Soraya Djermoun is geopolitical expert and analyst of MENA region, entrepreneur and committed to women empowerment. She currently advises multinational and governmental leaders in communication and influence, business diplomacy, economical attractiveness and strategic development. Soraya is a successful author, published by the famous French editor L’Harmattan. Her first book “Qatarisme” was a best-selling book in 2013. She published in 2015 with Dr. Nurdin a strategic book about the emerging multinationals, the real 21st century game changers. Her last book “Dubai 5.0 The New Model”, prefaced by the Chairman of the Cercle des Economistes, is an amazing study of Dubai through its History, its macroeconomy, its Government and all the strategies used and applied to reach such power nowadays. A graduate from University of Paris, Soraya Djermoun holds a master degree in Communication and public relations and a MBA in international affairs. She obtained her baccalaureat in economics in Germany. She has lived in 7 countries and speaks fluently French, Arabic, English and German. Soraya held various corporate positions: serving as the Group Communication Director of the first private group in Algeria and in the top 5 in African private sector, and analyst at the French Institute of International Relations. Soraya Djermoun has received international distinctions and recognitions: she is rising talent 2016 of the Women’s Forum, an initiative that aims at distinguishing highly talented young women who are on their way to becoming influential figures in our economies and societies, and a laureate of Choiseul 100 Africa, an independent study that identifies and ranks the young African leaders of 40-year old and below who will play a major role in the continent’s economic development in the near future. Her long-term goal is to contribute to the economic emergence and modernization of Algeria, helping to promote its diplomacy and image.

Ola Doudin is the co-founder & CEO of BitOasis, the first and largest regional digital asset platform in the Middle East. She has an engineering background and has worked in tech and security advisory in Ernst & Young in London and engineering research prior to her move back to the region where she got involved in tech entrepreneurship and later started BitOasis. Most recently, Forbes Middle East featured Ola among the ‘Top 10 Women Behind Middle Eastern Tech Brands 2021’.

Ismail Douiri is Co-CEO of Attijariwafa Bank, a regional financial institution based in Casablanca Morocco and serving 9.1 million clients in 26 countries in North, West and Central Africa, as well as Western Europe. He joined Attijariwafa Bank in 2004 as VP of Strategy and was promoted in 2005 to Deputy General Manager and in 2008, was appointed by the Board of Directors to Co-CEO. He started his professional career with Westinghouse Electric Corporation in Baltimore, Maryland, then joined Casablanca Finance Group, a boutique investment bank based in Morocco. After getting his MBA, he worked for Morgan Stanley in London, for McKinsey & Co. in the North Africa Initiative and founded a mobile internet startup. He holds two engineering degrees from Ecole Polytechnique and Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications (Paris) and an MBA with high distinction from Harvard Business School.

Hisham El Khazindar is Co-Founder and Managing Director of Qalaa Holdings, a leading investment company in Africa and the Middle East. Prior to co-founding Qalaa Holdings (formerly Citadel Capital), El Khazindar was Executive Director of Investment Banking at EFG Hermes where he advised on landmark M&A and IPO transactions in the region. During 1999-2000, he was on secondment to Goldman Sachs in London. El Khazindar serves on the boards of leading regional companies, including El Sewedy Electric and Magrabi Retail, and on the Advisory Committee of the Emerging Markets Private Equity Association. He also serves as a Trustee of the American University in Cairo, as a Trustee of the Cairo Children's Cancer Hospital and as a Fellow of the Aspen Institute's Middle East Leadership Initiative. He holds a BA in Economics from the American University in Cairo (1996) and an MBA from Harvard Business School (2003).

Amal Enan is the Chief Investment Officer at the American University in Cairo and Partner at 500 Global. She places her expertise to invest at the forefront of technology and global sustainability across asset classes. With a commitment to intergenerational equity and inclusion, Enan applies herself as a catalyst for allocating capital to invest in growth and climate sustainability.

