Charles worked in the Financial Industry for over 15 years. At Goldman Sachs he looked after Single Family Office clients across EMEA. Prior to joining Goldman, Charles ran a London based Single Family Office which he set up for a long-term client of his. He is currently the CEO of The GCC Club, an invite-only network of best-in-class professionals in the UAE; https://thegccclub.com
Charles der Kinderen
His Excellency Dr. Tariq Bin Hendi is a Senior Partner at Global Ventures. He is also the Chairman of Edelman Middle East.Most recently, he served as the Chief Investment Officer at G42. In his role at G42, he was involved in various sectors, including Cloud, Data Centers, and various tech related transactions. Prior to G42, he was the Director General of the Abu Dhabi Investment Office, where he was tasked with expanding private sector activity in the Emirate.
He held leadership roles at various institutions, including Emirates NBD, Mubadala and Citibank. He also sits on a number of boards, including Gulf Capital, UAE University and Emirates Post Group.He holds a PhD in Economics from Imperial College London and graduate (Master’s) degrees from Columbia University and London Business School. He has an undergraduate degree in business management from Clayton State University. He is also a member of YPO.
His Excellency Dr. Tariq Bin Hendi
Dr. Enej Kuscer is a successful serial entrepreneur at the intersection of biotechnology, sustainable solutions, and healthcare. His background in genetics and synthetic biology serves as the foundation for his companies, which range from pioneering zero-waste bio-based solutions to breakthroughs in drug discovery for rare genetic conditions. Enej successfully founded, led, and exited multiple biotech companies before founding NU in 2021. As the founder and CEO of of NU, Enej is combining latest scientific discoveries with the power of AI and deep tech to push the boundaries of what’s possible in health optimisation and longevity, committed to driving transition to preventive personalised wellness and longevity future.
Enej Kuščer
Hi! I’m Sam, Co-Founder & CEO of bitewell – the nutrition intelligence company on a mission to improve the world’s health through food.
My interest in food’s impact on health is decades long. Born into an Italian-American family in New Jersey, my family’s kitchen table was the heart and soul of my childhood. During the late ’90s & early 2000s, my sister, my cousins, and I developed food allergies and intolerances that restricted the food we could enjoy. Instead of having a reductionist mindset on food, my grandmother retooled generations-old recipes to fit my family’s (many) dietary needs.
I empathize with the millions of people who struggle with dietary issues & food restrictions. With the same care that my grandmother applied to help my family navigate the complicated labyrinth of dietary ailments, I’m determined to help the world navigate improved health through food.
Samantha Alexander
Aljosa Jenko is a serial entrepreneur, C-level executive, investor, board director, advisor and digital advertising specialist. He has co-funded, invested in and advised several advertising, media, software, AI and technology companies across Europe, Asia and the United States. Aljosa co-founded and co-manages Aleph, the global leading representative of the largest digital platforms, from Meta, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Snapchat, X, Spotify to TikTok, exclusively representing them across 80+ selected emerging markets in APAC, MENA, LATAM, Africa and Europe. Finally, Aljosa is a General Partner in 326 Capital, a family office that invests in and empowers visionary entrepreneurs and fund managers.
Aljosa Jenko
Stephen is an Investment Partner and CTO at Lakestar. He is an experienced technologist and engineer with a passion for setting strategy, introducing technology innovation and building high-performing teams for ambitious global businesses.
Stephen leads our investing in Digitalisation and Deep Tech companies where he has led transactions in AI/ML, B2B SaaS, and Data Analytics companies among others. As CTO he additionally advises the broader investment team on wider opportunities whilst performing technology and product due diligence. As part of the Lakestar value-add platform, he advises portfolio companies on product and technology-related matters as well as setting Lakestar’s internal technology strategy.
Stephen Nundy
A serial entrepreneur, Dor Skuler has co-founded five ventures, the most recent being Intuition Robotics, following his passion to develop social AI companions to help older adults live healthier happier lives.
Dor made a mark on interactive broadcast technology with Zing Interactive Media (acquired by Invesco, NASDAQ: IVZ) and security software through Safend (acquired by Wave Systems Corp, NASDAQ: WAVX). Dor then joined Alcatel-Lucent to create and lead innovative ventures, most notably Cloudband (NYSE:ALU), the world’s first platform for Network Functions Virtualization (NFV), cited by Nokia as a major motive to purchase the French-American telecoms giant. Prior to CloudBand Dor was head of Corporate Development and Innovation as a VP Strategy at Alcatel Lucent’s. As Senior Vice President at Alcatel-Lucent.Dor is frequently quoted by the global press with appearances in: WSJ, Washington Post, CNBC, NBC, CBS, San Francisco Chronicle, The Guardian, FT and more.
Dor holds an MBA and Master’s of Science in Marketing from Temple University, has co-authored ‘Cloud Computing: Business Trends and Technologies’ published by Wiley in 2016 and holds board level advisory and director roles for several telecoms, cyber security and tech-led social impact ventures as well as being an active angel investor. Dor has authored over 30 patents.
