Hatem Dowidar is the Group CEO of e&, leading its transformation from a telco into a global technology group and its expansion across 38 markets. Under his leadership, e& evolved into a global technology group in February 2022, becoming, in 2025, the World’s Fastest Growing Brand. Recognised as the top-ranked telecom leader globally and among the top brand guardians on the Brand Guardianship Index 2025, he holds roles as a Non-Executive Director of Vodafone Group and board memberships at Etihad Etisalat Company (Mobily), Maroc Telecom, and e& Egypt. Before e&, Hatem worked for Vodafone, Procter and Gamble as well as Daimler Benz Group in various roles. Hatem is as well a member of international forums such as the board of the GSMA and the United Nations Internet Governance Forum (IGF) leadership panel. His academic background includes a Bachelor's in Communications and Electronics Engineering and an MBA.

H.E. Ahmed Obaid Al Qaseer graduated from Dubai Men’s College with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Information Technology. He started his career in 2002 at The Emirates Telecommunication Corporation (Etisalat) in the Government & Corporate Segment and worked as Senior Sales Support and Senior Sales Executive for 4 years.

In 2006, H.E Ahmed joined the Al Qasba Development Authority as a Business Development Manager and later in 2008, was promoted to Director of Business Development, forming an integral part of the team that transformed Al Qasba into the reputed and popular leisure and tourism destination it is today.

Following his highly successful track record with Al Qasba, Al Qaseer played a key role in the establishment of the Sharjah Investment and Development Authority (Shurooq), where he held the position of Director of Property Management, handling the operations, sales and leasing. Later in 2011, he was promoted as Shurooq’s Chief Operating Officer (COO), responsible for the operational execution of all of Shurooq’s projects and destinations.

In 2022, Al Qaseer was appointed as Acting Chief Executive Officer to lead Shurooq's ongoing efforts towards achieving its vision of developing world-class projects and bolster efforts to drive national and foreign investments into the Emirate. In February 2023, H.E. Ahmed Al Qaseer was appointed as Chief Executive Officer, By Emiri Decree No. (7) of 2023, issued by His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Mohammed AlQasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah.

In July 2023, H.E. Ahmed Al Qaseer, was appointed as a member of the Board of Directors at Sharjah Research Technology and Innovation Park “Free Zone Authority” and as Vice President and Board Member of the Sharjah International Marine Sports Club.

Chairman & CEO - Sherif Foda has served as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NESR since inception. He founded the company in 2017 to create the first and largest energy services company from the MENA region publicly listed on Nasdaq. Mr. Foda has more than 25 years of professional experience in the energy industry working primarily in his earlier career for Schlumberger Limited (NYSE: SLB) around the world, particularly in the Middle East, Europe and the US. He served as Senior Advisor to the Chairman of SLB, an officer and President of the Production Group, the President of Europe and Africa, Vice President and Managing Director of the Arabian market, and President of Well Intervention worldwide, among other roles. He started his career in 1993 with SLB (Red Sea). Mr. Foda sits on multiple private boards, serves as the Chairman of W.D. Von Gonten Engineering in Houston and GLC Energy Company in London and is a board member for Salttech BV in Holland and Al Fanar Venture philanthropy in London. He has attended executive programs at Harvard Business School, Oxford, and IMD, and is a frequent speaker at industry forums

Lucy da Gama Campos is MENA Head of Private Wealth Management Capital Markets, Apex Family Office and Client Strategy at Goldman Sachs. She is a private wealth advisor and Managing Director leading an investment team that covers ultra-high-net-worth individuals and family offices in the Middle East and partners across all regions and divisions of the firm to deliver the full breadth of Goldman Sachs.

Lucy is an Ambassador for the Goldman Sachs In The Lead initiative, designed to help women maximise their impact in their investment, philanthropy, legacy and beyond. She joined Goldman Sachs Private Wealth Management in 2019. Prior to this, she worked at Deutsche Bank in the Corporate Finance Partnership group, a team which specialised in Investment Banking coverage of Private Capital across M&A, ECM & Financing. Lucy earned an LLB in Law from UCL.

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.

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.

Patrycja is a Partner at Deloitte Digital and a member of the Middle East Exec in her role of the Middle East Growth leader, responsible for driving Deloitte’s growth across strategic industries, clients and priority offerings. Patrycja is also the Financial Services industry leader for the region.

She brings over 20 years of experience advising some of the largest banks, insurer and wealth & asset managers on how to achieve tangible improvements to customer experience. She has led a number of large-scale, global projects around customer centric transformation, innovation, digital strategies, and CRM.

Patrycja has worked with challenger “neo” banks helping them with license application, strategy, proposition design, build and launch. She has also worked with digital wallets helping to define a frictionless experience. Prior to Deloitte, Patrycja has worked with several Consulting firms across Asia and Europe.

