Saudi’s Hottest Tech & Startup Festival

Assistant Deputy Minister for Future Skills & Digital Knowledge & Chief Executive Officer at Saudi Digital Academy

VP & Managing Director at Unifonic

Head of Strategy & Market Development at Jada Fund of Funds.

Partner - BIM Ventures

Mohammed Khashoggi was born in Saudi Arabia, a self-made entrepreneur with a passion for Tech, Innovation & Sustainability. In 2019 he Founded Ejaro, The first licensed peer-to-peer car-sharing marketplace in Saudi Arabia, aiming to disrupt the car rental industry in the region with a platform that is considered the Airbnb for cars. Throughout his career, he has founded several companies in different industries, from Real Estate to Hospitality and Tech, with total sales of 500 million SAR. Forming several partnerships with the largest real estate development companies in the UK, brokering deals worth $60 million at 24 years old, and has continued to grow, finding his passion in Tech.

Khaled is Managing Partner at Nuwa Capital. Prior to launching Nuwa Capital, Khaled was Managing Partner at Wamda Capital, the region’s first institutionalized Venture Capital fund investing in technology-enabled companies in the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey. He started his career at Dubai International Capital where he supported the development of the MENA region’s first seed capital fund. Since then Khaled assumed a number of venture capital and startup roles including heading investments and strategy at twofour54 in Abu Dhabi. Khaled has centered his career around identifying and investing in disruptive businesses that displace incumbent inefficiencies in traditional sectors of the economy. His areas of interest include ecommerce, Fintech, marketplaces, digital content and enterprise solutions. Throughout his career Khaled has focused on building lasting partnerships with the entrepreneurs delivering the region’s digital economy. Khaled has invested in and managed over 150 early stage transactions including Careem, Mumzworld, Insider, Modanisa, Twiga Foods, and Tamatem. Khaled attended Duke University and graduated with a BA in Economics.

Extensive experience in the real estate and crowdfunding platforms (Jood Eskan platform), and a practitioner in investment funds.

With over 18 years of experience, Mr. Ibrahim Neyaz has an extensive experience and a track record of achievements in many fields of work in the public and private sectors. He held several positions in major entities, serving as Acting CEO at the Saudi Tourism Investment company, a PIF company, The Director General of The National Center of Performance Measurement and the CEO of ES Learning. Mr. Ibrahim holds a master’s degree in Information Systems Management from the University of Central Michigan, USA, the executive education certificate of the General Management Program (GMP) from Harvard Business School and a bachelor’s degree in information Systems from King Saud University.

co-founder and CEO at Tygo, interested in innovation and startup.

Nida Sumar is the Founder & CEO of 60 Day Startups provides a platform to accelerates female-founded startups to revenue. She is also the founder of The Table Project, a thriving food community built around a shared passion for food soaked in tradition. The common thread that ties both ventures is Nida’s exceptional ability to create strong communities that create lasting impact. She started her career in finance and became the one of youngest few female CFA Charter holders in the UAE in 2013 and worked in 2 of the Big 4’s across New York and Dubai. After half a dozen years in traditional financeNida founded her first award-winning foodtech startup in 2016 and successfully exited the company in early 2019. Nida’s entrepreneurial journey continued when she founded The Table Project in 2019. It has now served over 121 nationalities and held events for over 8000 diners in the globally. Her work with The Table Project has been featured several times on television and radio in the region. Nida has been at the forefront of the culinary revolution in the region and is passionate about creating a community that will evolve as thought leaders of the UAE food scene. In 2020, Nida founded 60 Day Startups and once again, brought together a community of passionate and accomplished individuals and industry experts to flip the numbers representing female entrepreneurship in the region. 60DS is set apart from the rest because it concentrates on sustainable business practices and shifts the focus from becoming investment-ready to becoming revenue-generating. In just a few months, Nida has managed to partner with heavy weights like P&G, Notion, Stripe and Microsoft whilst keeping community stars like Pitfire Pizza, Zoho, Earth & Ethics and others equally excited and involved in the building of this unique accelerator. With over 18 years of experience in the world of finance, food and entrepreneurship, Nida focuses her experience and energy in creating meaningful impact and building communities for good. She regularly mentors startups, advocates for mental health issues and champions sustainable food practices and speaks for women in the world of business. Her work and career is often featured and celebrated in local community events as well as notable media. She is truly the face of a woman that would be an asset to any community or country. Nida believes business runs in her blood, and bringing meaning to business runs in her upbringing – with her fourth startup getting set to launch in 2023, we believe it too.

Nourah Feteih is a proud Saudi Public Speaket, MC , moderator and successful published author. She holds a B.A in ECE and Masters In international Reltions Negotiation. She has worked as a consultant, BD with projects with a public speaking company and is in the process of making her own comapny very soon. She is the author of "Adam and the Giant" children's book under vision 2030 in KSA about Global warming. And a Co-Author in collbortion 'Women Who inspire'.

