The Most Experiential
Tech Festival in the Middle East

Nizar has lived in 6 different countries, speaks 5 different languages and is intrigued by all ideas that drive the modern world: political, social, economical and cultural. He spends a lot of time traveling, watching sports and movies, and reading about almost everything he bumps into.

Omar Itani started an award-winning waste-management company at the age of sixteen. Since then he continued to be civically engaged through entrepreneurship and social activism. Omar then dropped-out of university just before graduating from studying industrial engineering to startup FabricAID, a Lebanese social enterprise enabling underprivileged people to get decent clothing at extremely affordable prices while reducing fabric waste through increasing the efficiency of second-hand clothes collection, sorting and distribution. FabricAID the winner of the 2018 Global Social Venture Competition, sold more than 30,000 clothing items to more than 5,000 beneficiaries in the past few months.

Head of UAE for She Loves Tech, a global initiative showcasing the convergence of the latest trends in technology, entrepreneurship, innovation and the opportunities it creates for women, which includes the world’s largest startup competition focused on women and technology, boot camp and international conference series. Natalie, formerly, led the business development and strategic management of captive Insurance products for Audi and Volkswagen across the Middle East. She holds an Executive MBA from INSEAD and is part of the executive committee of the INSEAD National Alumni Association in the UAE, which is the business school’s second largest alumni group, globally. Natalie is passionate about empowering women in tech and keen on encouraging entrepreneurial potential through digitization, leveraging social media and their combined innovative impact on businesses.

Co-founder of SE Factory, Lebanon's most successful coding bootcamp. SE Factory helps youth of all backgrounds train on practical technical and soft skills that are required by the job market, achieving a 90% hiring success. Fadi is also a Partner at B&Y Venture Partners, a $46M venture capital fund based in Beirut with global mandate, focused on investing in high-potential technology startups. Fadi co-founded and is a board director at Speed, Lebanon’s leading seed startup accelerator. Previously, he was a founding member of Seeqnce, the first accelerator in Lebanon.

A counsel in the Dubai office of Latham & Watkins, where he is a member of the Corporate Department and Mergers & Acquisitions and Emerging Companies and Venture Capital Practice Groups. Eyad’s practice focuses primarily on representing emerging growth companies (public and private) and their funding sources including venture capital and private equity firms. He has represented numerous international and Middle East-based emerging growth companies and venture capital and private equity firms in transactions across a wide range of industries, including AI, BioTech, E-commerce, EdTech, CleanTech, FinTech and HealthTech.

A Licensed Psychologist and provides psychotherapy services to children, adolescents and adults. She uses psychological methods and research to make positive changes in her clients’ lives while offering various forms of treatment. Dr. Elena is also trained in giving personality and aptitude assessments to help organizations with selection, development and talent identification programs. She is a published author in the field of Psychology, a mental health advocate and public speaker.

A Lebanese serial entrepreneur passionate about innovation and building technology that creates tangible value for people around the globe. He is currently the co-founder and CEO of Krimston SAL, an innovative hardware company which is getting ready for the mass production of its first product: TWO- the first active dual SIM case for iPhones. Throughout his journey, Fouad became an expert in hardware development, prototyping, mass production along with various commercial tasks such as fund raising, strategic business planning and worldwide distribution. With a wide and varied background of business experience, Fouad has extensive expertise in guiding organizations through the strategic processes of implementing technology.

A serial entrepreneur at heart, Karl started his career in the hospitality industry after graduating from UCCR Switzerland. After leaving hi marketing role at the Armani Hotel Dubai, Karl went on a six-month backpack tour of southeast Asia, where he found his entrepreneurial calling. Karl decided to come back to Beirut and create his first venture Aimpeeps, an app connecting hobbyists, that completed the Bader entrepreneurship program; followed by Planitair, a hotel and flights booking engine targeting the MENA region, and his latest venture Sqwirl Lab, Lebanon’s first startup studio.

The founding partner and CEO of Raed Ventures, a Saudi venture capital firm owned by Almajdouie Holding and invest in seed and early stage startups in the MENA region. He is the former CEO of Almajdouie Manufacturing LLC and he has more than 17 years of enriched experience in various managerial and executive positions. As an investor and entrepreneur, Omar founded RAED Ventures in 2016 as part of Almajdouie Holding diversification strategy, and it provides funding for more than Twenty innovative startups in MENA region. Omar also is a member of board of directors for several leading tech startups.

