VIEW THE 2022 SPEAKERS

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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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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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With extensive experience within the fintech and payments industry, Renier provides Geidea with a unique experience and insight in fintech innovation and hyper-growth companies. His past roles include serving as the CEO of PayPal Europe, Middle East, and Africa – and COO for Barclays International Retail and Commercial Banking.
Renier was also a Board Member of Revolut, and still serves as Chairman of Divido and TransferGo, London-based Fintechs. He was also a partner with McKinsey & Company in London, New Delhi, and San Francisco. He is a Professor of Fintech and Innovation at the London Institute of Banking and Finance.
He holds a Master of Science (MsC) with distinction in Computer Science as well as an MBA with Distinction from INSEAD, France.

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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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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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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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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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Onur Ozan is a Managing Director, Regional Head for Middle East, North Africa and Turkey, at SWIFT, spearheading strategic and business development initiatives in 28 markets. Onur is responsible for delivering instant and frictionless payments solutions through Payment Market Infrastructures, Banks and Fintechs.
Prior to his current position, Onur was in charge of channel management strategy and solutions sales efforts across Middle East, Turkey and Africa in over 70 markets.
Onur is a recognised payments expert with over 15 years of experience in regional and global roles within the financial services, particularly B2B, B2P, and P2P payments. Onur is passionate about payments, technology, customer value propositions, and crafting successful go-to-market strategies.
A people’s person, enthusiastic about developing and sustaining high-performing diverse teams. Onur is an EMCC (European Mentoring and Coaching Council) accredited coach/mentor actively taking part in corporate mentorship programs.
Mr. Ozan holds a Bachelor of Computer Science and Engineering from Işık University, Turkey, and an MBA degree from Hult International Business School, USA. He has also undertaken Management Programme for Finance Executives at Solvay Brussels School and certifications from Insead on Strategy, Building Digital Partnerships and Organizational Behaviour.

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Financial services executive with 24 years of senior experience in investments, credit, risk, and treasury management. Strong operational experience supports my investment skills and leads to operational value creation via revenue growth and margin expansion. Entrepreneurial leader who designs strategies and manages teams to face business challenges, including deploying new business and executing transformations and turnarounds. Underpinning my investment and operational skills is a broad corporate governance experience, both in training and certification by the Institute of Directors, UK, as well as 22 years of experience with a variety of companies as a non-executive director of the board.

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 Gaurang Shah is the EEMEA lead for Product & Engineering for Mastercard and passionately showcases how Mastercard leverages technology to build solutions and achieve exponential innovation that transforms industries, benefits economies, and positively impacts communities.In his current role, Gaurang oversees the design, development and deployment of consumer, merchant, sme and b2b solutions. Gaurang in addition leads development and execution of product go-to-market strategies that enables customers to benefit from an expanding digital economy amidst the accelerating growth of digital and electronic payments. Prior to his EVP role, Gaurang was Mastercard’s Digital Payments and Innovation head for MEA and before that MENA Division Lead for Global Processing, focused on national ecosystem development. He also successfully led the region’s Safety & Security agenda by conceptualizing and executing the fraud solutions strategy. He has implemented several key initiatives across the region since joining Mastercard in April 2013. Gaurang brings 20+ years of experience in digitization, technology, banking and payments, working with global companies such as Infosys (large software exporter), ICICI Bank (India’s largest private sector bank), Visa and now Mastercard. He graduated from the Indian School of Business (affiliated to Kellogg’s, Wharton and London Business School) with a master’s degree in Business Administration, which he pursued soon after graduating top of his class as a chemical engineer from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT).

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Olivier Crespin is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Zand. Since taking on this role in 2018 he has focused on leveraging hybrid digital banking strategies to establish Zand as the first fully digital bank in the region to combine both retail and corporate banking. Crespin brings over 20 years of extensive expertise and leadership roles in digital banking and FinTech across Latin America, the USA and Asia. He recognises the need for a customer-centric approach to humanise the banking industry. Prior to Zand, Crespin has been an award-winning leader at CIMB Bank, DBS and Citigroup. Across those roles he’s led flagship programs into new markets including India and Indonesia and spearheaded the implementation of innovative technologies

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 Ahmed Abdelaal is chief executive officer of Mashreq Bank Group, a leading financial institution in the United Arab Emirates with an expanding footprint across the Middle East, Asia, Europe and the US. With more than 25 years’ experience in banking, Mr Abdelaal was previously group head of corporate and investment banking at Mashreq Bank. He has also served in senior roles across international and regional banks, including Arab Bank, ABN AMRO Bank and American Express. Most recently he spent ten years at HSBC Middle East, where he was regional head of corporate clients coverage and head of commercial banking UAE.

