Luca spent more than 20 years in the financial services industry, leading international teams of people (including senior directors and managing directors) and focusing on risk management, lending, ESG, and digital banking.

He is currently Chief Executive Officer and Board Member of CRIF Ratings (the leading European Rating Agency focused on Small & Medium Enterprises & mid-caps) and was previously Managing Director and Chief Commercial Officer.

He serves as Board Member of a CRIF & Beltone Capital join venture, a regulated entity in Egypt to enhance credit risk and rating.

He also manages a team of Senior Account Leaders at CRIF, looking after large banking Groups and a team of sales specialists (pre-sales) focused on ESG, Value Added Services, Digital Banking, and other solutions for Banks’s corporate portfolios.

Before, Luca spent several years at Moody’s in London covering multiple roles including Head of Relationship Management Europe (looking after strategic accounts across Europe such as banks, insurance companies, and large corporations), before that EMEA Head of Risk Management Services, and Country Director.

Luca graduated in Business Law (including a scholarship at Harvard Law School) and holds a Master in Business Administration from Bocconi Business School.

Hasan Haider has over 15 years of experience investing in MENA startups. Hasan is the Founder and Managing Partner of +VC, the most active early stage venture capital firm in the MENA region. Hasan was previously Managing Partner, MENA at 500 Startups and led the firms growth in the MENA Region. Hasan has invested in over 280 startups in the region over the course of the last 5 years, including seed investments in companies like Calo, Floward, Eyewa, Thndr and Holo.

Prior to 500, Hasan was the co-founder and CEO of Tenmou, the first business angel’s organization in Bahrain and one of the first in the MENA region. Hasan’s work in developing angel investment has been picked up as a case study by the World Bank and Babson College. Previously, Hasan’s career was in finance and investment banking at Sico where he spent a number of years.

Mark co-founded Sarwa, a leading one-stop financial technology platform for investment and personal finance in the Middle East, and is a new-generation executive with 10 years of experience across diverse roles spanning strategy, management, operations, and technology. Mark has previously worked at organizations including Accenture Strategy, focusing on banking and wealth management, and Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec (CDPQ), one of Canada’s largest pension funds with $270B+ in AUM, and started his career at BLOMINVEST Bank. Mark studied finance and entrepreneurship, earning his Bachelor of Commerce from McGill University, and has been recognized in the Forbes M.E. 30 under 30 lists.

Dr. Ashraf Gamal El Din, FCG is the Chief Executive Officer of Bawabat Al Hikah Governance Company, KSA, and Hawkamah, the Institute for Corporate Governance, the DIFC. A board member and audit committee member of the International Corporate Governance Network, UK. He is a Fellow and Certified Governance Expert from the Chartered Governance Institute, UK (ICSA). He was a jury member of the Arabia CSR Award. Prior to joining Hawkamah, Dr. Ashraf was the Executive Chairman of Egypt Post. Before that, he was the Deputy Executive Director of the Egyptian Banking Institute, the training arm of the Central Bank of Egypt. He was also the founder and Project Manager of the Egyptian Corporate Responsibility Center working on promoting the concepts and application of CSR in Egypt. Furthermore, he was the Executive Director of the Egyptian Institute of Directors (EIoD), the Institute of Corporate Governance in Egypt and the Arab Region Dr. Ashraf served as a board member and head of the Audit Committee in a number of listed, non-listed, State Owned and family owned companies, such as Egyptian Resorts Company, Sahl Hashish, Egypt Reinsurance, Misr Life Insurance, Suez Canal for Technology, Thebes International, Misr Qena Cement, just to name a few. He also served a member of the General Assembly of the Holding Company for Transportation. Dr. Ashraf served as an advisor to the Minister of Investment 2004-2010 in the areas of corporate governance, corporate social responsibility, privatization and restructuring. Furthermore, Dr. Ashraf is a Professor of Management, Faculty of Commerce, Cairo University. He holds a PhD degree from Manchester University, UK, and a Master’s degree in Public Administration from Carleton University, Canada. He further holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Cairo University with highest honors.

