Agenda 2023

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Akshata is an Associate Partner at KARM Legal and has experience in the UAE and India. Prior to joining KARM Legal, She was working with the leading law firms in India and UAE. She has advised high net individuals and corporates on Banking, Mergers and Acquisitions, Corporate Debt Restructuring, and Corporate Governance related issues. At KARM, she leads the FinTech, Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence, Open Banking and Emerging Tech practice.She has advised multiple clients on Security Token Offerings and Initial Coin Offerings; fundraising through seed and crowdfunding; setting up of crypto-currency exchanges and, deployment of public and enterprise blockchains. Additionally, she has also advised clients on artificial intelligence in the financial sector; and digital wallets and payments solutions.

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Shantnoo has over 15 years of experience in the payments and crypto industry and worked with companies dealing in Remittances, SaaS, Open Banking, Crytpo Exchange and Crypto Payments. In 2016 he moved into cryptos to consult BitPesa and worked with the team to engineer one of the first regulated models between Bitcoins and traditional money. He launched the operations for one of the largest crypto exchanges; Huobi in the Middle East, Africa and Turkey. He is an Strategic Advisor to LBank, looking after growth, partnerships and operation activities globally. At present he is the founder of Encryptus, a leading Institutional Trading Desk which is bridging the gaps between Crypto <> Fiat.

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Amnah Ajmal is the Executive Vice President, Market Development, EEMEA for Mastercard. In this role, she is responsible for acceptance, acquiring, merchants, digital partnerships, fintech’s, strategy and M&A for the region. Prior to this role she led the North America product organization, based out of the US, responsible for the development and management of consumer and small business payment solutions, including credit, debit, prepaid, small business and acceptance solutions, with a focus on creating sustainable competitive differentiation for Mastercard and its customers.Amnah joined Mastercard in 2015 as Head of Products for Middle East & Africa where she focused on driving innovation across consumer and commercial payments based on technology, partnerships and delivering digitally integrated consumer experiences.Prior to joining Mastercard she was heading the consumer bank franchise for Standard Chartered Malaysia responsible for end-end P&L. She was also responsible for retail banking strategy for Indonesia, Malaysia & Taiwan in a global role based out of Singapore. Prior to Standard Chartered, Amnah worked at Citigroup in UAE, Egypt, UK and Poland. She held a number of positions at Citigroup including Asset Business Head for Poland responsible for full range of consumer asset products, innovation and distribution including credit cards, co brands, personal loans and mortgages.She was honored to be listed as the top 100 women in Fintech, across the globe, for 2019 by Lattice80 and recognized as the top 25 women leaders in financial technology by the Financial Technology Report US for 2019 & 2020. She was recently recognized as the top 100 women in fintech, across the globe, for 2021 by IBM & Fintech magazine. She also holds the honor of being in America’s top 10 women in Fintech by the Fintech Magazine for 2020.She holds a master’s degree from London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE).

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Ahmad Alwazzan has been a part of Tap Payments since it was founded in 2014. Initially, he acted as an advisor on risk & financial operations until officially joining the team in 2017 as the GM of Financial Services to manage the relationship with financial institutions and regulators. 5 years later, he’s the Group EVP handling the regulatory strategy across MENA. Since graduating from the Daniels College of Business at the University of Denver, USA, he’s worked in global companies such as Ernst & Young in audit and assurance services as well as the National Bank of Kuwait, until realizing his passion for Fintech and joining Tap Payments. He was also a competitive tennis player until the age of 16 and even played for the national team of Kuwait in 2002.

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Nizam is Chief Strategy Officer of Algbra, a values-focused, sustainable and Shariah-compliant Fintech headquartered in London and regulated in the UK. Nizam was previously the Senior Head of Mosaic and Community Integration at The Prince’s Trust. He is a 2019 Greenberg World Fellow at Yale University and a 2019 US State Department International Visitor Leadership Programme (IVLP) participant.Nizam is currently Vice-Chair of the of SOAS, University of London Board of Trustees and a member of the Mayor of London’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Advisory Group. He holds an MA in Public Policy from King’s College London and was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s 2020 Birthday Honours list for services to social mobility and community integration.