Aahan Bhojani is the CEO and Founder of Silkhaus, a proptech startup on a mission to power short-term rentals across Asia. He leads Silkhaus’ diverse team of technologists, operators, and business builders, and has raised seed funding / one of the MENA’s largest seed rounds from leading global venture capitalists and entrepreneurs. Prior to Silkhaus, Aahan led Product at Lola.com, an enterprise SaaS travel technology startup based in Boston. His earlier career experiences span management consulting with Bain & Company (Dubai), technology investment banking (M&A) with Barclays (New York), and an advisorship with the UAE Prime Minister’s Office. Aahan is also deeply passionate about education, and has previously founded an international school based in Dubai. Aahan is an Indian citizen, born and raised in the UAE. He is passionate about the intersection of travel, real estate, and technology, and is excited to leverage his experiences to build a company that disrupts one of the world’s largest asset classes in the emerging markets. Aahan holds an undergraduate degree in Economics and Political Science (Honors) from Yale University, and a Masters in Business Administration from Harvard Business School. He was born and raised in Dubai.

Lama Naseer is the CFO and investor in Aanaab; an EdTech that provides full range professional development opportunities for teachers, schools, and governments in MENA. Her background spans 16+ years in investment banking, entrepreneurship, and consulting working both in the Government and private sector. She helped establish the KAUST Seed Fund. An active angel investor and holds several board and investment committee positions.

Vijay is a seasoned CEO, a serial entrepreneur and an early stage technology Investor. He is the Managing Director at Techstars and has been credited for the development of the ecosystem in the Middle East with the launching of several Techstars accelerator programs. As a seasoned CEO and a serial entrepreneur, he has 40 years of hands-on experience building and growing several companies, spread over 7 different industries; including Fashion Retail, Clothing Manufacturing, Hi-Tech Safety Helmets, Association Management, Events Production, Property Development and Venture Capital. Vijay was the former CEO and Global Chairman of the Entrepreneurs' Organization (EO) based in Washington D.C.; where he led the growth of 20,000+ leading entrepreneurs represented in 200 cities worldwide. Vijay is a visionary community builder and a thought leader on the world stage, he continues to serve Techstars, Entrepreneurs Organization and Young Presidents Organization globally.

Dr. Lama Hakem is the Education Programs Lead at the Entrepreneurship Center at KASUT. She has a PhD in Conflict Analysis and Resolution. She was an assistant professor at different universities in Saudi Arabia. Currently, she is teaching entrepreneurship course at KAUST.

With over 20 years of experience in strategic planning and business management within Gulf Countries, the Middle East, and North Africa.

Mohammad AlRazaz is a Serial Entrepreneur and the Co-founder & CEO of OTO - MENA’s Largest Shipping Integrator & Aggregator Solution for Online Businesses & OmniChannel Brands. At the age of 22, Mohammad founded Jeeny (previously EasyTaxi) in Saudi Arabia during his time with Rocket Internet, making him the youngest Country Manager in Easy Taxi globally by then. Al-Razaz is a MIT Global Entrepreneurship Bootcamp alumni, selected out of 800 global applicants, and has built several startups and businesses in transportation, e-commerce, logistics and technology. Founded early 2020, OTO is an All-in-one Shipping Management Software for Online Businesses & OmniChannel Brands to Ship, Manage, Track, Return & Analyze their online orders with 180+ Shipping Carriers from 1 consolidated dashboard.

Mohammed Alarifi is the chief growth officer of Floward responsible for the growth in 9 countries that Floward is operating at. Mohammed started with Launching the Floward Saudi entity and then led the GCC and ended up with handling the Company growth.

Sam has 10 years experience in search for professionals into startup, fintech and growth stage technology businesses. Starting out in Singapore, working across APAC, he moved to support the True Search office in the UAE in line with the growth of technology startups and businesses in the region. He is also a startup co-founder and advisor to a number of startups & VCs across SE Asia & MENA.

Bassam has over 19 years of diversified experience, including executive management and board memberships. He assumed various roles in the Advertising, Marketing, Fitness, and Technology sectors. Throughout his professional career with Middle East organizations, he thought of strategic leadership positions involving revenue growth and sustainability, product management, discovering and implementing new technologies, and ensuring corporate governance, compliance, and digital transformation.

As a communications expert, Teodora helps startups and founders transform their businesses with disruptive and exciting brand strategy and marketing at her co-founded creative studio: Dizrupt.

Strategic e-commerce professional with a strong background in digital marketing, acquisition & conversion strategy, brand strategy, customer experience, and loyalty programs. For the last 3 years focus on building omnichannel and multivendor marketplace, as part of the digital transforming for the company retails to support the growth strategy.

Omar is the co-founder and CTO of Letswork, the region's largest workspace platform.

Hamza is the co-founder and CEO of Letswork, the region's largest workspace platorm.

Mazen AlDarrab, specialized in E-commerce, E-marketing and enabling companies to foster their work by maximizing the power of technology and e-business.

Media Icon and Social Impact Leader

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Dynamic Executive with 13 years of experience helping organizations reach their full potential. Adept in making key decisions and working with other professionals to achieve goals and solve problems. Experienced and dedicated to successfully directing business operations while delivering growth. Team player and socially fun to be with, willingness to help make it easy to communicate with, and an efficient multitasking pro.

Founder & Managing Partner of BIM Ventures, the leading Saudi Venture Studio. Passionate about building innovative, exciting and financially sustainable ventures.

