Areije Al Shakar

Senior Vice President, Bahrain Development Bank; Fund Manager, Al Waha Venture Capital Fund of Funds

Areije Al Shakar has 16 years of experience in banking and entrepreneurship. In her current role at Bahrain Development Bank (BDB), she is a Senior Vice President heading the Development Services Division and leads the fund management team of the Al Waha Venture  Capital  Fund of Funds (Al Waha Fund) (US$ l 00 Million Venture Capital Fund of Funds) as Fund Manager. Her role and involvement at the bank includes coaching,  mentorship,  startup  seed funding, and entrepreneur development. She has been involved in the development of several support services for entrepreneurs, namely her role in establishing BDB's Rowad Program, a holistic entrepreneur support platform and SeedFuel-Rowad, startup funding program part  of  the Global Accelerator Network.

She has worked in reputable organizations such as lnvestcorp, Citibank, BNP Paribas and Lehman Brothers on the Treasury, Investment Management and Advisory side. She holds a Master's of Science in Public Policy and Management, from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, a Bachelor of Commerce in Finance, from the John Molson School of Business, Concordia University, and is a Certified Business Coach and Mentor, from the Chartered Management Institute, UK.

Jassim Al Seddiqi

Chief Executive Officer, Abu Dhabi Financial Group

Jassim Alseddiqi is the Chief Executive Officer of ADFG. He has been at the helm of ADFG since its establishment in 2011, transforming it into one of the leading and fastest growing investment groups in the MENA region with assets under management of c. US$ 13 bn. Alseddiqi is known for his dynamic and innovative approach, having pioneered many investment strategies in the region.

Alseddiqi is the Chairman of Gulf Finance House (GFH), Eshraq Properties, Khaleeji Commercial Bank and The Entertainer. He also serves on the boards of the following companies: First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB), Abu Dhabi Capital Group, ADNOC Distribution and Dana Gas.

Alseddiqi holds a BSc in Electrical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an MSc in Electrical Engineering from Cornell University. He has also served as a noted lecturer at the Abu Dhabi-based Petroleum Institute.

Mustafa Al Rawi

Assistant Editor-in-Chief, The National

Mustafa is an assistant editor in chief at The National, and an accomplished journalist and broadcaster, with over 19-years' experience working in the UK, the UAE and the wider Middle East. He has interviewed a number of international business leaders including Mubadala's Khaldoon Al Mubarak, BP's Bob Dudley and Emaar's Mohamed Alabbar. He was The National's business editor for four and a half years. He is a published author and a regular public speaker and moderator at events and conferences.

Abdulmohsin Al Omran

Founder & Chief Executive Officer, The Family Office Co. BSC

Abdulmohsin Al Omran is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of The Family Office Co. BSC(c) (“The Family Office”), and Chairman of the Board of Petiole Asset Management AG, the investment arm of The Family Office, based in Zurich, Switzerland.

Prior to founding The Family Office in early 2004, Abdulmohsin was part of the private wealth management team at Goldman Sachs in London. He started his financial career at Gulf International Bank in 1988 after which he worked in reputable financial institutions such as Saudi International Bank, Riyad Bank and Investcorp.

Abdulmohsin holds a degree in industrial management with a finance major from King Fahad University of Petroleum and Minerals, and an MBA from City University, London.

His Excellency Waleed Al Mokarrab Al Muhairi

Investment Committee, Deputy Group Chief Executive Officer & Chief Executive Officer, Alternative Investments & Infrastructure, Mubadala Investment Company

Waleed serves as Mubadala’s Deputy Group Chief Executive Officer and Chief Executive Officer of Alternative Investments & Infrastructure.

As Deputy Group CEO, Waleed has strategic oversight of the company’s broad investment portfolio and special projects at the group level, while ensuring that the company’s four platforms are coordinating efficiently. In addition, he leads the healthcare, real estate & infrastructure, and capital investments portfolios.

Prior to joining Mubadala, Waleed worked with the UAE Offsets Program Bureau as a Senior Project Manager. Past roles also include working with McKinsey & Company as a commercial and governmental consultant.

