Saudi’s Hottest Tech & Startup Festival

Director of Enterprise Sales

A Director and a Computer Science professional with 15+ years of diversified experience in spearheading major projects in Fintech and telecommunications

Sarah Toukan is the Chief Product Officer and Co-Founder of Ziina. She has product experience across several exciting spaces, including the fintech space in the UAE, the proptech space in London, and the autonomous vehicle space in Silicon Valley. In 2021, Sarah was selected as one of Forbes Middle East’s Top 10 Women in Tech. At Ziina, Sarah and her teammates are building a digital wallet for the Middle East, with a mission to bring financial freedom to every person in the region. Ziina has seen exciting traction since the release of its wallet in February 2022. The company has won 8 international UX/UI design awards, including the Red Dot Award. Sarah and her team are backed by strong investors globally, including Y Combinator, Avenir Growth, Wamda, and Jabbar Internet Group. Sarah graduated from Stanford with a Bachelor's and Master’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering.

Emir Isik is the Head of Business Development at Tarabut Gateway. He brings over 7 years of diverse sales & marketing experience that he attained in tech companies, Financial Institutions, and FinTechs in Boston, New York, Bahrain, and UAE respectively. Prior to joining Tarabut Gateway, Emir worked for Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch in New York, managing UHNW portfolios in the Wealth Management departments. He then discovered his passion for FinTech and moved to Bahrain, partnering with startups to manage their regulatory setup as well as assisting pioneers of newly emerging licensees to graduate from the CBB Regulatory Sandbox. He then worked for Arab Financial Services where he led the B2B strategy as well as P&L for the fintech wallet, namely bwallet. As the Head of Business Development at Tarabut Gateway, Emir is responsible for sales strategies and execution of key value drivers for regional financial service clients across Bahrain, UAE, and Saudi Arabia. Emir holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics, and a minor in Business Administration from Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A, and has completed several certificate programs including Digital Marketing by Columbia Business School, Emeritus Institute of Management, and Payments Innovation Programme by Centre for Finance, Technology, and Entrepreneurship (CFTE).

Haider Syed is the Founder & CEO of Faloos, a consumer payments financial technology company focused on the Saudi Arabian market. Haider received his BA in Business Management in the United Kingdom, followed by an MSc in Entrepreneurship and Innovation from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles (USA) as well as a dual certificate in Technology Commercialization from NASA in the United States. Haider has a keen interest on leveraging advanced technologies to accelerate the cashless objectives of emerging economies.

Founder and CEO of AMWAL

Nosaibah is Building a Fintech that’s redefining financial well-being. As the trail blazer within the fintech industry, Nosaibah founded the first female-led Fintech in Saudi Arabia, with a growth rate of 300% y-o-y . Forus is a debt marketplace, where you can Invest in debt & Alternative Assets. The future of Islamic investing, one platform to manage your alternative investments in the debt market. Forus Financial allows you to earn attractive returns, create a diversified portfolio that you control, all is a safe State-of-the-art system.

Noel Connolly is the CEO of Dubai based fin tech for good firm NOW Money. Connolly, who has over 25 years of experience in business and tech, with in depth and proven skills in driving scalability. He also has a wealth of UAE based and international contacts in banking, government and fintech. His previous experience includes SVP & Global head of Sales and Partnerships at Cellpoint Digital, an up and coming payments orchestration provider, as well as commercial roles with Sabre Corp and Emirates Group. Connolly joined NOW Money to create a step change at the fintech social enterprise and elevate it globally.

Saeid is the cofounder and CEO of Wally where he leads the company's global expansion, technology, and growth. Previously, Saeid was the founder of Nahel, an ecommerce platform, which was acquired by Aramex.

Yeshas Nakshathri currently leads technology partnerships at CleverTap, where he builds strategic relationships and solutions to support CleverTap's goal of helping app-firsts brands manage customer engagement and lifecycle messaging. With over seven years of experience in the mobile adtech space, Yeshas has developed deep expertise in marketing technology with a passion for bridging the gap between product, partnerships and business goals.

