes roles within PricewaterhouseCoopers and Shell. Najla is a member of the Board of Directors at United Arab Bank, Emirates Development Bank, and Dana Gas. She was previously on the board of the Emirates Schools Establishment. Najla is Vice-Chairperson of Young Arab Leaders, and a board member of Endeavor UAE. She is a fellow of the Aspen Institute’s Middle East Leadership Initiative, as well as an Eisenhower Global Fellow. Najla holds an MBA from Stanford University.

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Mariam Bin Al Shaikh, Director of Sharjah Business Women Council leads formulating strategic plans for SBWC, and plays a critical role in determining new opportunities for the council and steering the team towards achieving its mission and vision.   Al Shaikh’s talent and application were rewarded with a membership to the Sharjah Consultative Council in 2019. As member of the Financial, Economic and Industrial Affairs Committee, she is part of an elite team of professionals who advise on public policies, laws and legislation as well as services and public utilities.   Al Shaikh holds a Bachelors’ degree in International Studies from the American University of Sharjah. She is also a graduate of the Sharjah Leadership Programme and has attended several management and leadership programmes conducted by leading international universities.   Apart from her profession, Al Shaikh is passionate about social work, having been a Board Member of the social organisation 1971 Team since 2014, She helps organise social charity events such as ‘Ela Jary’ and ‘Food Drive’ and coordinates with the Ministry of Youth and Ministry of Happiness throughout the year on initiatives to help the underprivileged.

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Simran is a Business Designer at The Greenhouse, Founder of BluePhin Technologies, Co-founder of Airtap, Startup Advisor and Speaker, and a UNGC Youth Ambassador. She is a passionate, self-taught techie and social entrepreneur whose mission is to create more impact-led tech startups. Throughout her unique journey building innovative solutions, Simran has been featured in several publications including Entrepreneur ME, CNN, Dubai Eye; recognized as a Bloomberg New Economy Catalyst 2021 and has won the Sharjah EF Pitch Competition as well as the Unilever Young Entrepreneur Award.

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A leading expert in the field of government customer service development for the last one and half decade. I have a PhD in public administration and policy, and have a Master’s degree in Executive Business Administration. Also, I have wide local and federal level experience in leading projects in areas of service desing, innovation labs, accelerators, customer satisfaction, happiness and needs research, mystery shopper, customer relationship management, partnership programs, service process re-engineering, service standards, and service strategy. My Key success factor is creativity, were I see myself as an entrepreneur working in a government who is professional, dedicated, and innovative team player.

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Currently, a foreign correspondent for one of Africa's leading news stations - Channels TV - she reports on stories of global and African interest in the Middle East and has interviewed several high profile personalities including CEO Dubai Tourism Issam Kazim, Nigeria's Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Steve Harvey, Akon, world renowned British artist Sacha Jafri (creator of the world's largest painting on canvas), Congolese tycoon - Eric Mandala, World Heavyweight Champion - Francis Ngannou and many others. With over 10 years of multi-media experience, a laudable TV broadcasting career as well success in various leadership positions, Mayowa stands as an expert in event compering (MC), public and motivational speaking.   She has been recognised as Media Personality of the Year 2021 by Lovin Dubai, 1 of 12 Inspirational and Entrepreneurial Women In The UAE 2021 by the UAE Africa Networking Group, as well as Nominee, 100 Most Influential People of African Descent (MIPAD) 2021 and Nominee, Future Africa Awards Nominee 2019.   She is the co-author of ‘The Black & African Guide To Moving To UAE’ and is currently writing her first memoir, “Bloom”.

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Katie is a co-founder of DANA, an Abu Dhabi based venture builder and investment platform for women-led startups in desert tech, including sectors of agritech, foodtech, water solutions, renewable energy, and circular economy. DANA focuses on piloting and commercializing early stage tech solutions (pre-seed - series A) from the MENA region to address food security sustainability goals in developing markets. Katie' background is in academia and business development.

CTF: Co-founder of MENA’s women-led startup investment platform (pre-seed – A) and venture builder focusing on desert tech: food/agri tech, water solutions, renewable energy & circular economy.

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Expert in energy efficiency and ESG. Laureate of a research grant at the Massachussetts Institute of Technology in Boston and the European Institute of Innovation and Technology EIT Climate KIC. Lidia gained experience in the field of energy in the USA, Germany and Poland. She advises corporations and companies in the area of CO2 emissions and sustainable development strategies. Independent expert on energy in the projects of the European Commission.