لجين آل العبيد شريك مؤسس ومدير تنفيذي لشركة تسامي لصناعة الأثر، وهي مؤسسة تعمل على خلق مساحة آمنة وملاذ آمن لأصحاب المشاريع الاجتماعية لخلق الأثر في المملكة العربية السعودية، تسامي واحدة من الشركات الرائدة في مجال الريادة الاجتماعية وصناعة الأثر في النظام على المستوى الوطني (آو على مستوى المملكة ) كما أنها أولى المؤسسات التي قدمت المسرعات وحاضنات الأعمال في السعودية . عملت لجين أيضًا كمستشار لهيئة الأوقاف العامة وهي هيئة حكومية تشرف على التشريعات وتعمل على تمكين قطاع الوقف في السعودية التي تعمل على التركيز على أدوات التمويل الاجتماعي والابتكار الاجتماعي على المستوى الوطني . ولدت العبيد وتعيش في الرياض، السعودية وبفضل خلفيتها المعرفية في الخبرات المالية قامت بالمشاركة ببرنامج القيادة التنفيذية للسيدات في كلية هارفارد للأعمال و برنامج التعليم التابع لكلية كولومبيا للأعمال للمنظمات غير الربحية ، كما قامت بالمشاركة ببرامج مختلفة عن الاستثمار في كلية سعيد للأعمال في جامعة أكسفورد . كما وأن العبيد واحدة من زملاء أكيومن وعملت كرئيسة تنفيذية استراتيجيتهم في الهند كونها واحدة من خريجي cedpa . قامت لجين بتمثيل قطاع الريادة الاجتماعية في الشرق الأوسط و في العديد من المؤتمرات والمنتديات والقمم الوطنية والدولية ، كما أنها مستشارة لمشاريع حكومية وخاصة مختلفة. اختيرت لجين كواحدة من أكثر 100 امرأة تأثيرًا في الشرق الأوسط ، كما تم ترشيحها لتكون الأكثر تأثير تحت سن الثلاثين في المملكة العربية السعودية. تم تكريمها سابقًا من قبل صاحب السمو الملكي الملك سلمان بن عبدالعزيز على أنشطتها التطوعية المختلفة التي قامت بها خلال فترة عملها في منتدى الغد ، كما منحتها الملكة سيلفيا ملكة السويد جائزة مينتور العربية.

Value-driven product and growth leader building hyper-growth global and regional startups. Currently growing Staq.io/finto.io previously at MATIC.ae and HotelsCombined.Com

Seasoned Bay Area technology expert and entrepreneur, Haroon Rashid joined as the CEO of Bayut KSA in 2019 following an extensive stint in leadership roles at various international organisations. An experienced strategist, prior to joining the Bayut team, Haroon served as PayPal’s Head of Mid-Market and SMB Integrations for North America, where he he lead integration and sales engineering for the Mid Market and SMB market segments, and drove over $90M in net-new recurring revenue for PayPal’s merchant business. He also led strategic engineering projects at Magento, an Adobe company, and X.commerce, an eBay company. Haroon was also co-founder of Yotascale, a leader in Autonomous Cloud Operations, where he developed product strategy and business development; ultimately securing $11M in venture capital funding for the cloud based startup.

A Saudi startups builder and operator with more than 20 years of experience in information technology starting with networks and data communication, expert in Hajj and Umrah and tourism related technology startups, rising up with an e-commerce leading technology product named Salla.

Dr. Zeger Degraeve is the Dean of Prince Mohammed Bin Salman College of Business and Entrepreneurship. With over 20 years of experience, Dr. Degraeve is an expert in decision-making, risk, operations research and managing project portfolios. An award-winning teacher, he has contributed to executive development programs in Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Russia, and North America for leading businesses. Dr. Degraeve started his academic journey as a Professor of Management Science at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium, his home country, before joining London Business School in 1999. From March 2002 until August 2005 he was the Associate Dean of the Executive MBA and Executive MBA-Global Programs, and from August 2005 until August 2007 he served as London Business School’s Deputy Dean Programs and a member of the School's Management Committee and Board of Governors. He became Dean of Melbourne Business School in November 2011, as well as Co-Dean of the Faculty of Business and Economics of The University of Melbourne after successfully establishing an alliance between Melbourne Business School and The University of Melbourne in May 2013. After 7 years in these roles, he joined, Prince Mohammad Bin Salman College in October 2019. Alongside his academic career, Dr. Degraeve has provided consultancy support across a range of issues including operations management, logistics and supply chain management, environmental planning and purchasing strategy. Consultancy clients include the European Commission, Andersen Business Consulting, National Economic Research Associates (NERA) and McKinsey and Co. With his extensive executive education expertise, Dr. Degraeve has been sought after to contribute to executive development programs in numerous leading international businesses, including: HSBC, Cadbury Schweppes, Novartis, Rio Tinto, E.on, Carlsberg, Merck Serono, SABIC, BP, Shell, Hess Oil, Premier Oil, Zain/Celtel, Orascom, Dubai Holdings, Majid Al Futtaim, and IBM. Dr. Degraeve’ s research has won several awards, including: Association of the European Operational Research Societies’ (EURO) Prize for Best Applied Paper and the Chairman's Award for the Best Applied Contributed Paper by INFORMS (The Institute for Operations Research and Management Sciences). He has published over 50 articles on decision making, optimization, scenario analysis and risk assessment for leading journals, including: Management Science, Operations Research, INFORMS Journal on Computing, European Journal of Operational Research, Interfaces and Harvard Business Review. He is also a regular speaker at international conferences. After studying at the Universities of Ghent and Leuven in Belgium, Dr. Degraeve gained his PhD from the Graduate School of Business at the University of Chicago, now Booth School of Business, in 1992.

