Solutions Architect at AWS with over 10 years of experience helping startups make the most of the AWS Cloud.

Courtney Powell is tasked with helping venture capital firm 500 Startups scale globally and explore new opportunities across both new and existing markets. She is responsible for driving day-to-day operations across the team to pursue 500’s mission of uplifting people and economies through entrepreneurship. Her ties to 500 Startups go back to 2012, when she founded PublikDemand, a member of Batch 4 in 500’s Seed Accelerator. She went on to become CEO of Agent Pronto, one of the largest real estate agent referral services in North America, which was ultimately acquired by Fidelity National Title Group. Most recently, Courtney was the Head of Corporate Development at Keller Williams, the largest real estate franchise in the world.

An Engineer and an artist who believes that all worthwhile things in life require both social impact and humanistic meaning. Currently, he is a Product Manager at Tap Payments leading Checkout and cutting-edge technology projects. He had previously worked as a Software Engineer in tech companies in Seattle and Saudi Arabia.

FinTech Product manager at  Tap Payments My interests are Full Stack Development, StartUps, Product Development and podcasts and SEO.

Reem is a Marketing, Communication and Strategic planning expert with over 13 years of experience in various industries and multinational companies like LinkedIn, EY, Eye of Riyadh, Dur Hospitality and Rosewood Group. She was awarded the MENA Female Role Model three years in a row for stellar contributions to the business and her role in developing young talents & entrepreneurs. She has a wealth of international experience in organizing and marketing more than 1,000 global events in the US, Asia, Africa and the Middle East, an example being leading the participation of the Middle East & North Africa in the Global entrepreneur Awards at Monte Carlo. At Checkout.com, Reem’s main responsibilities are to connect and work with the policy makers of government and private to position KSA as fintech enabler of the region, provide a world-class payment system, enable KSA companies to export globally, drive business growth, and tackle pressing objectives such as cashless society & digital payment system, and support the field of the financial technology. Reem obtained a bachelor’s degree in Marketing at the University of Dubai and certified from Google partners program and Digital Marketing Institute (DMI) in the UK.

Remo Giovanni-Abbondandolo is SVP 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.

Lead at Freshworks for Startups

Mansi leads the Inside & Startup Sales at Freshworks. Over the past 7+ years, she has worked with multiple startups to setup and scale – high performing sales teams across the globe. Known as a versatile and top-ranked sales manager for contributions to record-setting sales figures & revenue expansion, she takes pride in bringing her diverse and rich experience to establish a customer centric sales engine.

Majed AlSubaihin is the Head of Partner Success at Tamara, he currently dedicates his time to ensure existing partners are getting the most value out of Tamara’s Buy Now Pay Later solutions. Prior to that he worked as a Consultant at Boston Consulting Group participating in a range of projects in the public and private sectors. He also worked in the tourism sector as the Strategy & Planning Manager at the Royal Commission for AlUla. Majed holds a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering from Northeastern University.

Nayef Al-Athel is the Chief of Listing at the Saudi Exchange. His responsibilities include managing the entire listing process across all platforms (Equity, Debt, ETFs and REITs), increasing IPO awareness among family businesses and private companies, and deepening the Capital Market through various tools. Prior to this, Al-Athel worked at Morgan Stanley, Saudi Arabia as the MENA Relationship Manager and the Head of MSIM Sales Saudi. He started his career at MS in the Institutional Equity Department. In 2009, Nayef worked at Venture Capital Bank in the Private Equity and Financial Advisory Department & Treasury Department. In 2016 and 2017, Nayef Al-Athel successfully completed management programs at INSEAD and the London School of Economics, respectively. He graduated from King Fahad University of Petroleum and Minerals in 2010, with a Bachelor of Finance & Economics. Furthermore, Nayef was first in his class of the Industrial Management graduates, with a first honor distinction.

Amal Dokhan is a seasoned professional with experience in startup investments, corporate innovation, and consulting in the MENA region, South Africa and the U.S. Prior to joining 500 Global, Ms. Dokhan was the CEO of GEN SAUDI and Managing Director of Babson Global Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership. She was also the Manager of Learning and Design at the Entrepreneurship Center at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology where she Co-designed and led the TAQADAM accelerator program and Corporate Innovation programs. She has worked at the KAUST Seed Fund, providing a range of services to startups including preparing them for the investment committee. Having been a founder herself, she has been an advocate of angel investing in Saudi Arabia.

Mohammed has over eight years’ experience in investment and hyper-growth start-ups. Prior to launching Sary, he was General Manager KSA, of the European microbility start-up Circ, later acquired by Bird. Previously, Mohammed spent three years at Careem (acquired by Uber), as a Market Launcher, responsible for opening new markets in KSA and the wider GCC. Later, he became General Manager KSA at Careem NOW, leading the subsidiary’s activities in logistics and food “last-mile delivery.