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Eng. Mohammed Alkaff AlHashmi is a computer science engineer with more than 18 years of experience. With this accumulative experience he focuses on Industry 4.0, Artificial Intelligence, machine learning, Industrial automation, and IOTs. He started his career as an Intelligence Network Engineer at Huawei. Other than the technology part, he has vast experience in Business and management. He is a serial Entrepreneur who believes in projects that have a purpose and could bring value to the community, so he started MCPM Automation in the MENA region that provides cutting edge techs to support Manufacturing, Smart Cities, Energy, Sustainability and Environment. At present he is the CEO of MCPM MENA, MCPM Holding and UI Ventures, he is also partner and board member of CYNAX labs, Kaptive, Co-Founder and Executive Board Member of IslamicCoin which considered one of the mega blockchain projects and others, taking care of the business development, growth and strategy. As Artificial Intelligence became an important pillar of Health technologies and; D, Eng. Mohammed is also partner and a board member of Quant7 fund that invests in research and development within the medical and health care sectors, and blue ocean unique companies like Cellvera and Prepaire as well as finds opportunities for mergers and acquisition. Having a futuristic approach and unique perspective about things, he always believes in giving back to the society through his knowledge and by creating success stories. He is passionate about bringing top class technologies for the development of the region and thrives on making the Earth a better place to live.

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Analytics professional with over 20 years of experience in the analytics space. I am primarily working with large-scale enterprise data warehouses helping organizations across the globe to get business value out of their information assets. Responsible for AI, ML, Blockchain, RPA and advanced analytics processes in organization. He Successfully implemented Blockchain use cases in insurance and AI enabled damage estimator for claims settlement in Auto Insurance. He is a veteran of Big Data, AI & Blockchain, having created and led Data Science and Analytics teams. His experience in various companies including in the Fortune 100, having worked with India Infoline Group, Reliance General Insurance Ltd, EXL Services, Wunderman International, WNS & IBM. He has global experience with clients like British Gas(UK), Ford Motors(US), Suncorp Bank(Australia), TORM Shipping (Denmark) and holds a Bachelor of Engineering at Delhi college of Engineering, Delhi in India, an MBA (IT). Vivek Zakarde was named ‘Big CIO Leader 2019 & 2022”, "Top 100 CX leaders 2022", "Power CIO 2022", “BFSI Digital Innovation Leader by Express Computer & Dell 2020”, “CIO of the year of 2019 by IDG”, “Asia analytics leader of the year 2019 by Analytics India Magazine” and “Big 40 BFSI & NBFC” award winner.

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Peter Englund developed a passion for emerging markets early in his career. Being an active ambassador for growth and development – and in setting high standards for himself and people around him – he has led numerous businesses in both dynamic and challenging environments. Together with his high performing teams, he constantly looks for ways to bring out the best in himself and people around him – a trait originating from his time as squad leader in a Swedish Attack Diving unit.

The Middle East & Africa region has a special place in his heart, and is also where he has spent most of his professional career. He is currently based in the Dubai International Financial Center, where he heads up Zurich’s regional commercial activities. In addition to his current role, Peter also remains active in giving back to a region that has been good to him and his business. He mentors start-ups and InsureTech companies; is an active speaker and contributor at industry specific and regional events; and also gives frequent lectures to foster Middle Eastern talent development.

Peter brings a wealth of expertise and experience in the areas of commercial insurance and reinsurance, investment management, financial lines propositions and Middle Eastern geopolitics. He is a Swedish national and holds a Master’s Degree from the Royal Institute of Technology and a Bachelor’s Degree in Finance from the Stockholm School of Business

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Gilbert Ohana is the Co-Managing Partner of FinTLV Ventures, a global insurtech-focused fund that partners with the best insurtech and fintech companies through all phases, with a bias towards later-stage deals. Recent investments include leading or participating in investment rounds in some of the most prestigious companies in these fields, including Hippo Insurance, Next Insurance, Unqork, Corvus, Wefox, and others. Before establishing FinTLV, Gilbert served 26 years in the Israeli Intelligence Corps and was the Chief Technology Officer of one of the leading technology units, leading the unit’s Technology Strategy, Cyber Security and Data Analytics programs, and Joint-Ventures with technology vendors in Israel, Europe, and the US. Gilbert is also an advisor to several financial companies and the Israeli ICT Authority on innovative technology strategies and risk management.

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Esraa Gamal is the Chief Operating Officer of Telr, the UAE based award winning payment gateway solutions provider. Gamal spearheaded many products for Local and International markets which helped classify the company as an e commerce best in class technology solutions provider for big, small and medium sized enterprises, focusing on growing markets across the Middle East and North Africa in addition to the Indian market. Gamal has a Bachelor of Science in Economics & Political Science from Cairo University, Egypt.