Dor Skuler
I have worked in investment banking, invested into and helped build businesses in the MENA region, and most recently, worked in the asset management industry where I have raised over $10bn deployed into managed strategies, including venture capital, growth capital and public markets.Health tech has always been something which I’ve followed actively as an investment area due to its obvious impact on our lives, and my business Cure Capital Advisors was established to invest my own funds and syndicate investments into the space. I also run the family office of Bjoern von Siemens, a serial entrepreneur who is on a mission to radically transform healthcare to make it safer, smarter and more equitable.
David Cubbin
Roberto Croci is currently the Director of Value Creation & Transformation at the Public Investment Fund (PIF) in Riyadh-KSA. Prior to this role, he was the Managing Director of Microsoft for Startups in the MEA region with a vision to drive innovation and develop market-defining ideas in the Middle East. He previously served as Regional Head, Google Marketing Platforms – EMEA Emerging Markets (Middle East, Turkey, Israel, Russia, Africa), having started in Google Milan & London (6 months each), then promoted and transferred to Paris & Singapore and then to Dubai. He has been Awarded and Nominated twice by Google for “Best Coaching Manager” and “Best Googler Inspiring Hero” in 2018 and 2016, respectively. He is also an active conference speaker and panelist, especially around VC Investing and MENA Growth. He regularly speaks at prominent universities and within local school systems. Roberto is passionate about mentoring young people and helping them develop an entrepreneurial mindset to find solutions to problems they see in their community, country, or across the globe. Roberto has earned his Industrial Engineering Degree from Politecnico di Milano. He also did his Master in Business and Management from Duke University in 3 locations (US, UK, Singapore). Along with this, he has earned EMBA from Harvard Business School as well focused on leadership, change, and innovation.
Roberto Croci
Joaquin Rodriguez Torres Perrier is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Princeville Capital, a leading investment firm backing breakout-stage technology companies and pioneer in Climate Tech growth investing. Joaquin spends his time between Hong Kong, San Francisco and Berlin, where the firm has offices.
Joaquin spent his 30-year long career entirely focused on the technology sector working with private and public companies around the world in the areas of growth, international expansion, M&A, capital structure, capital raising and IPOs, among others.
He has deep sector expertise in a broad set of sectors which are a focus of the firm including advanced mobility, industrial decarbonization, energy transition, sustainable food as well as ecommerce, social and new media, digital health, fintech, enterprise technology and semiconductors.
Prior to starting Princeville Capital, Joaquin had a successful 16-year long career as an investment banker. In his last role, he was a Managing Director at Deutsche Bank based in Hong Kong and Head of Technology, Media & Telecom as well as Consumer/Retail, Investment Banking in Asia. He was also a member of the Corporate Finance Asia Executive Committee. Before that he was a Vice President in Lehman Brothers’ Global Technology Group based in Menlo Park, CA.
Joaquin Rodriguez Torres Perrier
SFO CIO. Olivier started his career as Equity Analyst at Quaker Securities. There he entered the fascinating world of equity trading, brokerage, investments and venture capital projects. After just a few years executing as a-performing broker, Olivier became partner and took the position of Head of Trading in 2010. With his boss and mentor, Mr Pierrangelo Bottinelli, Olivier had the privilege to be involved in important business ventures in technology, energy and biotech & pharmaceutics – investing, financing and supervising several prominent Private Equity projects. Besides his work in the Private Equity field & Brokerage, Olivier also provided wealth-management solutions for some large families, advising, investing and consolidating their assets. Finally Olivier is the Co-Founder and Partner of Reference Capital SA, based in Geneva, one of the largest VC adviser in Europe.
Olivier Mettraux
4x entrepreneur and angel investor. Currently chairman / co-founder at SaaS company Unaric and was formally CEO / Co-founder of Frontier Car Group, a $2 Billion USD auto e-commerce / SaaS company which raised over $300M from investors such as NEA, Partech, Balderton and TPG Growth, before exiting to Naspers / Prosus. Earlier experience from nordic investment group Kinnevik.
Peter Lindholm
Ashish is an experienced startup leaders who has helped lead two large Unicorns, Careem and Snapdeal over the past few years. Ashish is the CFO of Careem and has been instrumental in ensuring Careem ride hailing business became profitable and helped Careem evolve into a super app offering multiple services. Ashish recently led Careem’s spinout from Uber and bringing in e& as an investor in Careem alongside Uber. Ashish’s ambition is to ensure Careem goes from strength to strength and is the largest consumer internet platform in the region. Prior to this, Ashish was the Senior VP of Finance at Snapdeal, looking after finance, legal, M&A and investor relations. Ashish has been an Associate Partner with McKinsey and Company, Singapore, where he was responsible for defining strategies and M&A for TMT companies across Asia. Before McKinsey, Ashish was Director, Business Development & Performance Management for Telenor’s Asia operations based in Bangkok. Ashish has also served as Associate Director for 4 years at UBS London and Mumbai and at Altera’s California office as a Product Marketing Manager. Having advised and worked with firms across the Middle East, Europe, Asia and the United States in the past, Ashish brings over two decades of operational experience, management consulting, and investment banking in the TMT sector across Careem, McKinsey, Telenor, UBS, Snapdeal and Altera. Ashish holds an MBA from INSEAD and a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering.