Previously, she served as an Investment Consultant to Acumen’s KawiSafi Fund and held roles in Commercial Development at Turner Broadcasting in Dubai, with Viacom’s Emerging Markets Strategy Group, and on Microsoft’s Strategy and M&A team in London. Sonia sits on the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Investing in Gender Parity, serves on the Board of Advisors of the Sharjah Entrepreneurship Center (Sheraa), and is a Jury Member and Capital Mentor for the Cartier Women’s Initiative. She also acts as the UAE Director for the Yale Alumni Schools Committee and sits on the Yale President’s Council on International Activities. Sonia holds a B.A. from Yale University, an MSc from the London School of Economics, and is a Kauffman Fellow.

Maaz Sheikh is CEO of STARZPLAY, the leading video-on-demand platform in the region bringing the best of entertainment and sports. Under his leadership, STARZPLAY concluded an investment from E-Vision, a subsidiary of e& and ADQ, an Abu Dhabi-based investment and holding company, who acquired a majority equity stake of 57% in the company at a valuation of $420M. Maaz is a prominent Linkedin influencer with a powerful voice. The CEO Magazine declared him 'Media CEO of the Year'. He has been recognized in the 'GCC 100 - Inspiring Leaders' and 'DXB 100 - Influential People Helping Shape the Emirate.'

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Philippides assumed his role at Mashreq Capital in November 2024. Mashreq Capital was established in 2006 as a wholly owned subsidiary of Mashreq. The firm had $1.36 billion in assets under management in 2024. Philippides has more than 28 years of experience in the U.K. financial services industry. He previously held senior roles at Morgan Stanley, BlackRock, Amundi, and MSCI, among others. He also led his own asset management consultancy.

Professor Ken McPhail is the Head of Alliance Manchester Business School and a Professor of Accounting at The University of Manchester. He previously served as Deputy Head and Research Director at Alliance MBS, as well as Vice Dean for Social Responsibility for the Faculty of Humanities, where he led major university city initiatives and ethical leadership programmes. Before joining Manchester, Ken held senior academic roles including Head of School at La Trobe University in Melbourne and Director of Undergraduate Studies and the Scottish Centre for Professional Ethics at the University of Glasgow.

Ken holds a PhD from the University of Dundee and an MA (Hons) in Accountancy & Computer Science from Heriot-Watt University. His research focuses on accounting ethics, corporate accountability, the evolving role of corporations in society, and the growing nexus between business and human rights.

Mr. Elakhdar is the co-founder and managing partner of Square Forty, a licensed investment advisor focused on private equity special situations and family office investment management. He has over 20 years of experience across various industries including financial services, healthcare, real estate, consumer, energy, transportation, construction and building materials among others.

Prior to Square Forty, Mr. Elakhdar was the CEO of the investment banking division of Beltone Financial (BTFH.CA) in Egypt, where he provided advisory services for a full range of transactions including mergers, sales, acquisitions, spin-offs, divestitures and other restructurings. He also worked closely with financial sponsors to originate, structure, and execute equity capital market transactions including initial public offerings and follow-on offerings.

Prior to Beltone, he was a management consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton (NYSE: BAH) within the global corporate strategy team, in Washington DC and later in Abu Dhabi, where he advised major corporations and governments on strategic transformation initiatives worldwide. He also worked as a Parsons Corporation (NYSE: PSN) and Bechtel Corporation where he was involved in major infrastructure and technology projects across the US.

He currently serves on the boards of Arabian Foods Industries Domty (DOMT.CA), Dallah Holding Egypt, and Limevest Partners.

Mr. Elakhdar holds a B.S in Engineering from the American University in Cairo (AUC) and a M.S in Finance (summa cum laude) from the George Washington University School of Business. He also completed several executive programs, at the MIT Sloan School of Management and the Georgetown University McDonough School of Business. In addition, he is currently completing the Owner President Management program at Harvard Business School.