Shubham is an MBA from Duke University’s Fuqua School of business. Shubham has more than 14 years of experience in Strategy & Operation working at Rocket Internet and MarkaVIP where he focused on leading the Middle East operations and business expansion across GCC. Before MBA Shubham started my career at Siemens as a project manager in their Energy Division. Shubham is solution oriented, is comfortable with unstructured environment, and takes an iterative approach to problem solving. Hence, he decided to quit our job 4 years ago and start StrategyConnect along with his co-founder Haninder. StrategyConnect is a platform that makes professional talent like management consultants accessible to small businesses on-demand. Shubham is an MBA from Duke University’s Fuqua School of business. Shubham has more than 14 years of experience in Strategy & Operation working at Rocket Internet and MarkaVIP where he focused on leading the Middle East operations and business expansion across GCC. Before MBA Shubham started my career at Siemens as a project manager in their Energy Division. Shubham is solution oriented, is comfortable with unstructured environment, and takes an iterative approach to problem solving. Hence, he decided to quit our job 4 years ago and start StrategyConnect along with his co-founder Haninder. StrategyConnect is a platform that makes professional talent like management consultants accessible to small businesses on-demand.

Jawaris Investments is a pioneering investment development and management firm based in Saudi Arabia. The Company connects investors with entrepreneurs, through filtering investment initiatives against a specific set of rigorous criteria, and then taps the appropriate strategic investors to raise the required funding.

Paul 'The Profit' Dawalibi is a technology entrepreneur, investor, futurist and gamer, with over 20 years of venture capital and startup experience. He is currently the CEO of Holodeck Media - the leading global media company focused exclusively on metaverse, gaming and crypto. This combination of skills and experience allow him to understand and communicate the business opportunity around gaming and metaverse in a unique way. As “The Profit", Paul hosts the largest gaming industry show in the world - the Business of Esports, as well as Game Changers - a groundbreaking new gaming and metaverse business show on CNBC Arabia reaching 50M homes in the Middle East. "The Profit" is a frequently requested speaker at metaverse and gaming conferences all around the world. He also consults family offices, governments, venture funds, and global companies on the metaverse opportunity. Paul is also the creator of the world's 1st esports NFT and founder of the 2020 fastest growing company in Canada. His core belief is that gaming is the future of fun™.

A passionate serial entrepreneur who has contributed to building multiple startups in a cross-functional role in the live streaming, last-mile delivery, and e-commerce industries since 2016. Throughout his career working with startups, Faisal has raised +20 million Dollars in funding at different stages. Today Faisal is the Founder and CEO of Slide, which aims to disrupt the direct ordering market in GCC by helping businesses to establish new revenue channels via social platforms. Slide enables customers to order from their favorite restaurant from the app they use every day.

A veteran banker holding 22 years of experience of dealing with different segments of corporates, and different sectors.

Kamal is a seasoned entrepreneur with over 14 years of experience in tech. In 2011, Kamal started the first e-commerce company in Morocco before selling it to a local holding company in 2018. Prior to that, Kamal worked for Spotfire (acquired by TIBCO) as a lead system engineer in charge of building large scalable infrastructure for software deployments. Kamal is an Endeavor entrepreneur and holds a B.S & M.S in Computer Science from Boston Northeastern University.

Mohamed Jawabri is Lendo's co-founder and Chief Operating Officer (COO). 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 the Riyadh Chamber of Commerce. Mohamed has a bachelor of computer engineering and PMP certification from PMI.

Ibrahim is currently the Managing Partner of Moonbase Capital, which invests in SMEs (Small/ Medium enterprises) through Search Funds. An emerging asset class that leverages two things that make VCs so lucrative (entrepreneurship and diversification) as well as two things that make PE so lucrative (leverage and existing businesses) to deliver higher and more consistent returns than both.

Investment professional with 15+ years of experience in venture capital, management consulting, and public markets. Currently a partner at Modus Capital, a Venture Platform operating in MENA comprising VC funds, Venture Builders, and a Corporate Innovation arm.

Fikry is an accomplished strategy and Investment executive. His expertise ranges from advising founders and entrepreneurs on developing strategies for growth and exit to advising governments on developing nation wide strategies. With a career in M&A and corporate finance, Fikry is recognised by senior government officials, board members, shareholders, and executives as the ‘go-to’ commercially astute problem solver. Fikry holds an MBA from IE Business School in Madrid and a BSc in Mathematics from the American University of Beirut.

Over the past decade I have established a reputation for stakeholder management; building partnerships, global expansion; senior researcher across the Middle East, UK and Europe with direct experience of the public and social policy-making environments. To complement the policy impact I worked in the media filed to shed lights on entrepreneurship as a global producer that could execute production worldwide for mega shows in the media industry like KHAWATER, Al ROWWAD and others. My work showcases ethical and dynamic leadership within diverse-function teams, resulting in long term partnerships with clients such as PWC, MBC, Shahid, the British Council, and others. I am a Telly Award winner, an analyst and creative thinker. I was chosen by the World Economic Forum as a global changemaker. My mother tongue is Arabic and I fluently speak English. I am a traveller by nature.