…

A visionary entrepreneur who successfully founded and launched Qoyod the stellar cloud accounting solution. Under his successful leadership as a CEO, he led his company in less than 5 years, to be recognized as the fastest growing accounting solutions provider in FY2021. Abdullah AlDayel is a key figure in the Saudi Entrepreneurship eco-system. He holds MBA Degree from Prince Sultan University and a BSc from Al Yamamah University. He is passionate about Strategic Planning, IT Governance, and Business Development. His main mission is to avail state-of-the art friendly solutions that continuously empowers SME sector as an integral part of KSA 2030 Vision.

Hala is an expert in corporate venture capital and FinTech investing in MENA. Hala was a founding team member and Vice President of Operations at liwwa, the first P2P lending startup in MENA, building the foundations to move it from startup to scale-up. Hala also worked on a number of multi-million dollar deals as an investment banker in Jordan and the GCC. Hala is an experienced researcher, holding positions in a number of economic policy thinktanks and winning fellowships and awards for her contribution to academic societies. Hala graduated from the United World College of the Adriatic (Duino, Italy), the American University in Cairo, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, all with the highest honors.

More than 12 years of experience in different fields including asset based lending, mergers & acquisitions and venture capital. He helped create the corporate venture capital arm at Elm, one of the leading technology companies in Saudi. Was also part of the team managing derayah venture capital fund. Holds a Bachelor degree from KFUPM in Civil Engineering with second honor.

Salah Albassam is a founding member of Wafeer, he has over 10 years of experience in International Private Equity between Hassana Investment Company (HIC), Alrajhi Investment and Raidah Investment Company (RIC). Salah holds a bachelor Degree in Finance from Auckland University of Technology.

Saif Ali is a college-dropout marketing & growth generalist with 10 years of experience in advertising, media, and strategy. He has appeared in Asharq Bloomberg, The New York Times, Branding in Asia, Wamda, and Profit Magazine as a leading industry voice. Saif has collaborated with 50+ international and local brands on corporate, consumer, and employer branding projects, having led many industry firsts. Currently, Saif is spearheading marketing, public relations, and partnerships at Dastgyr, a venture-backed B2B e-commerce startup.

Hard working individual who made it to a leadership position in one of the fastest growing business in Saudi Arabia in three years. Abdulaziz graduated from King AbdulAziz University in Jeddah with an IT major and immediately joined Careem Jeddah as intern in 2018. The acceleration in his career from there to becoming Country Performance Lead for Careem KSA is an evidence of his high performing attitude and growth obsessed mindset. Abdulaziz is currently General Manager for Retailo leading a team of close to 100 people and bringing real impact in people’s lives through powering and simplifying retail industry.

فقش

Founder and CEO of one of the leading Islamic Debt Marketplaces in the Region. Nosaibah is a revenue-driven ex-investment banker with insightful experience in building strategy and markets within the regional landscape. Specialized experience in the local Financial Markets, as well as sophisticated Financial products and services with a flare for entrepreneurship.

Triska Hamid is the editorial director of Wamda, the Mena’s region’s leading startup platform.

Dr. Antoine Khadige is a Principal with Strategy& and a member of the Financial Services practice in the Middle East. He is also a member of the firm’s global management team for payments and open banking. He has over 15 years of experience in strategy consulting and fintech entrepreneurship in the Middle East and globally. Antoine specializes in payments and digital financial services. He works extensively with financial institutions, payment service providers, nonfinancial companies, and fintech firms on strategy and large-scale transformations with a focus on payments, such as enterprise payments strategy, M&A, open banking, merchant services, cards, emerging payments technology, payments infrastructure, and policy. In addition to his client work, Antoine has co-authored several articles: How open banking can transform payments in Saudi Arabia, All set for growth: Fintech on brink of rapid expansion, and How GCC banks can help clients through the effects of the pandemic. Antoine holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Lyon, an MBA from IE Business School, a master’s in management and finance from the London School of Economics, and a bachelor’s degree in computer and communication engineering from the American University of Beirut.

Using the background of retail built Zid with my partner Mazen al dharrab to enable retailers to expand online and grow more than 6K merchants are generating revenues using zid and made more than 4B SAR, managed to grow Zid 45x so far and growing, Saas expert and mentor.

An investment banker who has spent more than a decade in both developed and emerging markets, JD has been associated with over $75 billion in M&A and financing assignments for clients globally. Bit by the entrepreneurial bug in 2017, JD founded Trukkin—a technology-driven enablement platform that is revolutionizing the transportation industry in the Middle East and Pakistan. JD has spent over 10 years working as an Investment Banker with Bank of America and Barclays in New York and Dubai. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Management with a minor in Finance & Marketing from Purdue University, USA.