Corporate executive, investment banker, and corporate finance professional turned educator, startup advisor, and last but not least, an entrepreneur with a big vision. Over 27 years of a proven record in academics, corporate, capital markets deal making, and high finance, culminated into a daily passion to build startups, advise on startups, and coach impact-driven rising entrepreneurs.

Faisal Al Bitar is a Product Principal at Tamatem Games with 8+ years of experience in products, fintech, and venture capital funds. Faisal is a highly experienced fin-tech professional that worked with multiple multinational organizations in the region as well as leading and launching the first Neobank in Jordan! Faisal brought his experience and joined Tamatem Games to continue pursuing his passion for innovation strategy and fintech-focused innovation programs and products!

Radio Presenter & Communication lecture at SEU, interested in new media & communication

Kasstawi leverages blockchain to create innovative fintech products, like Tribal Cash, Tribal blockchain B2B cross-border payment service, $40 million hybrid fiat-USDC debt round, and its $41 million token round. Kasstawi is a seasoned expert in leveraging blockchain to serve real-world use cases. In addition to his work at Tribal, Kasstawi is also the founding partner of zk Capital, a research-focused blockchain firm. He was featured by Scene Arabia magazine as a leading Middle Eastern blockchain entrepreneur.

A competent and experienced payment technology professional with 20+ years working in FinTech, along with leading businesses. Has firsthand technical record in creating scalable infrastructures for payment systems and ecommerce solutions. Experienced the E-Payment boom and played an integral part in enabling the rise of online transaction processing in the Middle East. Witnessed and participated in the acquiring of 2 major startups in the region by Yahoo and Amazon, where she created high functioning small technical teams that created innovative and scalable solutions. At Majid Al Futtaim, I am leading the technology roadmap along with multiple business units to define, create and deliver the technology strategy across the group by building products that align with the company goals and the group vision. Also responsible for creating the guidelines for operating and growing strategic partnerships with various businesses, potential acquirers, and technology providers. Before Majid Al Futtaim, I led the tech team at amazon payment services.

Reem Ikram is the Co- Founder and CEO of ThriftPlan, a Saudi FinTech looking to leave a social impact through Workplace Saving Plans and supporting Vision 2030s saving and financial literacy Goals. Over 7 years of experience in E-Commerce, Automation and Private Equity, a serial entrepreneur at heart and a strong believer in combining business with social impact.

CEO at Mohasby, CEO at SEQENCIVE Studio, Innovation in Finance, Tech, Industry and Space.

Saudi Marketer with more than 20 years of experience in the Saudi market. Having a good business background of the Saudi Arabian markets Handled many Complex and Mega projects in both private and public sectors. Leading, motivating and inspiring different teams to deliver a great products, services, and support that always exceed customer expectations.

Country Head of Thunes in Saudi Arabia Region. Joined Thunes to enable to financial institutions to move away from traditional remittance methods and help them grow their sending capabilities. X head of business development in SOUQ.com, driving SOUQ business to a successful journey.

Ammar AlMadani. Entrepreneur with a Financial background. Successful track in building startups in logistics, F&B and retail. Recently co-founded an ambitious fintech startup in Saudi Arabia. Coaches and mentors in local acceleration programs. Expert in Data Science and Operatinal excellence.

Remo Giovanni-Abbondandolo is VP Commercial MENA at Checkout.com. He has over ten years’ experience supporting entrepreneurs and business leaders to scale their businesses across the MENA, Africa and APAC regions. At Checkout.com, Remo is responsible for expanding the business across the Middle East and North Africa region. Prior to joining Checkout.com, he worked for Africa’s largest online travel agency, Travelstart, where he oversaw the company’s expansion into the Middle Eastern market. He was also part of the founding team of Africa Internet Accelerator (a Naspers’ investment), which launched three of the fastest- growing e-commerce businesses in South Africa. He also worked at Rocket Internet Australia & South East Asia where he was a founding member of the team that launched leading e-commerce companies The Iconic, Zalora and Lazada.