Aboudi Al-Qattan is the Investment Principal at DASH Ventures, one of MENA's longest-standing VC firms. He started his career at DASH as an analyst, before moving to Kuwait to play professional basketball for two years. In Kuwait Aboudi worked part time as an investment professional at Messilah Ventures, before returning to DASH at the start of the pandemic. Aboudi is originally Palestinian but was raised between Texas and London, before studying Entrepreneurship at Babson College.

Tarek currently leads Deel’s expansion across the MENA markets. Deel is one the fastest growing Decacorns empowering companies to scale their remote teams by streamlining cross border compliance, payments and mobility for contractors and full time employees across 150 countries. Born and raised in the UAE, Tarek’s extensive experience enabled growth stage companies to tap into the region. Prior to Deel, Tarek designed and led a deep tech accelerator for the government backed Sharjah Innovation Park, leveraging the collaboration between academia, government and the private sector.

Co-founder of Zest Equity, building a turnkey investment and liquidity solutions platform for the venture ecosystem in MENA and wider emerging markets - enabling collective growth. Over 10 years of experience in strategy, organizational restructuring / change management, commercial and investment banking. Previously headed a DIFC based regulated investment bank - managing the local team, cross-border group functions, as well as regulatory matters, compliance, risk management and board / governance practices. Keen interest in innovation and digitization - Rawan is also an active investor in public and private markets.

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.

Haninder P. Singh is a seasoned entrepreneur and builder. He started his career with Booz & Company, advising Fortune 100 enterprises and Governments. He moved to the Middle East in 2014 to manage a high-growth e-commerce venture, leading its strategy and analytics function, raising a $10m bridge loan, and managing 30+ due diligence. He further managed the winding down of the venture in 2016, which had raised $100m+ venture capital since its inception. After personally experiencing a shortage of talent in strategy and management in the Middle East, Haninder decided to build StrategyConnect – a platform to access talent internationally with a vision of bringing the best talent from the globe to anyone trying to solve a business problem. Thus far, StrategyConnect has aggregated 5,000+ curated consultants & industry experts who have worked with 200+ organizations and government entities. Knowing what independent knowledge workers go through, StrategyConnect is building a work identity solution to enhance how the skills & capabilities of the workforce of the future get evaluated.

Ibrahim is leading UnifonicX Venture Builder as part of the 100 million spin-off fund to create startups and support the SAAS industry in MENATP

Amal is a seasoned professional with experience in startup investments, corporate innovation, and consulting in the MENA region. Previous to joining 500 Global, Ms. Dokhan was the Managing Director of Babson Global for Entrepreneurial Leadership. Previously, she was the Manager of Learning and Design at the Entrepreneurship Center at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology where she led the New Ventures Acceleration and Corporate Innovation programs. Prior to that engagement she worked in the KAUST Seed Fund developing marketing and events, while also providing a range of services to startup clients. Ms. Dokhan sits on the board of several organizations such as Wayakit Company, Cranfield University UK, King Abdulaziz University. She contributes to a monthly column at Leaders Magazine on Innovation & Entrepreneurship, and has been a speaker at Davos World Economic Forum, TEDx at Kaust, the Annual Conference of the Islamic Development Bank, among others. Ms. Dokhan holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Education, English Language & Literature from the King Abdul Aziz University, and a Masters of Strategic Marketing and Marketing Management from the University of Wollongong.

H.E. Dr. Nabeel Koshak is the CEO and Board Member of Saudi Venture Capital Company (SVC). Nabeel is the Founder and Angel Investor at Athaal Angel Investor Group. He is a Board Member of Middle East Venture Capital Association (MEVCA). Nabeel is the Chairman of GEN (Global Entrepreneurship Network) Saudi. He is a member of the Executive and Investment Committee at the Cultural Development Fund. Nabeel is a member of the Investment Committee at KAUST’s Innovation Fund. He is a startup mentor at Endeavor Saudi Arabia. Nabeel is a member of the Saudi Venture Capital and Private Equity Association. He is a Member of the Executive and Investment Committee at Cultural Development Fund. He is a Board member of TCL (Tomouh Community of Leaders). Formerly, Nabeel was the Founding Executive Dean of Prince Mohammad Bin Salman College (MBSC) of Business and Entrepreneurship in partnership with Babson College at King Abdullah Economic City. Nabeel was an Executive Advisor at Ministry of Economy and Planning and an Executive Advisor at Deloitte. Nabeel was the Co-Founder and the Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of Wadi Makkah Company (Innovation Fund, Startup Accelerator, and Venture Capital Fund). He was a Board Member of Oqal (Angel Investors Group) Jeddah branch and a mentor at Flat6Labs Jeddah Startup Accelerator. He was a Board Member and the Chairman of the Investment Committee at King Abdulaziz and His Companions Foundation for Giftedness and Innovation (Mawhiba). Nabeel is the former Co-Founder and Director of King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) GIS Technology Innovation Center. Koshak was a Member of the Executive Committee of King Faisal International Prize. As an entrepreneur, Koshak was the Founder and CEO of five tech startups.