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In his current role, Sailesh oversees Geidea’s operations, strategic partnerships as well as business development.
With over two decades of extensive experience in merchant services and commercial payments across Asia Pacific and Middle East, his technical expertise spans areas such as Strategic Business Development, E-Commerce & Digital, Corporate, Marketing & Sales Strategy, P&L and Revenue Management, Strategic Partnerships & Negotiation as well as Conceptualizing and designing new products.
Prior to Geidea, Sailesh worked in a variety of senior-level positions at leading payment service providers and financial institutions including Paytabs, Wirecard, ADCB and American Express. He is a holder of a Bachelors of Arts Degree in Mathematics and Economics from the University of Delhi.

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Soliman Aldukhil is a Group VP at Tap Payments, working closely with the Group CEO to drive greater collaboration and implement strategies to scale the company further. After graduating from the Queensland University of Technology in Australia, he started his career in the banking industry focusing on accelerating digital transformation and providing a seamless service across banks like the Saudi Investment Bank, Bank Saudi Fransi, and Bank Albilad. He then moved to Saudi Payments, the national payment operator of the local scheme ‘mada’, and was involved in developing the digital payment ecosystem in Saudi Arabia. Soliman enjoys new challenges and is a deep believer in “There are no limits other than the limits that you put on yourself” which is precisely the mentality he brings in everything he does within his role.

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Simon is co-founder and CEO of findexable – the new digital platform for fintech insight and benchmarking, and home to the Global Fintech Index.
As AI and analytics re-shape business, findexable’s mission is to make it easier to gather, interpret and benchmark fintech activity and enable unmoderated, real-time insight.
Simon has two decades of experience producing financial intelligence content, research and events for global financial publishers including The Economist, Euromoney Institutional Investor and IFR (part of the Thomson Reuters Group), as well as boutique research publishers and media companies across Europe and the Middle East.
He was previously a director of banking events and publishing house VRL (now Global Data) before setting up Eurasia Insights, a regional communications and content creation business focussed on emerging Europe, the Middle East and Turkey.
In 2015 he joined MagnaCarta Communications to build the company’s research and analytics capabilities to help financial technology firms define their proposition and tell their story, before setting up Findexable in response to growing customer demand for an easier, more efficient means of gathering insight and analytics.

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As Head of Group Digital at Banque Saudi Fransi (BSF), Grant is accountable for defining and executing the Bank-wide digital vision and strategic initiatives across the organisation. Originally from, Scotland, UK, Grant has worked in several executive roles over the last 20 years spanning the technology, consulting and financial services industry in Europe and the Middle East. Prior to joining BSF in March’20, Grant held a partner position with EY where he led the Technology Consulting practice for the financial services sector across the MENA region. Grant is a regular public speaker and prominent voice at leading events across the region on the topics of digital banking, Fintech, Open Finance and adoption of disruptive technologies in the financial services sector

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Sultan Alonazi is the Managing Director of the KSA office for Tap Payments, the leading paytech company revolutionizing online payments across MENA. After graduating from King Abdulaziz University, he has had over 24 years of experience in helping build and scale several successful companies in KSA and across MENA. With a wide range of experience in fintech, economics, marketing, and sales, his professional experience has revolved around banking, fintech, and government authorities with previous roles such as CEO of Geidea and other senior executive positions in Riyad Bank, SABB, STCpay, and Ministry of Justice. He is excited by the opportunity to participate in the journey toward realizing Saudi Arabia’s vision to become a cashless economy with Tap Payments.

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Simon is co-founder and CEO of findexable – the new digital platform for fintech insight and benchmarking, and home to the Global Fintech Index.
As AI and analytics re-shape business, findexable’s mission is to make it easier to gather, interpret and benchmark fintech activity and enable unmoderated, real-time insight.
Simon has two decades of experience producing financial intelligence content, research and events for global financial publishers including The Economist, Euromoney Institutional Investor and IFR (part of the Thomson Reuters Group), as well as boutique research publishers and media companies across Europe and the Middle East.
He was previously a director of banking events and publishing house VRL (now Global Data) before setting up Eurasia Insights, a regional communications and content creation business focussed on emerging Europe, the Middle East and Turkey.
In 2015 he joined MagnaCarta Communications to build the company’s research and analytics capabilities to help financial technology firms define their proposition and tell their story, before setting up Findexable in response to growing customer demand for an easier, more efficient means of gathering insight and analytics.