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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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Hussein Mohammed Al Meeza is an acclaimed award-winning banker with over 45 years of experience spanning the Islamic banking, finance and insurance sectors. A founding member of Emaar properties, Amlak Finance, Emaar Industries & Investments, Emaar Financial services, Dubai Islamic Insurance & Reinsurance Company (AMAN), Nawat, he was named Best Islamic Banking Personality in 2006. His professional career began in 1975 at the Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB), where he spent over 20 years developing the bank’s services, and still serves as Executive Director.

As an emerging star of Islamic banking, he is the founder of Al Salam Banks in Sudan, Bahrain and Algeria, where he serves on various positions including Board Member, Vice Chairman and Chairman of the Executive Committee since 2015. He is also the Chairman of Al Salam Bank - Seychelles, Chairman of Top Enterprises L.L.C., Chairman of Lycée Francais Jean Mermoz L.L.C. Hussein Al Meeza excelled as CEO and Managing Director of Dubai Islamic Insurance and Reinsurance Company (AMAN), Chairman of LMC Bahrain, Chairman of the Executive Committee of Islamic Trading company in Bahrain, Board Member and Chairman of the Executive Committee in Amlak Finance Dubai and Chairman of Emaar Financial Services Dubai, Vice Chairman of Emirates Cooperative Society Dubai. He also served as Board Member of the General Council of Islamic Banks and Financial Institutions, Chairman of the Founding Committee of Islamic Insurance and Reinsurance Companies. He also held the position of Board Member of the Emirates Society for Insurance. Mr Al Meeza served as Chairman at Nawat Investments and Amity Health in Dubai, as well as Board Member of Al Salam Bank Bahrain and Chairman at Al Salam Bank Seychelles. Hussein Al Meeza is a graduate of the Beirut Arab University and holds an MBA degree from La Jolla University, USA.

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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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Ersoy has worked 17 years in asset management for top Turkish banks & is currently a financial correspondent for Bloomberg HT in Dubai where he delivers financial market updates to investors about GCC markets & Asian markets. The topics he covers range from stock markets, currencies, commodities, fixed income, & also include such reports as mergers & acquisitions, business & social headlines relevant to the region. Ersoy regularly interviews distinguished guests regarding financial markets. He has a B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from Middle East Technical University & MBA from Bilkent University.

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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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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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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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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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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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John Dourekas is Kitco's Media Division Director and Kitco's Digital Metals Group Chief Business Development Officer. He is responsible for all aspects of Kitco Media, including its programming, the division's expanding digital properties, mobile applications, editorial units, online assets, marketing, and overall operations. He leads media content, digital metals products, asset tokenization, business development operations, new product development, marketing, and the technology platforms and functions of the company's advertising sales and strategy worldwide. Since joining Kitco in 2008, John has orchestrated multiple ambitious IT, media, marketing, and digital metals strategies. John is an expert in complex transformations; he has lead content creation and oversight of media and distribution, crafted revenue-generating marketing strategies, developed programming, and negotiated key partnerships. John leads the VaultChain™ Gold and Silver products development for Kitco, one of the first precious metals trading platforms using blockchain technology, and Kitco.Gold is one of the first stablecoins backed by physical gold. Prior to joining Kitco, John spent 15 years in technology consulting, advising a variety of top global telecom clients on new product development, innovation processes, start-up strategy, information technology, and business issues.

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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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Mr. Ismail joined Gulf Capital in January 2014 and focuses on all GC Technology and fintech investments. Nabil has 12+ years of experience in investment and private Equity. He sits on the board of investments in the tech & fintech space as well as a member of several audit, IPO, and operating committees. Prior to joining Gulf Capital, he was a senior manager at TECOM Investments where he was involved in real estate investments, corporate finance, building an incubation program, and divestments of real estate assets and companies. Prior to that, Nabilworked as Research analyst at the Executive Office in Dubai. He also served as a judge on several SME awards and an adviser for Emirates Foundation. Nabil is an avid golfer and had represented the UAE National team in the past. Mr. Ismail holds a Master of Science in Accounting & Finance from London School of Economics and Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Davidson College. Nabil is a Chartered Financial Analyst.

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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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