Ali Al Ebrahim loves two things - coffee & technology! Passions that inspired him to establish COFE App, an online coffee-centric marketplace that is changing the way coffee lovers access their daily cuppa. Ali has always sought to create collaborative business environments, all the while challenging the status-quo. Ali Al Ebrahim is a graduate of UMKC Bloch School (USA), he pursued his executive education in Technology, Operations & Value Chain Management from MIT - Sloan School of Management. Aside from his startup, Ali also founded Tmkeen – an accelerator that aims bridging the gap between global business visionaries and local entrepreneurs. Ali is the recipient of Kuwait Award of Entrepreneurial Excellence under the patronage of H.H Sheikh Nawaf Al-Jaber Al-Sabah (2020), the Arabian Business Entrepreneur of the Year Award (2019).

Sonia is a Founding Partner of VentureSouq. Previously, Sonia was an investment professional in the Global Special Situations Group of Abu Dhabi Investment Council (ADIC), a large sovereign wealth fund based in the UAE, focusing on venture capital and tech deals. Prior to this role, Sonia was an Actuarial Consultant at Mercer Human Resource Consulting in its Dubai and Toronto offices. Sonia is a qualified Fellow of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries and the Society of Actuaries (USA). Sonia obtained a BSc from the University of Toronto (with distinction) and majored in Actuarial Science and Statistics.

Rakan Al-Rashed, Partner and co-founder of Access Bridge Ventures, serves as a board member and chairman for multiple Saudi Arabian companies and foundations. Further, Rakan has been investing in venture capital and private equity for the past nine years, with a particular focus on seed stages up to growth stage. Throughout his career, Rakan has been involved in many transactions across various sectors and geographies, including but not limited to technology, retail, F&b, healthcare, and education.

Yazeed has been with STV for close to two years, overseeing investments in various technology subsectors. With over 12 years of experience investing in emerging markets- prior to STV, he managed MENA public equity portfolios for Ashmore Group out of Riyadh, with AUMs of over $700m. He started his career as an Equity Research Analyst with HSBC. Yazeed holds a B.A. in Economics from the University of Chicago.

Mamoun is Chief Commercial Officer and Managing Director for Wego, the largest online travel marketplace in the MENA region and one of the fastest growing tech companies in Dubai. Wego is dual-headquartered in Singapore and Dubai and Mamoun runs the business from the Dubai office where he is responsible for managing operations across the region. He is a significant shareholder in the company. Mamoun helped launch Wego’s Middle East operations in 2013 and expanded the company’s footprint across MENA and into India. Prior to that, he established the Advertising & Media sales unit and was Acting GM for MENA before being promoted to Managing Director. It’s Mamoun’s ability to move effortlessly between the high-tech world of Silicon Valley and the high-touch world of the Middle Eastern travel and tourism industry that makes him a particularly effective senior executive. Mamoun is a member of EMIR Corporate Intelligence Network, MEA business group and German Emirati Joint Council for Industry & Commerce (AHK). He was named by Arabian Business as one of the “Young Achievers 2021”. Prior to joining Wego, Mamoun held senior roles in some of the region’s best known digital media start-ups including iKoo (first and largest online advertising network in the Middle East acquired by Yahoo!) and Diwanee (largest premium lifestyle content publisher acquired by Webedia). Mamoun has lived in Dubai since 2005 and was a sales exec for Audi before joining the tech industry.

Mohamed Khaled is the Founder & CEO of Hotdesk, the end-to-end stack technology powering hybrid work. Hotdesk's on-demand workspace technology connects both internal company offices and third-party approved coworking spaces under a singular platform, providing Enterprise clients with diagnostic data analytics on their real-estate assets globally, and empowering their workforce to tap into on-demand coworking spaces worldwide.Hotdesk launched over 2 years ago, and has raised $3M, grown to 35+ countries and 147+ cities worldwide, serving over 200,000 users with 8,000+ bookings happening on the platform every month. Hotdesk also works with 5 Fortune 500 companies to enable their hybrid work strategies to come to life.Prior to Hotdesk, Mohamed was Director of Finance at Swvl - MENA's first $1.5BN Unicorn to list on Nasdaq through a SPAC transaction - where he led public readiness and transaction execution. Mohamed started his career with 7 years at PwC across Abu Dhabi, Cairo, Doha and Dubai.

Principal and Saudi Country Manager at Shorooq Partners, the leading technology investor in the Middle East, North Africa and Pakistan

Emon Shakoor (إيمان عبد الشكور) is a Saudi neuroscience researcher turned venture capitalist. She is the founder & CEO of Blossom Accelerator; Saudi’s first female focused & tech-inclusion accelerator. A Venture Partner at Oryx Fund Hambro Perks. An Angel Investor. She serves as an advisory board member at Oqal; Saudi’s largest angel investment group. Emon hosts the leading podcast in Arabic titled “شغف” dedicated to women leaders & female founders in partnership with Anghami. She is also the Saudi ambassador for Women Entrepreneurship Day Organization (WEDO). Emon has been recognized as one of nine Saudi women who has made an impact on the world as she is the pioneer of women entrepreneurship in KSA. NEOM has also recognized Emon Shakoor as one of five Saudi’s driving change in Saudi Arabia and the world.