Ibrahim “Abe” Seksek is the current COO of MENA and Russia of Startupbootcamp, a Rainmaking company. Before joining Startupbootcamp he Co-Founded a couple of companies such as ZenHR Solutions, which addresses the entire HR cycle, and Crystel, Jordan’s first business process outsourcing (BPO) provider. Ibrahim also worked as Head of Global Operations Support for Naspers, the parent company of dubizzle and OLX, which oversaw the operations in 70 countries.

Rabih Farhat is the Founder and Managing Partner behind Related, an award-winning Martech agency that provides customized loyalty and reward solutions, and builds seamless technologies delivering exceptional customer experiences. With over 20 years of cross-industry expertise, he became a thought leader in driving the most successful programs across the Middle East and Africa region. Prior to founding Related, Rabih was leading the Loyalty practice at Peppers & Rogers, within the MEA region. There he played an essential role in building the largest loyalty program in the region, Saudi Telecom’s Qitaf, with more than 3000 partnerships secured across the Kingdom, more than 25 million customers and SAR450 million in incremental revenue. His hands-on experience varies from CRM to customer experience and management consulting, loyalty programs and strategic alliances, as well as digital transformation and innovation programs. This is reflected in his success in designing, developing, implementing and managing top-notch projects, including more than 10 loyalty rewards programs. Rabih is an adamant believer in a more humane and compassionate “alliance” between brands and customers, and that any rewards program should play an active role in achieving a higher purpose than the commercial benefits for both brands and consumers. Besides the modern-day disruptive innovations that his company continues to build, and have built from scratch, their primary goal, as Rabih puts it, is to work together with brands on incentive programs that transform values into positive impact on society. At its core, a loyalty program can be adapted to any vertical, be it telecom; retail; fintech or services and utilities, as long as it serves the higher purpose which Rabih believes in. In 2020, his company, Related, was awarded the Best Industry Service Provider and Best Technology Solution as part of the international Incentive Awards, London. Rabih has received acknowledgements from top-executives in the region for his dedication and thought leadership. Anyone who’s worked closely with him highlights his deep expertise in the topic of customer loyalty, as well as having the right ecosystem of partners and experts to help him elevate the industry. According to Rabih, his biggest achievement is his family, he is first and foremost a father and husband. His other pride and joy is Related, which he built passionately from the bottom up.

Omar Rebhan is the CEO of Tasaru (Tasaru Holding). He is a business development expert with focus on venture building, team management, strategy and execution. He also is an active Angel Investor and startup advisor.

Mohamed Jawabri is the co-founder and Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Lendo. As an IT professional with years of extensive experience and in-depth knowledge, he managed more than 20 primary tech projects under the e-government sector for Vision 2030 & National Transformation Program (NTP) with different ministries in Saudi Arabia. He also served as a consultant at Riyadh Chamber of Commerce. Mohamed has a bachelor of computer engineering, and PMP certified from PMI.

Zainab Al Sharif, is the Investment Associate at Plus VC, a venture capital firm that invests in tech startups across the MENA region and diaspora.. She has extensive experience as an Investment Analyst in the private equity and venture capital field and is passionate about contributing to the growth of the global entrepreneurial ecosystem. Previously, she worked as a Senior Investment Analyst at Dividend Gate Capital (DGC), and as a Senior Investment Analyst at 500 Startups. Zainab specializes in generating new leads for investment opportunities by collecting and analyzing data based on new and current trends. Zainab has earned her MSc from King’s College London in Risk Analysis, and a BA in Business Management with Finance and Financial Services from the University of Westminster.

Driven professional. Love a good challenge. Feel energized working in a dynamic environment with smart individuals, analyzing problems, developing solutions, driving impact and creating long lasting relationships with the people I work with. A finance grad. Started off my career in commercial banking followed by a career switch to management consulting post-MBA embedding me with the drive, ownership mindset and the resilience needed to achieve my goals. Decided to take the leap into the startup world with tabby and getting the chance to flex my entrepreneurial skills in a start-up environment. Been a great two years so far with an amazing team. Look forward to taking tabby to the next level.