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Aya is an investment professional at Delphos International - a Washington DC based investment firm that targets impact investments in emerging and frontier markets. Aya has experience in large infrastructure projects and early-stage technology companies. She is also an early-stage investor focusing on pre-seed and seed start-ups in Middle East and Africa. Aya sits on the board of several companies in the African ecosystem in the areas of financial technology, logistics, retail, and health technology. Aya is also an advisor to GIZ's SAIS investment readiness program, which targets agribusiness and technology companies in Africa. She is a rising angel investor, having been featured as a shark on the Moroccan version of Shark Tank as the youngest investor on the show.  Aya aims to empower a new generation of investors on the continent.

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Tim Sperry is a scientist entrepreneur who has founded two climate tech companies; Carbon Limit and Smog Armor, where he invented novel Carbon Capture & storage technologies. After losing close family members as a child to lung cancer, he developed a strong passion for protecting nature and solving global CO2 pollution. He has found early success by creating effective yet easily adoptable solutions to solve the biggest problems in industries ready for disruption. Most importantly, he built  a strong dedicated team and a deeply rooted company culture. Currently, Tim is in the process of taking over a public company that is acquiring his first climate tech company, Smog Armor.  

CTF: Inventor or novel carbon capture & storage technologies, scientist entrepreneur. Founder of 2 climate tech companies, one of which is being acquired by a public organization, which he will lead.

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As CEO and joint founder of Predixa, Paula draws on a wealth of experience from over 30 years in large blue-chip firms, SMEs and as an entrepreneur.

An innovative thinker and experienced speaker, with an excellent ability to lead and inspire at all levels, Paula brings wide-ranging skills, complemented by deep knowledge in design, retail, manufacturing and supply chain management.

For all of her career Paula has been passionate about Sustainable Business – i.e. organisations that make a profit whilst making changes for good, positively impacting the environment and/or society.

Paula has ‘walked the walk’ with practical examples, advising organisations in business transformation - including issues surrounding DEI, CSR and ESG since before many of the terms were invented!

Paula believes creativity and originality are the cornerstones to bringing prosperity to any business. She brings her considerable business transformation experience, natural leadership and a passionate belief that diverse and inclusive cultures drive innovative thinking with tangible business benefits to the bottom line, resulting in people-centred change to create sustainable, profitable organisations.

CTF: 30y experience across large blue-chip firms, SMEs & entrepreneurialism. Passionate about sustainable business and diversity for enhanced innovation. Natural leader and frequent speaker.

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Eng. Mohammed Alkaff AlHashmi is a computer science engineer with more than 18 years of experience. With this accumulative experience he focuses on Industry 4.0, Artificial Intelligence, machine learning, Industrial automation, and IOTs. He started his career as an Intelligence Network Engineer at Huawei. Other than the technology part, he has vast experience in Business and management. He is a serial Entrepreneur who believes in projects that have a purpose and could bring value to the community, so he started MCPM Automation in the MENA region that provides cutting edge techs to support Manufacturing, Smart Cities, Energy, Sustainability and Environment. At present he is the CEO of MCPM MENA, MCPM Holding and UI Ventures, he is also partner and board member of CYNAX labs, Kaptive, Co-Founder and Executive Board Member of IslamicCoin which considered one of the mega blockchain projects and others, taking care of the business development, growth and strategy. As Artificial Intelligence became an important pillar of Health technologies and; D, Eng. Mohammed is also partner and a board member of Quant7 fund that invests in research and development within the medical and health care sectors, and blue ocean unique companies like Cellvera and Prepaire as well as finds opportunities for mergers and acquisition. Having a futuristic approach and unique perspective about things, he always believes in giving back to the society through his knowledge and by creating success stories. He is passionate about bringing top class technologies for the development of the region and thrives on making the Earth a better place to live.

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Dr. Omkar Rai is the Executive Chairman of Startup Odisha prior to this, he was DG STPI. Under his leadership, the IT/ ITES/ ESDM industry witnessed a Massive growth. He has played a seminal role in disbursing the IT / ITES/ SDM industry to Tier- 2/3 cities in India and revolutionising  the take startup Eco system in India He has been a Protagonist of Software product nation and spearheaded the establishment of 20 CoEs in emerging take he is actively involved in policy formulations required. 

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Soumitra has over 10 years of experience in building various GTM and partnership engines across leading SaaS, media, manufacturing and ITES companies. In the last three years he has helped build the Startup program at Freshworks by building deep engagements with a global network of VC, Incubator & Accelerator partners.

BIOGRAPHY

BIOGRAPHY

BIOGRAPHY

Anoop P Ambika is a serial entrepreneur, organiser and a technology enthusiast. He presently serves as the Chief Executive Officer of Kerala Startup Mission. Anoop conceptualised and co-founded, Kreara Solutions one of the first data analytics companies in India in 2004 quickly gained traction in clinical trials and predictive analytics and managed the company for 12 years. Kreara was acquired in December 2015 and later rebranded as Cognub Decision Solutions A graduate in Computer Science and Engineering from TKM College of Engineering, University of Kerala, Anoop worked with multi-nationals like GE, NEC, Lucent and Nortel in various managerial capacities before starting Kreara. When working with GE, he was also instrumental with the ISO and Six Sigma quality initiatives that were being undertaken by the company in the late 90’s. He underwent his management education in F W Olin Graduate School of Management at Wellesley, Massachusetts. He is also a post graduate in Computational Biology & Bioinformatics from University of Kerala.