Shahad Geoffrey is the founder and CEO of Taffi Inc. A female entrepreneur of a fashion-tech startup. She is building the first VC backed styling platform in the region with a global ambition. She’s on a mission to open doors of opportunity through style. Shahad has expertise in direct-to-consumer brands and working for a top venture capital firm in Silicon Valley. She is passionate about Fashion, Innovation, and building diverse great teams. In 2021, she was selected by Arabian Business as one of the 50 most influential women in Saudi Arabia.

Annika Melchert, host of the “FinTech & Digital Banking Podcast”, is an expert on emerging technologies. With her passion for modern banking, she worked with several fintechs and incumbent banks on their technology build, integration strategies, and digital transformations. She is a Manager at BCG Platinion, the technology unit of Boston Consulting Group, leading the Architecture Chapter for the Middle East as well as the FinTech and Neobanking group.

Tala Al Jabri is an early stage investor focused on fintech and consumer opportunities across Middle East and Africa. Tala is a Venture Partner (previously General Partner) at HOF Capital, an early stage VC fund, and was an advisor at Turmeric Capital's GCC Asia Fund. Previously, she was an investor at SoftBank Vision Fund focusing on growth-stage ventures in MEA and working with portfolio company expansions into MENA. Tala is a member of Saudi Angel Investors (and a member of its IC) and was named Arabian Business' Woman of the Year in Finance in 2022. She regularly contributes to Forbes Magazine and Entrepreneur. She obtained her MBA from the Wharton School and MPA from Harvard 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.

Omar Al-Shabaan is an Entrepreneur, Business Developer, and an angel investor with over 18 years of work experience in major multinational and local companies. he is the co founder and CEO of The Space . He was leading Partnerships at Misk Innovation, a subsidiary of Misk Foundation,as well as serving as a short term consultant with The World Bank group on Innovation and Entrepreneurship , and was an Advisor for the National Digitization Unit. Omar holds an MBA from IE Business school as well as an Executive master in Corporate Communication from the same school.

Wafa AlObaidat Founder & CEO With over 12 years of experience, Wafa AlObaidat is the founder of PLAYBOOK, an edtech company that aims to accelerate women's careers. Wafa is an award-winning serial entrepreneur and Global Shaper, and has built successful businesses from the ground-up including the leading PR & Design Agency Obai & Hill. She hosts a number one rated show on Apple podcast, Women Power Podcast and has been named amongst the Top 50 Most Powerful Women by Business in Gulf. Wafa has been featured in Wamda, Harper's Bazaar Arabia and Entrepreneur magazine.

Shereen Tawfiq​ is a former corporate and investment ​banker and the first Saudi female to graduate with an MBA from Wharton. Tawfiq ​was also one of the first women to work in ​the banking sector in Saudi Arabia in the early 2000, brining more than 20 yrs of experience in finance .​ In 2015, she​ was appointed as an​ advisor to the ​Saudi ​Ministry for Economy and Planning ​in ​where she helped embed an entrepreneurial and venture capital culture within the ​Kingdom. Shereen’s passion is to empower ​women entrepreneurs through ​practical, out of the box ​educational settings​. She is the Founder and CEO of Balinca, an ed-tech company that teaches business fundamentals through games and simulations. Balinca strives to transform organizations through improving employees’ decision making by understanding the numbers behind the business. Balinca is delivered in 28 countries, 15 languages, across 61 companies globally, with over 2,800+ alumni.

Riyad is a Partner at MEVP, where he has led and closed several investments in technology companies across the MENA region over the past 6 years. Riyad Holds an MBA from The Wharton School.

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.

Brian is CEO at Savvy Games Group, a company aimed at driving the long-term growth and development of esports and the games industry. Previously, he served as Senior Vice President, Worldwide Studios at Activision Blizzard, the world’s largest videogame publisher, where he managed all game development activities from portfolio planning and concept design to quality assurance and code release. Brian has nearly two decades of studio and operations experience with entertainment and videogame giants Electronic Arts, Microsoft Xbox, and Activision. A lawyer and leading government relations videogame advocate, he was named “2011 Technology and New Media Counsel of the Year” by The Association of Media and Entertainment Counsel.

Ibrahim is a Partner, at +VC, an early-stage venture capital firm focused on investing in tech and tech-enabled startups in MENA and its diaspora. He is a multi-disciplined professional, entrepreneur and investor with a strong interest in establishing organizations from small to medium sized companies to large government corporations. Prior to joining +VC, Ibrahim played a key role, as a senior pioneering member and advisor, in establishing a PIF owned Company. The aim of the company was to convert, develop and operate a number of historical royal palaces into ultra-luxury boutique hotels as part of Vision 2030. In his role, he helped form the company’s strategy, structure its development and operation capabilities; subsequently, as Investment Director, was responsible for investments with a target of deploying SAR 7.5 billion. Prior to that, Ibrahim established and institutionalized a private family office with a diversified portfolio of investments, from private equity to real estate, direct and indirect investments, and continues to sit on the investment committee. In addition, Ibrahim founded a real estate development company where he successfully sold his first project off-plan and progressed to create a trusted name as a d

Nathalie is the Lead Partner of True Middle East. True Search is a US headquartered global Executive Search firm focused on innovative PE and VC backed high growth tech businesses. Nathalie launched the MENA office in 2019 and the team is based in Dubai Internet City. She has extensive experience of leadership recruiting and start up advisory in the tech scene in the region over the past 13 years, having previously headed the people functions at Dubizzle and Property Finder.