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Laurent started Geidea’s merchant business and is now Chief Strategy & Growth Officer and oversees corporate development on both buy and sell side. He is also managing global scheme and strategic partnership relationships.With over two decades of extensive experience in merchant services and commercial payments, his technical expertise spans areas such as Strategic Business Development, E-Commerce & Digital, Corporate, Marketing & Sales Strategy, P&L and Revenue Management, Strategic Partnerships & Negotiation. Prior to Geidea, Laurent worked in a variety of executive roles in leading payment service providers and financial institutions including Ogone, Ingenico, Rakuten and Trust payments. He is a holder of Master of Science in Management and an MBA from HEC Paris.

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Gilbert Ohana is the Co-Managing Partner of FinTLV Ventures, a global insurtech-focused fund that partners with the best insurtech and fintech companies through all phases, with a bias towards later-stage deals. Recent investments include leading or participating in investment rounds in some of the most prestigious companies in these fields, including Hippo Insurance, Next Insurance, Unqork, Corvus, Wefox, and others. Before establishing FinTLV, Gilbert served 26 years in the Israeli Intelligence Corps and was the Chief Technology Officer of one of the leading technology units, leading the unit’s Technology Strategy, Cyber Security and Data Analytics programs, and Joint-Ventures with technology vendors in Israel, Europe, and the US. Gilbert is also an advisor to several financial companies and the Israeli ICT Authority on innovative technology strategies and risk management.

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Co-founder and lead instructor at The Better Traders, Inc., an international crypto education company, and owner of the popular crypto bot trading YouTube channel Moonin Papa , Aaron Dishner serves over 25,000 students across 36 countries as a world-leading bot trader and crypto day trading and swing trading expert. Combining his passion for educational excellence, stemming from a 12-year professional teaching background, with his remarkable skill set in crypto trading, Aaron’s mission is to make trading safe and accessible so anyone can learn to benefit from the greatest financial revolution of our time.

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As host of The Better Traders Podcast, Rune interviews cryptocurrency industry rising stars and world-renown experts including Alex Gladstein, Crypto Face, Gareth Soloway, Lawrence Lepard, Dr. Jane Thomason, BigCheds, as well as many others. Her discerning questions derive key insights for listeners around the globe, as she not only discusses the future of the blockchain, including crypto adoption and upcoming projects, but also explores each guests’ personal journey of how they got involved in trading and investing crypto, in addition to other aspects of the blockchain. With her background in business, entrepreneurship, macroeconomics and crypto trading, she also serves as the Director of Public Relations and Media for The Better Traders, Inc., an international crypto education company serving over 25,000 students across 36 countries and growing.

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Nizam is Chief Strategy Officer of Algbra, a values-focused, sustainable and Shariah-compliant Fintech headquartered in London and regulated in the UK. Nizam was previously the Senior Head of Mosaic and Community Integration at The Prince’s Trust. He is a 2019 Greenberg World Fellow at Yale University and a 2019 US State Department International Visitor Leadership Programme (IVLP) participant.Nizam is currently Vice-Chair of the of SOAS, University of London Board of Trustees and a member of the Mayor of London’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Advisory Group. He holds an MA in Public Policy from King’s College London and was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s 2020 Birthday Honours list for services to social mobility and community integration.

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Ida has an MA in Peace and Conflict Studies. She has lived in eight countries and speaks five languages. Apart from her work at Journee, she is also a composer and a dedicated mover – she practices mixed martial arts, watersports, and teaches Budokon. Ida has worked for UNHCR, The National Assembly of the Republic of Korea, as a composer for contemporary dance, and she has been running design studios and consultancies focusing on the
intersection between physical spaces and technology. She partnered with Dexter Studios in South Korea to develop the 3D interior screens for SLS Hotel & Casino Las Vegas. She
has also worked with 3D musicals and early VR applications of architectural renderings.

Ida joined Journee in June of 2021, her work in the metaverse and web3 field is centred around the question “What’s next?”. She works with the bricks and mortar as well as the newest NFT use-cases to have a deep, vertical and horizontal understanding of the current developments. Together with the best partners in the web3 space, she is driving the cloud rendered Journee solution forward to keep developing the most immersive, seamless, and accessible solution, integrated with interoperability of assets and user ownership.
Ida is a frequent keynote speaker, panellist and moderator and has been speaking at events such as the World Economic Forum, Deloitte Innovation Day, Split X Summit, House of Beautiful Business, yWhales podcast, CityAge and many more. Apart from pixel streaming, immersive experiences and accessibility, Ida has a human-centred approach to metaverse and web topics. She believes that the new technologies should seamlessly support our daily life, and provide an immersive way to interact with the internet that replaces the clunky and flat interactions we currently have today. Her hope is that we can enable new ways of digital interaction that should spend less time online. She is also passionate about using new technologies to solve sustainability challenges and create new economies.

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