An Associate Professor at the Olayan School of Business (OSB), American University of Beirut and the Director of Samih Darwazah Center for Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship. Dr. Azad teaches in OSB’s Executive MBA, Executive Education and MBA programs. Bijan pioneered the popular experiential Accerelation Practicum graduate course at AUB (modeled after Steve Blank’s Lean LaunchPad). In 2016 he designed AUB’s Scale-Up Readiness Program that focuses on scale-up challenges of companies reaching beyond $5 million revenue in the Middle East—supported in part by USAID and Darwazah Center funds. Bijan is also very active in the startup ecosystem serving as an affiliated mentor/instructor at Flat6Labs accelerator, also as a mentor at the IM-Capital Venture Mentoring Service. Bijan, in 1988 was co-founder of a successful map technology startup in Cambridge, Massachusetts, GIS/Trans’ technology (developed fast search algorithms for network systems) was acquired later by Google Maps. In 2001 he co-founded another successful map technology startup International Land Information Systems bv (acquired by ARCADIS bv 2003), in Arnhem, Netherlands.

The Investment Manager at Insure and Match Capital Holding SAL (IM Capital) since April 2015. She supervises the matching & insurance capital process and manages the work of the analytical team. Ms. Kiame is responsible for IM Capital operations, including deal sourcing, investment project evaluation and valuation, business models validation, value creation and mentoring in investments, and supervision of exits from investments. Prior to joining IM Capital, and for more than 9 years, Ms. Kiame was a Director at SHUAA Capital psc Dubai, UAE, where her responsibilities included Product Development, Strategy and Project Management, and Operations. In 2006 and 2007, Mrs. Kiame worked as an assistant fund manager on several regional funds representing USD 1 Billion in assets under management, covering fifteen Arab markets. Ms. Kiame holds a Masters in Finance from Paris IX Dauphine in Paris, an Executive Education Certification from Harvard Business School with emphasis on Private Equity and Venture Capital, an Executive Certification from Massachusetts Institute of Technology with emphasis on Venture Mentorship and is currently a member of the “Grant Evaluation Committee” of the iSME Program, a Kafalat-World Bank program, a member of the Lebanese League for Women in Business and a member of the Rising Tide Europe 3.

Founding Partner of VentureSouq. Previously, he was Vice President of Private Equity at Waha Capital, a diversified investment company based in Abu Dhabi with assets of c.$3 billion. Prior to joining Waha, Tammer worked with UBS and HSBC in New York and Dubai, respectively. He served as a Fulbright Scholar in Damascus, Syria and worked with the Office of Presidential Personnel at the White House in Washington, D.C. Tammer holds a B.A. from Yale University and serves on the Board of Directors of Addax Bank in Bahrain and of the Yale Arab Alumni Association.

The Editor in Chief of MIT Technology Review Arabia, where she leads the editorial, content, localization operations for both print and online platforms. She holds a BA in Business Administration from the American University of Beirut; two Master’s degrees in Corporate Communication, and in Visual Media, from IE Business School in Madrid. Dia’s experience in technology content goes back to her role as the founding editor-in-chief of Popular Science Arabia, where she has led the project launch including the website and the bi-monthly magazine. As head of content at Haykal Media, she’s overseen the creation and localization of hundreds of thousands of words every month.

VP of Growth at Voicera, formerly the founder and CEO of Wrappup (acquired by Voicera). Rami is a lifelong entrepreneur, starting his first company at 13 years old. After graduating as a Mechanical Engineer from the University of Maryland, he joined the world of management consulting at Bain & Company. He came up with the idea for Wrappup while still a consultant, needing a tool to help manage the 7 different client teams in back to back meetings everyday. He took the idea to a hackathon where he met his technical co-founders. What they managed to build in 24 hours not only won the Global Demo Day in Silicon Valley, but Wrappup went on to raise a first round of funding led by Beco Capital & 500 Startups, and was eventually acquired by Voicera.

Managing Partner at MSA Capital and brings over 18 years of experience in the Chinese VC industry. At MSA, Jenny leads investments. Jenny (Yu) Zeng was the founding Executive Director of the China Venture Capital Association in 2002. In 2004, She founded one of the first Financial Advisory firms in China (Maple Valley), and led many landmark deals in the industry. She also organized the first series of Angel Investing events which pioneered the concept of angel investing in China. She graduated from Beijing Information Science and Technology University. She is one of the founders of the Harvard Innovation Lab (iLab).

A writer exploring the world on a journalist's paycheck. From crypto currency to motorcycle gangs, adventure always finds her on the road. She writes for Forbes, Outside Magazine, Playboy + AFAR, among others.