Abdullah Alaraj is an academic turned active angel investor. He holds B.S.c, M.S.c and PhD in Computer Science. Alaraj is active angel investor in Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, USA and UK. He invested in more than 30 startups in different industries including Fintech, Blockchain, LegalTech, EdTech, AI/ML, Food/Beverages, Logistics, SaaS and cybersecurity. Alaraj is the Co-Founder and Chairman of Board of Riyadh Angel Investors (RAI). He is member of United Kingdom Business Angel Association (UKBAA).

Ivo Detelinov is a Riyadh-based General Partner at Oryx – an early stage VC fund focused on MENA and managed by London-based VC firm Hambro Perks. Oryx has a regional HQ in ADGM, Abu Dhabi and an office in Riyadh. Previously, he was at Riyad Capital for 7 years, managing Riyad TAQNIA Fund (RTF). Following the completion of an MBA degree (Finance) from New York University’s Stern School of Business, Ivo joined the Financial Sponsors Group of Merrill Lynch, where he assisted in origination, diligence and deal execution global PE and VC firms in New York and in London. Prior to attending graduate school, he worked at MWI & Partners, a growth PE fund associated with Merrill Lynch. Ivo started his professional career at the Technology Equity Research at Merrill Lynch, where he covered Enterprise Software companies. He is a CFA Charterholder.

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 two angel investor groups, and a board member of several of the leading tech startups in the region.

Growth-focused humanitarian & social entrepreneur, strategist and a design thinker whose life has always been aligned to the causes she truly believes in. Whether it's about empowering the youth, developing socially impactful products or helping impact driven businesses thrive; her aim through the past 12+ years of her career has been a consistent one; to be a driver of social change and innovation.

Musaab is a general partner with VentureSouq. Previously, Musaab was the Group CFO of Sary. He is a 3x entrepreneur and an experienced angel investor. Prior to Sary Musaab was the Executive Director of Marketing Strategy at SAGIA and the Director of Global Competitiveness Forum. Musaab brings a wealth of operational experience to the investment team at VentureSouq along with technical skills. Musaab holds a BSc from King Saud University and majored in Computer Engineering.  Musaab holds several board positions.

Ahmed has more than eight years of experience in the technology and investment space. He led 500 Startups in Saudi Arabia, a global VC with 180+ investments in the Middle East region. During his time at 500 Startups, Ahmed led 3 accelerator programs in collaboration with Misk Foundation where they invested in 55+ startups. Additionally, he has worked as an engineer in the technology sector at KAUST, and Ericsson. Ahmed holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Cornell University and a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Prince Sultan University.

Sameh Saleh is the Founder of Hawaya (previously known as Harmonica). Hawaya was acquired by Match Group, the world’s leading provider of dating products. Under his leadership, Hawaya has expanded globally to over 12 countries. Hawaya was founded to help Muslims around the world find a life partner using mobile technology in a culturally and traditionally respectful way. Previously, Saleh worked as a senior engineer for eight years in Malaysia at Petronas HQ, a Fortune 500 company. He also founded Tripdizer, a leading travel tech company in MENA. Saleh is viewed as a symbol of inspiration and aspiration for rising stars in the Middle East and Africa entrepreneurial ecosystem. Born and raised in Cairo, Egypt, Saleh moved to Malaysia to pursue higher education. He holds a Master of Reservoir Engineering from Heriot-Watt University in the United Kingdom and a Bachelor of Engineering from Universiti Teknologi Petronas, Malaysia.

A former Government Executive in Digital Transformation leading Digital Government and Digital Economy. Unleashing the potential of digitizing government operations and services. Unlocking the power of data to leapfrog the private sector contribution in the digital economy. Started Meila Digital to disrupt the GovTech industry and build in the Government 3.0 era. Moving the concept from Service to Experience and portal to platform. Making Digital Health, Digital Finance and Digital Identity a zero headache journey powered by Data and AI and built around citizen. Ali Hold and executive degree from Harvard Business School in Leadership. And also an MIT graduate in Strategy and Innovation Executive Education. www.meiladigital.com

Noor Marzoky is an award-winning Saudi visionary and educator. While earning her Masters' degree in International relations, she founded her first company Workshop X in 2017, which is now one of the top leading workshop providers in Saudi Arabia. After nearly four years Noor brought a wealth of knowledge to the local market by developing workshops that fulfilled the gap in knowledge. Earlier in the company, she shifted the business model to also cater to B2B and B2G clients such as Ministry of Culture and Benchmark, IKEA, and CISCO which we provide them corporate bespoke workshops. Workshop X has hosted more than 400 workshops with award-winning instructional partnerships. With the success rate of 17.9% reoccurring participants in the B2C workshop Segment. Noor commenced her career by opening a Co-working space that helped serve young entrepreneurs to establish their business, by creating an exclusive-only space that exudes warmth and friendly feelings to help facilitate a safe learning environment. She holds a bachelor's degree in the English Language from UQU and a Master's degree (MAIR) from Dar Alhekma University.