Lateefa Alwaalan, is an inventor, and a serial entrepreneur. She started her first company at the age of 16. She earned her bachelor degree in computer science from King Saud university and later gained experience in information technology from working at different companies. In 2011, Lateefa earned a Technology management MBA from University of Washington. Her passion for Arabic coffee drove her to reinterpret how Arabic coffee drinkers consumed it. She started her first steps in (Yatooq) by manufacturing readymade Arabic coffee blends, and the first automated Arabic coffee machine. Yatooq sold thousands of coffee machines across the GCC countries and the world. She also recently co-founded Aroom a company focused on developing technology for coffee vending machines. Her passion for women empowerment drove her to co-found CellA+ in 2012. A Saudi professional women’s network, which has about 3000 members. Lateefa acted as president of the network during 2015. Lateefa received Arabs Women Awards Entrepreneur of the year 2014, and in 2015 she received EY entrepreneur of the year for Saudi Arabia. Forbes magazine listed Lateefa in the Kingdom’s most innovative leaders for 2013/2014/2015. More recently, Harvard Business School published a case study about Yatooq in Nov 2018. Currently, Lateefa is the managing director for Endeavour Saudi, which is part of Endeavor’s global network. Being an Endeavour entrepreneur her self since 2014, she is driven by her believe of how endeavor supports high-potential companies can impact local economies positively. Lateefa has also been appointed as board member to the Riyadh chamber of commerce.

Hussein Attar is the CEO of Tech Invest Com, an investment firm that was established with 1Bn SAR to invest in regional early stage tech startups. Ex-Founder of a startup, and ex- CEO of software development company. He is now also an investment committee member of an angel investor group, and a board member of several of the leading tech startups in the region.

Christos is the Founder and Managing Partner of Iliad Partners, a Venture Capital fund based in the UAE investing in early stage tech startups in the MENA region. Christos has actively been making VC investments in MENA over the last 5 years, with a focus on Series A startups, including in regional success stories such as Trukker. He is a VC investor and former tech entrepreneur, angel investor, digital executive, and management consultant with 23+ years of experience in the US, Europe, and MENA. Based in Dubai for the last 14 years, he was previously the Head of Business Development of Yahoo! Maktoob and an engagement manager with Booz Company. Christos previously held operating roles at four startups he helped build and exit: GlamBox (UAE), Upstream (Greece), govWorks (US) and SloanGear (US). He serves on the Boards of several startups and the Board of the Middle East Venture Capital Association (MEVCA). Christos holds an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management and a B.S. in International Relations from Georgetown University.

Loulwa Bakr lead a notable career in corporate finance and investment banking that spanned 15 years and culminated with heading the investment banking division of Credit Suisse Saudi Arabia. In 2017, she founded Chrome Advisory, an investment advisory firm that supports and enables the venture capital ecosystem. She has participated in various CMA committees that reviewed regulations at the inception of the CMA, and lead some of the landmark transactions in Saudi capital markets. Loulwa has advised and arranged the financing, restructuring, growth through mergers and acquisitions and most significantly, access to capital markets, for top tier corporations. In addition to being recognised as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum, she is currently an independent member of the Board of Directors of Reyl Finance (MEA), a member of the audit committee of Budget Rent A Car Saudi Arabia and a member of the advisory board of Columbia University’s Global Centers. Loulwa holds a Master’s degree of Business Administration in Finance and Economics from the Graduate School of Business of Columbia University in the City of New York.

Faisal comes from a financial background where he was involved in the investments sector since the beginning of his career in 2007. He progressed during his time with Kuwait Finance Center (Markaz) where he engaged in Private Banking Services, working mainly with clients in the investments sector. In addition, Faisal was closely involved in the launch of multiple tech startups such as Ride Rove & The Pretty Book. Today, he looks over Tap’s integration team.

Over 20 Years of experience within different functions as: Supply Chain, Quality Assurance, Cold chain management and warehousing (including 3PL, 4 PL, fleet management and fulfillment solutions), Fulfillment, e-commerce & last-mile delivery & Business development

Sajjad Kamal co-founded AlemHealth, a Tele-radiology RIS/PACS for emerging markets, as the CTO. AlemHealth is backed by notable investors including Y Combinator. Prior to that, Sajjad co-founded Beneple, a health insurance analytics platform, as the CTO. Sajjad has had a successful exit with Beneple. He has been involved in the health tech space for over 15 years starting with a project working with Nobel Peace prize winning Dr Muhammad Yunus to develop telemedicine kiosks for the base of the pyramid. Ever since, Sajjad has been involved with several technical healthcare projects such as Empower Health which was a Hult Prize finalist. Sajjad has previously worked at Blackberry and Apple early on during his career. He holds a BMatch/CS from University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada – the birthplace of the forgotten Blackberry. In support of empowering the community, Sajjad has curated several TEDx events and co-founded the Coding Circle. Sajjad is passionate about supporting health tech companies to increase global access to care through technology.

Salah Sharef is a serial entrepreneur who founded his first startup more than 10 years ago. In 2008 he founded OpenSooq, an Arabic classifieds marketplace which currently attracts more than one billion page views in traffic per month. In 2015, Salah left OpenSooq for his new venture startup, Syarah, an online marketplace for buying and selling cars. Syarah has successfully closed two rounds of investment since it’s launch and currently attracts more than 2 million visits per month. You can find more information about Syarah at the following link:

Saudi startup Syarah raises $2 million for its online car marketplace