Waleed holds a Master’s Degree in Public Policy from Harvard University, USA, and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Foreign Service from Georgetown University, USA.

Nabyl Al Maskari

Executive Chairman, Al Maskari Holding

Mr. Nabyl Al Maskari is Executive Chairman of Al Maskari Holding (AMH). AMH is the privately-owned holding company of the Al Maskari family portfolio. AMH traces its foundation to 1968 with the establishment of the Al Maskaria Group in Abu Dhabi to engage in petroleum trading and oil field services. AMH has evolved over the past 50 years and today is comprised of diversified enterprises with international investments and operations.

Mr. Al Maskari currently serves as Vice-Chairman of AMH as well as a board director on select subsidiaries and joint venture partnerships. Prior to joining his family conglomerate as the third generation of leadership, Mr. Al Maskari conducted strategic engagements in the financial, petroleum, and public sectors as a management consultant for McKinsey & Company.

Mr. Al Maskari sponsors philanthropic initiatives in Africa and Asia through his family's non-profit foundation. He is a Fellow of the Aspen Institute's Middle East Leadership Initiative and actively supports high-impact entrepreneurs as a Board Member of Endeavor UAE.

Mr. Al Maskari received his Master of Business Administration with Distinction from Yale University’s School of Management, graduated Summa Cum Laude Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Rollins College, and is an alumnus of Choate Rosemary Hall.

Huda Al Lawati

Partner, Gateway Partners

Huda Al Lawati’s career has spanned 17 years in private equity and investments across emerging markets.

As Chief Investment Officer for Savola Group, she was responsible for business and investment strategy, portfolio management, M&A and investor relations for one of the largest publicly-listed strategic investment holding groups for food & retail businesses in the Middle East and North Africa region. Prior to Savola, Huda was a Partner and Chief Investment Officer for MENA at the Abraaj Group, where she deployed over

$1 billion in equity capital into MBOs, LBOs, venture capital, growth capital and structured equity transactions and arranged over US$1.5 billion in acquisition and related financing across a broad range of sectors.

Ms. Al Lawati holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Neuroscience and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Economics (Honors) from Brown University.

She has served on the boards of Panda Retail Company, Herfy, AlKabeer, Savola Foods Company, SMG, The Entertainer and Kudu. She is currently a member of the board of directors the Young Arab Leaders and the Middle East Investor Relations Association and a member of the advisory board of Global Ventures.

Hashim Al Kudsi

Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Liwa Capital Advisors

Hashim Kudsi is the Managing Partner, and a Co-Founder with Khalifa Al Kindi, of Liwa Capital Advisors founded in 2017. Mr. Kudsi served as the Executive Director at Abu Dhabi Investment Council (ADIC) leading the Active Investment Strategies Department and a member of the ADIC Investment Committee. He worked with Mr. Al Kindi in establishing ADIC in 2007. He began his professional career at Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) in 1989.

Mr. Kudsi has an extensive background in the asset management industry. Throughout his career at ADIA and ADIC managing portfolios and evaluating asset managers, he identified the best in class assets management firms and worked with them directly. During his career, he recognized an allocation framework that preserved and grew wealth over the decades. His understanding of global financial markets, asset classes, and economic cycles has given him the expertise to capitalize on the intersection of strategy and opportunity, within given risk parameters.

Mr. Kudsi also has a wide range of experience in the banking sector through his involvement as a Non-Executive Director at the National Bank of Abu Dhabi and a member of its Risk Management Committee. Mr. Kudsi holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from American University in Washington DC and is a Chartered Financial Analyst.