Ebrahim Oboud Baeshen is the Regional Managing Partner in KPMGs Jeddah office. He is a seasoned professional with over 20 years of experience in accounting, audit and Zakat advisory. His current role involves providing a wide range of services, including due diligence, corporate finance and accounting advisory to family-owned businesses, corporates and public sector clients in the infrastructure, consumer and industrial markets sectors. In addition, Ebrahim has significant experience in organization design, diagnostic reviews and making recommendations for organizational governance structure.

Samawi joined the asset management division of Emirates NBD in 2023, which provides different investment solutions for its clients including pension funds, government entities, endowments, insurance companies, financial institutions, family offices, and distributors. As of 2024, it had $8 billion in assets under management, up 23% compared to 2023. In the same year, it launched the public fund platform FundStar OEIC and raised over $160 million. Samawi was previously head of private banking at Credit Suisse Saudi Arabia and the managing director and Saudi market leader for BNP Paribas Wealth Management.

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.

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.'

Walid is the CEO of Valu. Previously, Walid served as Chairman of Paytabs Egypt and Vice Chairman of EFG EV Fintech. He currently sits on the board of KarmSolar and previously served on the board of Bedaya for Mortgage Finance. Walid’s leadership of the NBFI platform at EFG Holding over 5+ years has seen it grow multiple businesses and launch innovative brands. Prior to joining EFG Holding in 2016, Walid had a successful 17-year banking career. He was General Manager and Head of Structured Finance and Investment Banking at Bank Audi, where he closed structured and project finance transactions in excess of USD 15 billion. He first started at Misr International Bank, structuring and executing several award-winning deals, in project finance and M&As within Egypt and the GCC. He was the Head of structured finance and syndication in Banque Misr where he successfully managed to top the league table of the MENA region in syndicated loans.

Walid holds a Cairo-University B.B.A with highest honors, an MBA from J. Mack Robinson College of Business, Georgia State University, and an Islamic Finance Qualification from CISI- UK.

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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.

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.

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.

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.

Ahmed Emre Buyukkilic is an FDI (foreign direct investment) and international business development professional with over 15 years of experience at Invest Türkiye. He has advised leading conglomerates, sovereign funds, and multinationals on cross-border investments, facilitated M&A and JV projects, and led investment promotion activities across Korea, Japan, and ASEAN markets having spent 7 years in Singapore prior to the UAE.

Currently based in the UAE, he heads the Abu Dhabi office of the Investment and Finance Office, fostering strategic partnerships and new investment flows and bilateral economic relations between Türkiye and the Gulf region.

He holds a BSc in Business Administration from Middle East Technical University, an MBA in Strategic Marketing and Brand Management from Bahcesehir University, and a Diploma in IT from the Informatics Academy of Singapore.

Ahmed Abou El Saad is the CEO of Azimut Investments Egypt as well as being the Head of Asset Management in MENA & Turkey region managing a total AUM of EGP 35 billion in a wide range of institutional/HNW portfolios as well as Public Equity and Money Market funds. Azimut Egypt is Part of Azimut Group which is a Global Asset Management firm with total of USD 150 billion over 23 countries worldwide

Previously, he was head of asset management at Naeem Holding managing a total MUM reaching USD 520 million of HNW Gulf portfolios. Earlier, Mr. Abouelsaad was Head of Capital Markets at MIBank, where he managed the bank’s investment portfolio in public trading equities, Fixed income instruments and private equity. He has also served as head of surveillance at the Cairo and Alexandria Stock Exchange, where he was on the executive committee that works on introducing new instruments and regulations to the market.

Ahmed is currently a board member at the Egyptian Stock Exchange. He is also the President of CFA Society Egypt and the Vice-Chairman of the Egyptian Investment Management Association (EIMA).

Mr. Abou El Saad has a Bachelor of Arts from Alexandria University, an MBA from the Arab Academy for Science and Technology. Ahmed is also a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and Also the professional certificate in project finance and investment appraisal from the Harvard Institute for International Development.

Hussain is the Founding Partner of M&CO Legal and a leading Emirati litigator, arbitrator, and legal strategist with over two decades of experience. Renowned for his expertise in commercial litigation, arbitration, and Islamic law, he has acted as counsel and arbitrator in more than 50 international arbitration cases across sectors such as construction, energy, and shareholder disputes. Accredited by institutions including the ICC, DIAC, LCIA, and ADCCAC, Dr. Hussain also serves as Chair of the ICC-UAE Commission on Arbitration and ADR and is a member of the ICC Commission in Paris. A passionate academic, he lectures on UAE Sharia law and employment law at universities in the UK and France, contributing to international legal scholarship and practice. Fluent in Arabic and English, Dr. Hussain is a prominent voice in advancing arbitration and cross-border legal collaboration in the MENA region and beyond.