Independent curator and art historian. 2010 to 2016, worked as Associate Curator, Middle Eastern Art for the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi Project of the Solomon R. Guggenheim based at their headquarters in New York City. Had a leading role in shaping the strategy and holdings of West Asian and North African art within its collection and the curatorial vision for the future museum. 2005 to 2007, Director of the Palestinian Association for Contemporary Art (PACA), Ramallah and served as Academic Director for the International Academy of Art Palestine, Ramallah, which helped found in 2006. Has curated many international exhibitions and biennials, especially those pertaining to art and geopolitics in the Middle East, including Jerusalem Lives (Tahya Al Quds), the inaugural exhibition at the Palestinian Museum, Birzeit (2017); Not New Now, 6th Marrakech Biennale (2016) and the United Arab Emirates National Pavilion, 55th Venice Biennale (2013). Recipient: eighth Walter Hopps Award for Curatorial Achievement in 2017; Fulbright scholarship to pursue PhD at the Department of History of Art and Visual Studies, Cornell University, 2008. Director of the Cultural Foundation in Abu Dhabi affiliated with the Department of Culture and Tourism Abu Dhabi.

eL Seed uses Arabic calligraphy and a distinctive style to spread messages of peace, unity and to underline the commonalities of human existence. His artwork can be found all over the world and consistently aim at unifying communities and redressing stereotypes. Born in 1981 in Paris to Tunisian parents, he was disconnected from his Arabic roots, speaking only the Tunisian dialect of the language at home. In his teenage years in a kind of quest for his identity, he began to delve into his own heritage and learned to read and write standard Arabic.It was during this journey that he began to develop his artistic style of calligraphy, which would later bring him worldwide acclaim. He found that Arabic calligraphy was a way of building a link between his equally important French and Tunisian backgrounds and as he matured, eL Seed began to use that same calligraphy as a tool to build bridges all over the world. Whenever he works within a community, he spends a long time researching to find an appropriate quote to summarise the voice of the community he is working within and to underline his key principals of love, respect and tolerance. His work has been shown in exhibitions and in public places all over the world including most notably on the façade of L’Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris, in the favelas of Rio di Janeiro, on the DMZ in between North and South Korea, in the slums of Cape Town and in the heart of Cairo’s garbage collectors neighbourhood. In 2017, he won the UNESCO Sharjah Prize for Arab Culture. He was named a Global Thinker in 2016 by Foreign Policy for his project ‘Perception’ in Cairo. In 2013, he collaborated with Louis Vuitton on their famous ‘Foulard d’Artiste’.

Fawaz Farooqui is a public sector entrepreneur and innovator who led multiple transformations and established several entities and companies. He dedicated his career to improving the quality of life in Saudi Arabia and creating unforgettable experiences that are inspired by the culture and people of Saudi. He currently serves as the Chief Advisor to the Saudi Minister of Culture and sits on the board of several organizations such as Saudia Airlines, Cruise Saudi Corporation, AlUla Development Company and the Saudi Sports for All Federation. In addition, he is the interim CEO of Cruise Saudi, which he led to launch the cruise industry in Saudi and promote the Red Sea to global cruise lines. Previously, Fawaz was appointed as the first CEO of the country’s National Transformation Program (NTP) to lead the first revamp of the program to enhance execution and delivery, resulting in specialized programs, such as Quality of Life, which he helped establish and was a board member of. Before that, Fawaz served as an Advisor to the Minister of Economy and Planning, focusing mainly on recreation and quality of life portfolio of the country. He led the establishment team of the General Entertainment Authority and various other public and social programs focused on improving the quality of life of the citizens in Saudi. Before joining the government, Fawaz led key initiatives in King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) where he launched KAEC’s entrepreneurship program, as well as partnering with the global Messengers of Peace (MoP) initiative to initiate several programs in add KAEC on the global agenda of MoP initiative. Fawaz started his career with Saudi Aramco, where he led several transformations, starting from revamping field operations and establishing technology support in Aramco’s Satellite Communications to a complete turnaround and re-launch of the Corporate Telecom Network Operations Center. Fawaz has an MBA from Stanford University. He also earned a BSc in Computer Engineering and Computer Science, a BA in Political Science, and an MSc in Electrical Engineering from the University of Southern California. He has authored several technology articles including 3 technical papers that were published in global journals and were presented in different conferences worldwide.