Dr. Mansour Albarrak is an Assistant Professor in the Finance Department, College of Administration and Financial Sciences. He is the Dean of the College of Administration and Financial Sciences. Dr.Albarrak is the Head of the College of Administrative and Financial Science Council. He is also a member of many standing Committees at the Saudi Electronic University. He holds a B.Sc. in Marketing from King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM) (2008), MSc. Degree in Money and Banking from the University of Exeter, UK (2010), and a Ph.D. in Finance from the University of Plymouth (2015). He also completed the Oxford Fintech Program offered by Saïd Business School, University of Oxford. He also attended the People Analytics: Transforming Management with Behavioral Data provided by Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr.Albarrak research interest include Capital Structure, Credit Rating, FinTech, and Financial Literacy.

Mustafa lectures on Blockchain, Digital Entrepreneurship and E-Commerce at KFUPM Business School. Founder of Ascend E-Ventures, a digital business ventures studio. Currently building a few ‘Ai infused’ platforms on Blockchain. He was an early advisor to Foodics and PayTabs and serves on the board of directors for firms in the KSA, Switzerland, Bahrain and the UAE.

Abdulaziz joined Tabby, the leading Buy Now Pay Later platform in MENA, as its KSA General Manager since the inception of the business back in mid-2019. Before joining Tabby, Abdulaziz worked as an Associate with McKinsey & Company, a global management consulting firm, for two years. Prior to McKinsey, he was a corporate banker working with multiple banks in KSA for a period of five years. Abdulaziz was born and raised in Riyadh, KSA, graduated with a bachelors in finance from KFUPM and an MBA for the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. A tech and data science enthusiast with a working knowledge in programming and a fitness fanatic in his free time

Exceptionally creative and intelligent with outstanding problem-solving skills, an intense work ethic and drive to succeed. Ex-Aramco & Ex-ELM. founder and CEO of a unique business model and venture of the social trading app Dawul.

Host and producer of Techmeen, the first Arabic podcast specialized in Insurance and insurtech. Rami is an entrepreneur that brings over 17 years of experience in the insurance and insurtech industry in the region. He successfully delivered various projects and performed key management roles specializing in all domains of insurance like Life/ Protection & Saving, Motor, Commercial, Health and Operations. He currently holds the position of VP Strategic Projects at Insurance House Office where he handles various projects in the Insurtech space across the Mena region.

Ahmed Nawasrah is the CEO for Salma AI, a Mawdoo3 company. Mawdoo3 is the largest Arabic website in the world. Mawdoo3 powers over 60 million Arabs to read more than 100 million articles every month. Salma, is the AI arm of Mawdoo3, and it offers AI-powered banking solutions that reshape communication with customers, enabling customers to interact with their favorite banks via a voice assistant and facilitating communication with the bank from anywhere around the clock. Ahmed has a background in engineering and holds an MBA from Boston University specializing in entrepreneurship. Before Mawdoo3, Ahmed worked for Fortune 500 American corporate heading the strategy and sales departments.

Sultan previously founded a software development agency that built products for 20+ enterprise customers, including 2 unicorns, that reached 80+ million users around the world.

Mirna leads a regional Open Finance platform, with a vision to redesign financial services with an open API infrastructure that boosts financial inclusion, revolutionizes financial services and provides a standard integration between Fintechs and institutions. Mirna has more than 15 years of experience in government relations, business strategy, digital communications and journalism. She managed public sector business for Thomson Reuters across 22 MENA countries and partnered with international organizations to promote innovation and social change. She spent more than 10 years as a financial journalist with Reuters, Dow Jones, The Wall Street Journal and Zawya. Mirna has an Executive MBA from City University of London in Innovation and Entrepreneurship. She is certified from MIT University in Fintech and ecommerce, and in Digital Marketing and Communications from Columbia University. Mirna is also certified in Digital Transformation Strategies from Cambridge University.