Basma Rady is a highly accomplished professional currently serving as the Chief Data Scientist at Beltone Holding and the Managing Director of Robin, a newly launched subsidiary specializing in data science and artificial intelligence (AI), launched in July 2025. With a strong background in data science and advanced analytics, Basma has brought a wealth of expertise to her role at Beltone since early 2023.

In addition to her role at Beltone and Robin, Basma is currently serving as an Adjunct Faculty of Data Science in the Mathematics and Actuarial Science Department at the American University in Cairo. Before joining Beltone Financial, Rady was the Founder and Head of the Data Science and Advanced Analytics Hub at the Central Bank of Egypt (2020-2023). In this capacity, she spearheaded the development of the hub’s strategy, vision, mission, and operating model to successfully launch the hub within six months. She led a cross-functional team that delivered data science and analytics projects that provided the Governor with near real time view of Egypt’s economy, leveraging state-of-the-art machine learning and natural language processing techniques.

Prior to her work at the Central Bank, Rady served as a Data Science Manager in the Transaction Advisory Services division at Ernst & Young in Dubai (2016-2020). Her expertise in data analysis and machine learning led to the success of various projects for clients across the MENA region including conducting current state assessment of data and analytics maturity, designing organization-wide advanced analytics vision and roadmap of use cases, and leading the implementation of end-to-end data analytics projects.

Rady holds a Master's degree in Operations Research and Information Engineering with a concentration in Financial Engineering from Cornell University and received a Bachelor's degree in Actuarial Science and Business Administration (Finance) from the American University in Cairo.

With a background in economics, research, programming, and statistics, Monte entered the financial industry fourteen years ago. He initially worked with a hedge fund arbitraging between exchanges in the East and the CME before settling in the brokerage industry working in roles that involved analysis and risk. Monte received his Masters in Economics from Wayne State University where he also taught undergraduate students, and currently works as the Head of Market Research at Capital.com, authoring works that include Capital.com's Daily Market Report translated into ten languages covering 28 markets, and the Weekly Sentiment Report. He is a regular contributor to media heavyweights in the region including Asharq Bloomberg, Sky News Arabia, and the Business Breakfast, and is fluent in both English and Arabic.

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.

• 26+ years with various assumed roles within corporate and investment banking, executive management, business as well as strategy development predominately in a multinational bank.
• Senior managerial /executive role overlooking the business strategy setting /implementation, corporate banking client/credit management (full spectrum: government and government related entities, private groups operating in diversified jurisdictions-mostly within EMEA-, small & medium enterprises, subsidiaries of multinational, corporate business development), structured finance, and financial institutions including FI and NBFIs.
• Current role is CEO & MD of Egypt’s 2nd credit rating agency regulated by Financial Regulatory Authority with a mandate to it set it up, brand it, formulate its technical, and non-technical policies and procedures including: Rating Methodologies, Corporate Governance, staffing the various functions with the right skill set and or regulatory licensing required to set up the agency and operate in the Egyptian capital market.
• Prior to this role, was a top executive managerial responsibility in three local banks going through restructure and or privatization process.
• Leadership of teams during various challenging and transformational circumstances.
• Successful completion for structured career development training program for path to elevated executive leadership roles including but not limited to women leadership and executive presence, negotiation. senior credit licensing, structured products for various lending, hedging structures.
• Proven record of accomplishment to design and execute business strategy, transformation plans.
• Member in the Core Banking Committee, Amcham Egypt for 10+ years, participated in various annual Door Knock Missions as part of the Egyptian delegate to Washington DC to promote various collaboration efforts to positively impact Egypt developmental process.

Before starting his journey with Al Maryah Community Bank, Mr. Khayata spent 18 months in Berlin working on transforming classical financial services into blockchain based disruptive solutions. His project involved global technology experts and business leaders who collaborated on developing the concept of community banks on basis of the latest crypto based concepts. During his 29 years in senior positions with leading banks and innovative financial institutions in the UAE such as National Bank of Abu Dhabi, First Gulf Bank, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, Finance House and CAPM investment, he has delivered exceptional retail banking products like the first Credit Card in the UAE back in 1994, and developed progressive and out of the box corporate banking solutions for diverse segments. Mr. Khayata has very significant presence in the capital and equity markets. He has lead formation of multiple greenfield entities in financial sector and has managed multiple corporate transformations. He has been in equity and IPO market for over 25 years, with special focus on IPO Advisory, IPO Management and participated in starting Abu Dhabi Stock Exchange. In most recent IPO for Fertiglobe, he handled all external stakeholders and provided strategic, professional and operational guidance to Al Maryah Community bank team. He ensured the vision of the first fully digital IPO is achieved and ensured great investor / customer experience. With strong footing in customer orientation, blended with focus on technology and blockchain, Mr. Khayata is now continuing his journey to make Al Maryah Community Bank a premier hub of innovation and prestige. Mr. Khayata holds Master’s degree in Banking and Financ