Ammar A. Al Khudairy

Chairman, Samba Financial Group

Ammar A. Alkhudairy is the Chairman of Samba Financial Group, and has been since January 2019. Prior to Samba, he played key leadership roles in various Saudi financial institutions such as: Riyad Bank, United Saudi Bank, and Banque Saudi Fransi. In addition, Alkhudairy served as a Board

Member from 2015 to 2018, Chairman of the Audit Committee from 2015 to 2018, and was the interim Managing Director/CEO from October 2017 to March 2018 at Banque Saudi Fransi. Alkhudairy’s expertise spans over 30 years in the financial sector and focuses on areas such as: Corporate Banking, Project Finance, Corporate Finance, M&A, and Asset Management. Alkhudairy has also served in various public and private board memberships, including Chairmanship of Goldman Sachs Saudi Arabia, Chairmanship of Morgan Stanley Saudi Arabia, SAVOLA, Kingdom Holdings, Herfi, Al Tayyar, Chairmanship of Allianz Saudi Arabia, Deputy Chairman of SPIMACO, and board member of Almarai. He founded and chairs Amwal AlKhaleej and Amwal Capital Partners, an alternative assets’ management business based in Riyadh, and in DIFC. He also served as board member in government related entities, including the Real Estate Development Fund and the Economic Cities Authority.

Alkhudairy earned an M.Sc. in Engineering Administration and B.Sc. in Civil Engineerring from George Washington University.

Ibrahim Al Husseini

Founder & Managing Partner, FullCycle Climate Partners LP

Ibrahim AlHusseini is the founder and Managing Partner of FullCycle; an investment firm focused on solving the climate crisis by backing companies with climate-restoring technologies, and accelerating their growth.

AlHusseini - a renowned entrepreneur, investor and environmentalist - has started and sold numerous businesses and raised half a billion dollars of capital to back dozens of companies. He was also an early investor in Tesla Motors, Bloom Energy, Aspiration Inc., Cornerstone Capital, and CleanChoice Energy, among others. AlHusseini made his initial fortune from his college dorm room, after starting a nutraceutical distribution company and selling the business in 1997.

Raised in Saudi Arabia by parents who are Palestinian refugees, AlHusseini moved to the U.S. for college in the early 1990s. He sits on the board of more than half a dozen organizations that focus on the positive development of our environment and humanity. AlHusseini is also the managing partner of two waste-to-value funds that accelerate the adoption of the world’s leading waste-to-value technology.

Faisal Al Hammadi

Founder & Chief Executive Officer, YACOB

Faisal is the founder and chief executive officer of YACOB, a start-up that aims to combat the skyrocketing obesity rates by enabling schools to manage nutrition using the latest in technology and behavioral economics. He also serves as a board member in Slices, a company that he co-founded that grew to serve 20,000 healthy meals daily.

Faisal was ranked the 13th Upcoming Entrepreneur in the UAE by Forbes Middle East (2015), was recognized as one of 100 Arab world startups which are shaping the future in the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution by the World Economic Forum (2017) and as a Young Arab Pioneer by the Arab Youth Office (2018).

In his previous role, Faisal was a vice president at Mubadala Healthcare and a board member of the Abu Dhabi Telemedicine Centre. He has also served as a member of a number of committees including the Executive Committee for the Abu Dhabi Economic Plan, and the Health Education Committee at Health Authority.

Faisal earned his MBA from Columbia Business School. He is also a Fellow of the sixth class of the Middle East Leadership Initiative and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.

Hussein Al Gaaod

Chief Executive Officer, Adroit Sports Management

Since an early age, Hussein has always been fascinated by football as a sport but also as an economy. At the age of 18, Hussein became one of the youngest FIFA football agents in the world, whilst juggling his Law Degree in London. 

Since then, Hussein has worked with elite professional footballers such as the likes of World Cup winner N’Golo Kanté, as well as advising numerous European and English Premier League clubs in player transfers such as the likes of Everton FC and AFC Bournemouth. Hussein continues to expand his extensive international network of club executives and players. 

Talal Al Dhiyebi

Chief Executive Officer, Aldar Properties

Talal Al Dhiyebi is the Chief Executive Officer at Aldar having previously held the position of Chief Development Officer and Executive Director of Asset Management since the merger with Sorouh in 2013. He held several senior positions at Aldar and currently serves on the boards of several companies including Miral, Abu Dhabi Motorsports Management, Al Jazira Capital and Aldar Academies.