Ashish Jain
Martin Linder started his career with Goldman Sachs in 2000 and joined Partners Group in 2002, a global private equity and real estate asset manager with current assets under management in excess of US$100 billion. In 2011 Martin joined as Director at Bank Vontobel, one of the leading Swiss banks with a presence in major financial hubs globally. In 2014 Martin moved to Dubai and established the Dubai office of an Emerging Markets focused Swiss originated fund manager where he grew assets under management to over US$3 billion. Martin is an attorney at law with admission to the Zurich courts and across Switzerland and with a Master of Laws degree cum laude from the University of Zurich.
Martin Linder
Ray is a senior banker with ABG Advisory, a US investment Banking Group, that is effectively the successor firm to the Corporate and Institutional business of Tony Blair Associates. (See Link above.)
Raymond O’Leary served as Managing Director and Head of the Africa Region, Head of Middle East Sovereign Wealth Coverage and Co-head of Turkey and Israel at Deutsche Bank corporate and investment bank between 2010-2017. He was responsible for client coverage where he originated and executed a myriad of vanilla and structured finance deals during that tenure.
Member of the CEEMEA Executive Management Group, Deutsche Bank SA Executive Committee and Branch Manager Deutsche Bank SA.
With more than two decades experience in the CEEMEA coverage business his successful track record with key CEEMEA clients has earned him trusted advisory relationships in the region, where he is recognized for creative problem solving.
His experience spans advisory, commercial banking, debt & equity capital markets, derivatives, loans, project finance, commodities financing & risk management in fx, rates and credit, and asset distribution.
His relationships in the region encompass CEO, President and Ministerial relationships, across Governments, SWFs, real money, sovereigns, DFIs, SOEs and corporates.
Before joining Deutsche Bank in 2010 he was a partner for five years at Solent Capital Partners LLP, an award-winning UK hedge fund & asset manager with peak assets under management of approximately US$8bn and over 200 institutional investors worldwide. Solent Capital focused on credit products: cash bonds, credit default swaps, tranche credit and credit options, as well as asset backed securities. Solent Capital was awarded Asset Manager of the Year for 2007 by Risk Magazine in the CDO category.
He started his career in corporate solutions at Citibank and later became one of the pioneers of the South African “asset-swap” market in the mid-90s principally to the SA Insurance sector.
He had previously headed several coverage businesses including the Middle East, Africa, Turkey & Israel unit at Bankers Trust London, the US Financial Institutions Group at Bankers Trust New York, the European Fixed-Income Emerging Markets unit at UBS Warburg and EMEA Global Markets Sales at BNY Mellon. He was most recently Head of Africa at VTB Capital in London
Ray has a Bachelor of Commerce 2.1 Honours degree in Accounting & Law from the National University of Ireland at University College Cork and a MBA from the La Salle Graduate School of Business.
He has the FINRA SIE, Series 82 & Series 8 (Supervisory) qualifications. ABG is a registered broker dealer and a member of FINRA.
Raymond O’Leary
More than 10 years of experience in financial services, specializing in Family Office and portfolio management. My track record includes sourcing, executing, and overseeing diverse investment portfolios for three large Family Offices, covering public equity, private equity, venture capital, real estate, and fixed income, both through funds and direct investments. Currently, I lead the establishment of Al Ghurair Family Office, where my responsibilities include shaping the investment strategy, establishing strong governance, and making effective investment decisions to enhance portfolio performance.
Souheil Ali Hassan
Mona is the Chief People Officer for Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA) cluster and at PwC Middle East. Mona is based in Dubai and is part of EMEA and Middle East Executive and Leadership boards. Mona is also a Consulting Partner, and led the Innovation and Entrepreneurship agenda in the Government and Public Sector practice in the GCC. Mona holds a Masters in Business Administration from INSEAD and a Bachelor in Economics from the American University of Beirut, she sits on the advisory board of Portulans Institute.
Mona Abou Hana
Damien co-founded Ankaa Ventures in 2021, leveraging 20 years of experience in M&A, Private Equity and Asset management in EMEA. Passionate about science and technology, and dedicated to deliver a positive impact, Damien is overlooking more particularly the Energy, Mobility and Deeptech investments. In his last position between 2014 and 2021, he was a Managing Director at Societe Generale, where he held several positions in Paris and Geneva within the Asset & Wealth management arm, managing more than EUR 25bn of AUM, and then in the Corporate and Investment banking division, where he headed out of Dubai the group’s global investment activities with Sovereign Wealth Funds and Family Offices from the Middle East and Russia. Over the last 10 years, Damien served as a Board member for several private and listed companies, applying high level of corporate governance and business development support. Damien holds two engineering degrees from Ecole Polytechnique and Mines de Paris in France and is a CFA charterholder.
Damien Pierron
Design Thinking for C-Suite | Innovation Strategy for Culture Change | Innovation Keynote Speaker | Certified Coach 20+ years experience in implementing user-driven innovation into businesses at a C-level to deliver team work under massive external pressure. Taking teams to the next level of corporate strategy & national branding. Strong mentor & executive coach, focusing on career change.