BIOGRAPHY

BIOGRAPHY

An IIT-Delhi alumnus, Spinny Founder & CEO Niraj Singh is a seasoned serial entrepreneur and investor. In 2007, Niraj established his first venture, Locus Education – a test preparation and online education platform start-up created to bridge the availability gap for aspiring students to gain access to high-quality study material and training.  

After successfully scaling the business for four years, Niraj and the other co-founders began working on their second venture, Tech Monkey – an internet-based content aggregation and distribution company providing users curated information bytes suited to their needs. By this time, Niraj was an active member of the sunrise start-up ecosystem, engaged actively with many early-stage start-ups as an advisor and angel investor.  

Through these engagements, Niraj founded Outbox Ventures – an early stage proprietary investment firm providing seed/idea stage capital with a sector-agnostic outlook. During this period, he invested in many next-generation start-ups, including Rapido, Drivezy (then JustRide), Little Black Book, Tripoto, MyHQ and ShaadiSaga.  

As an extremely consumer-oriented personality, Niraj has always been keen on innovating businesses as per the changing or evolving needs of consumers. Deep down, he wanted to resolve a major trust deficit or pain point in the right way for a service that young India badly ‘needs’. This happened to be in an industry that had always attracted his attention after he had identified a clear mismatch in customer expectations and the market service provided in the used-car segment.   

Being an inveterate car lover, he put his heart and soul into this opportunity. As a result, Spinny was born to serve the need for quality preowned cars purchased via a delightful buying experience.  The absence of trust apart, Niraj noticed that a premium experience was missing for people purchasing used cars, even though they spent a significant amount in a transaction that remains highly emotional for them. For most Indians, a car is one of the most aspirational purchases, second only to buying a home. Therefore, with Spinny, Niraj is committed to reinventing the car-buying experience with the right values, absolute rigour and, most importantly, pleasant customer service. 

BIOGRAPHY

Yashish Dahiya is the Chairman & CEO, PB Fintech. He started Policybazaar.com in 2008 with a strong belief that customers in India need more financial cover for death, disease, and disability and the long-term profitability of the insurance industry depends upon how well the industry is focussed on these three.

Under his leadership, the group company started PaisaBazaar.com, an online financial marketplace for investment and lending products in 2014.

Before starting his entrepreneurial journey with PolicyBazaar.com, he was the Managing Director of ebookers.com, a leading pan-European online travel distributor, which was also an FTSE 250 company listed on Nasdaq. Yashish was also a management consultant with Bain & Co. in their London office.

Yashish holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering from IIT Delhi, a Post Graduate Diploma in Management from IIM Ahmedabad, and an MBA from INSEAD. Yashish likes to spend his spare time outdoors, is the current masters national champion in swimming and is the fifth fastest Ironman from India across all ages.

BIOGRAPHY

BIOGRAPHY

BIOGRAPHY

BIOGRAPHY

Mikk Lemberg is the Chief Product Officer at 1oT. He oversees the entire product strategy and innovation cycle at 1oT. 1oT is modernising the IoT connectivity market with its telecom-independent eSIM connectivity service that aims to eliminate vendor lock-in and put speed and flexibility at the heart of the IoT industry.

BIOGRAPHY

A scientist with a Ph.D. in Nanotechnology and Photovoltaics with expertise in nanotechnologies, renewable and exponential technologies, and deep knowledge of photovoltaics, semiconductor processing, solid-state physics, and material science. Member of Forbes Technology Council, Hello Tomorrow Grand Winner, Fulbright scholar, and proud Ukrainian.

CTF: Member of Forbes Technology Council, Hello Tomorrow Grand Winner, Fulbright scholar. Expert inn nanotechnologies, photovoltaics & semiconductor tech.

BIOGRAPHY

Dr. Aquib Moin is the Co-founder and CEO of a UAE-based space venture "Alhazen Space", focussing on Space Domain Awareness and Space Traffic Management. He is a Space Science & Technology strategist, space project developer and an Astronomy & Space Science academician. He also holds an Associate Professor position at the UAE University. He has over 15 years of experience in designing, developing, deploying and running Astronomy & Space R&D projects and putting together innovative Space education programs. He has worked on numerous high-value Astronomy & Space Science projects at various reputed organizations and institutions.