Talal is a graduate of Electrical Engineering (Honors) from the University of Melbourne, Australia.

Basil Al Askari

Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer, MidChains

Basil Al Askari is the Cofounder and CEO of MidChains a regulated virtual asset trading and custody platform based in Abu Dhabi, UAE focused on both the retail and institutional markets. MidChains was founded after his tenures on Mubadala Capital’s Private Equity team and various commercial finance teams in GE Capital based in the UAE, US, UK.

Najeeb Mohammed Al Ali

Executive Director, Bureau Expo 2020 Dubai

Najeeb Mohammed Al-Ali is the Executive Director of the Expo 2020 Bureau, His role incorporates the alignment and coordination of Expo 2020 Dubai projects across all governmental entities following the key theme of Connecting Minds, Creating the Future and subthemes of Opportunity, Mobility and Sustainability.

Previously, Najeeb was the Executive Director of the Emirates Competitiveness Council. He also served as the Director of Strategy and Policy in the United Arab Emirates Prime Minister’s Office, Director of Special Projects in The Executive Council of Dubai and the Executive Director of Dubai Centre for Corporate Values as well as various roles in TECOM investments and the Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company.

Najeeb’s achievements include contributing to the United Arab Emirates Federal Strategy and Competitiveness Strategy as well as the Dubai Strategic Plan 2015, UAE vision 2021and the development of Dubai’s green building policies.

Najeeb also established the strategic sectors division of the Dubai Economic Department and was instrumental in publishing UAE’s first corporate CSR report. Najeeb has also been involved in developing corporate strategies for various entities such as Dubai Knowledge Village, SamaCom, Knowledge Access, Dubai Internet City as well as HH Sheikh Mohamed Bin Rashid’s IT Education Project, eHosting DataFort and the Emirates Integrated Telecommunication Company.

Najeeb holds a Master of Science in Technology Innovation Management and a Bachelor of Engineering in Telecommunication Systems. He is a published1 academic on topics including low carbon and sustainable buildings, renewable energy, information technology in the Arab world and online learning. Najeeb speaks Arabic, English, German as well as Turkish.

Ibrahim Ajami

Head of Ventures, Mubadala Capital

Ibrahim Ajami is the Head of Ventures at Mubadala Capital, the wholly owned asset management subsidiary of Mubadala Investment Company, a $284 billion sovereign investor. Ibrahim joined Mubadala in 2006.

In his role, Ibrahim is responsible for leading Mubadala Capital’s ventures strategy with a focus on technology and healthcare. In 2016, Ibrahim launched the ventures platform in San Francisco, and has overseen a cross-discipline team that has invested in over 100 companies. Ibrahim also leads Mubadala’s partnerships with some of the leading technology investors globally.

Prior to launching the ventures platform, Ibrahim built and led Mubadala’s strategy in semiconductors and advanced technology. He is one of the founders of GlobalFoundries, a global semiconductor leader and one of the leading manufacturing companies in the world.

Ibrahim started his career working for various companies in Silicon Valley and for Occidental Petroleum in Abu Dhabi.

Ibrahim also serves as co-founder of The Ajami Foundation, a non-profit organization that supports small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in Lebanon given the economic and social crisis that the country is facing.

Ibrahim holds a Bachelor’s degree from Northeastern University, and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Southern California.

Raya Abu Gulal

Founder, Women Lawyers Group ME

Raya is currently based in the UAE and running her own legal consultancy providing legal advice specialising in the Middle East.  Her practice covers a broad range of corporate and commercial work. Prior to joining to setting up her legal consultancy, Raya worked for two leading International Law Firms.

Raya is also active in various women development initiatives in the MENA region and member of various business groups.

Raya founded the Women Lawyers Group-Middle East and is also appointed as the board member of the International Women Business Group (Abu Dhabi). Raya was awarded in 2017 Legal award from the Arab Women Awards.