Rayan Fayez is Deputy CEO of NEOM where he is overseeing NEOM’s corporate functions as well as the NEOM Investment Office, the NEOM Investment Fund, and the NEOM Development Fund.
Prior to taking up his role at NEOM, Rayan was the Managing Director and CEO of Banque Saudi Fransi and before that, the CEO of Savola Group. He was formerly the Managing Director and Saudi Arabia Senior Country Officer at J.P. Morgan and has also held senior positions at Goldman Sachs’ Saudi and London offices. He started his career with J.P. Morgan’s Natural Resources Investment Banking team in New York.
Rayan sits on numerous boards across Saudi Arabia, including AlUla Development Company, King Salman Park Foundation and Sports Boulevard Foundation. He was the Chair of the Finance & Infrastructure Taskforce of B20 Saudi Arabia and is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders.
He is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering.

Mr Gura is the Co-Founder and Chairman of Zebra Medical Vision, a deep learning medical imaging company that will enable scalable healthcare for the 2 billion people to join the middle class by 2025. Eyal is an Angel investor and previously venture capitalist with Pitango Venture Capital, the largest venture capital fund in the Middle East. Formerly, Co-Founder: PicScout (acquired by Getty Images); PicApp (acquired by Ybrant Digital); The Gifts Project (acquired by eBay). Adviser, WebTeb.com, the leading Arabic medical portal. Member, Advisory Board, Tmura.org. Member of the Board, Latet. Founding Member, Tovanotb.org. Eyal is a faculty member at IDC's Zell entrepreneurship program and a graduate of the Wharton Business School of the University of Pennsylvania. In 2014 Eyal was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum

May Habib is CEO and Co-Founder of Writer, a leading generative AI platform for enterprises. With expertise in natural language processing, AI-driven language generation and online language trends, she led Writer to be recognized on the Forbes AI 50 list in 2023. Habib’s impressive track record includes securing over $20 billion in investments in technology and investments. She played a crucial role in helping US software companies raise capital at Lehman Brothers. Forbes honoured her in 2018 as one of Cloud 100 Rising Stars for her work at Qordoba. Habib holds an AB degree in Economics and Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations from Harvard University, where she was Associate Managing Editor of The Harvard Crimson. She was a member of the World Economic Forum Global Shapers community (2011-2018).

Hussam Hammo is the CEO and Founder of Tamatem Games, a leading mobile games publisher in the MENA region. The company boast 150 million game downloads, with 3 million monthly active users and over 50 published games. Tamatem collaborates with international game developers worldwide to provide the best mobile games and entertainment to Arabic-speaking individuals.

Hussam, a seasoned entrepreneur with more than 17 years of experience, embarked on his venture with Tamatem in 2013. His vision was to develop games that authentically reflected the native language and rich culture of the Arab region. Being an avid gamer himself, Hussam keenly observed the glaring absence of Arabic content in the mobile gaming industry. To bridge this gap, Hussam created Tamatem Games to develop easy-to-understand games that resonated with audiences. Hussam is part of the Entrepreneurs Organization EO and Endeavor Global network.

Before Tamatem, Hussam had extensive work experience. He kicked off his career in 2006 as a product manager at d1g.com, an interactive user-based portal for Arab online users. Following his time at d1g, Hussam moved on to become a product manager at Maktoob.com an Arabic internet portal and online platform. Hussam co-founded one of Maktoob’s most popular products Faye3.com. Faye3.com was the first ever all-Arabic social network with over 1 million users. Maktoob was acquired by Yahoo for $175 million in 2009.

After the acquisition, Hussam chose to quit working as a full-time employee and pursue his dreams of becoming an entrepreneur. In 2009, he co-founded Wizards Productions, a game studio that developed online browser-based games. Although the company had a successful track record, the prematurity of the industry in the region led Hussam to eventually close down the studio and focus on a different strategy for mobile games.

Despite the closing of Wizards Productions, Hussam continued to believe in the Arabic mobile games market and was persistent in creating content that was relevant to a region of 400 million native Arabic speakers. In 2013, Hussam’s idea of publishing and localizing international mobile games in the Arabic-speaking market was seen as a potential success by California-based accelerator ‘500 Startups’ and Tamatem received its first acceleration opportunity to be sent to Silicon Valley and began its journey of publishing the best Arabic mobile games.