Deepak Abraham

Managing Director, Bank of America Merrill Lynch

Deepak is the CEO of a regional branch of Bank of America and responsible for a number of product lines including Prime Brokerage, Derivatives, International Equities and Financing in the MENA region.  Deepak joined Bank of America Merrill Lynch from Morgan Stanley as Head of Capital Strategy for Asia Pacific and the Middle East. At Morgan Stanley, Deepak was Head of Prime Brokerage for the Middle East and North Africa with a focus on the Sovereign Wealth funds across a range of their direct and fund investment activities. 

Prior to Morgan Stanley, Deepak worked for Goldman Sachs in the Hedge Fund Strategies group, allocating capital to hedge funds, having started his career in the Pension & Insurance Strategy group within Equity Derivatives at Goldman Sachs in London. 

Deepak is a published author on the evolution of hedge fund strategies and graduated from Harvard University where he was a four time All American squash player and NCAA National Team Champion. 

Maha Abouelenein

Managing Director, Organizational Consultants

An executive and entrepreneur -- Maha is one of the most experienced and connected communications specialists in the Middle East, with more than 22 years of experience, advising global corporate giants, high growth tech startups, top governments and high net worth individuals.

Maha has a reputation for delivering results and ability to manage projects from inception to execution with creative, strategic and analytical drive. Raised and educated in the USA to Egyptian parents, she is home in both West and Arab worlds. Maha is all about relationships - building them, nurturing them and serving them. She thrives on storytelling, building scalable campaigns and thought leadership. Maha is calm in a crisis and loves to lead and train teams. She specializes in helping big tech companies launchpad into the Middle East market – from Google and Netflix to Udacity and more. She is now working with Serial Entrepreneur, digital guru and 5X Best Selling Author GaryVee.

She has media trained several Fortune 500 CEOs and high profile executives from Google, Microsoft; YouTube, Mastercard and Netflix among others. As a Communications Coach, she trains individuals on everything from public speaking and storytelling to reputation management and personal branding.

She is the founder of Organizational Consultants, a strategic communications consulting firm and founder of Digital & Savvy - a blog about communications in the Middle East. Maha is former Head of Communications for Google in the Middle East and North Africa. She holds a Masters Degree in Communications from Minnesota State University – Mankato, USA and an undergraduate degree in International Business & Marketing with a minor in French.

Maha is Mentor in Residence for TechStars and works with start-ups across the region to learn how to maximize their reputation currency and communicate better.

Yazan Abdeen

Head of Public Equities, Invest AD

Yazan is the Chief Executive Officer & Portfolio Manager of AD Investment Management, a UAE based asset management firm that is licensed by the FSRA in ADGM and the CSSF in Luxembourg. Yazan leads an asset management practice that has a mission to provide clients, communities, capital markets and shareholders with sustainable investment solutions by committing smart people, independent financial thought and disciplined processes.

Briefly before, Yazan was heading capital markets investing for Scope Investment, a sovereign private family office in the UAE.

Prior to that Yazan headed MENA Capital Markets investing at Sedco Capital in Saudi Arabia where he built the "multi-award winning" MENA in-house asset management business.

Yazan was previously the fund manager with ING Investment Management within MENA based in Dubai.

Yazan has over 16 years of experience analyzing and valuing companies in the region. In his previous role at Union Properties, Yazan headed the investment division where he was responsible for managing the proprietary public equity portfolio investing in the MENA capital markets. The team also oversaw a portfolio of private equity investments in the Dubai real estate sector and related industries. Yazan was a vice president of asset management at Noor Capital, Abu Dhabi, responsible for the structuring and co-managing of the MENA Opportunity Fund and Noor Capital’s proprietary public equity portfolio. He also spent two years at Damac Investments, where he co-managed a MENA public equity portfolio. Yazan started his career at Capital Trust, Lebanon, as a corporate finance analyst within a team which provided corporate finance and M&A advisory for various transactions in Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan and KSA.

Yazan holds a BSc in Mathematics and Computer Science from the American University of Beirut, Lebanon and an MBA from London Business School sponsored by HH Shiek Mohammed bin Rashed Al Maktoum Foundation.