His Excellency Essa Kazim is the Governor of Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), Chairman of Borse Dubai, Deputy Chairman of Supreme Legislation Committee in Dubai and a member in Dubai Supreme Fiscal Committee.

H.E. Essa Kazim

Governor of DIFC

UAE

H.E. Hamad Bu amim has been the President & CEO of Dubai Chamber of Commerce & Industry since November 2006. He also serves as the Chairman of the World Chambers Federation - ICC in Paris. H.E. Buamim is also the Chairman of National General Insurance (PJSC), member of the board of directors of Dubai World, and Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC) Authority.

H.E. Hammad Bu amim

President & CEO

Dubai Chamber of Commerce

UAE

ARIF AMIRI

Chief Executive Officer

DIFC

UAE

A serial entrepreneur with an impressive track record of successful startups. He launched Binance in July 2017 and grew Binance into the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world.

CHANGPENG ZHAO

Chief Executive Officer

Binance

Singapore

In February 2015, Mr. Alain G. Bejjani was named Chief Executive Officer of Majid Al Futtaim Holding. Under Mr. Bejjani’s leadership, the company grew its revenues, profits, employment and geographic footprint; established the Majid Al Futtaim Leadership Institute as a centre of excellence for developing current and future leaders; established the Majid Al Futtaim School of Analytics & Technology as a platform for leadership in understanding, predicting and responding to customer preferences; among other initiatives.

Alain Bejjani

CEO

Majid Al Futtaim Holding

UAE

Salmaan is the Chief Business Development Officer for the Dubai International Financial Centre. He is a member of the management team and is responsible for overseeing the DIFC client portfolio as well as the DIFC’s growth strategy. Salmaan has 25+ years of experience in North America, Asia and MENA with leadership roles at global firms such as Oliver Wyman, Citibank, American Express and PwC.

Salmaan Jaffery

Chief Business Development Officer

DIFC

UAE

Ghafur oversees the Bank of America’s capital markets sales, trading and research, corporate and investment banking, and global treasury services across MENA. Ghafur has led some of the bank’s largest transactions, such as the IPOs of Saudi Aramco, ADNOC Distribution, ADNOC Drilling, Al Yah Satellite Company, Emaar Malls, and Emaar Development.

Arshad Ghafur

President – MENA

Bank of America

UAE

René is responsible for coordinating the strategic approach across Standard Chartered and SC Ventures, aligning innovation and capability delivery to provide clients with safe access to digital asset solutions. René is leading the development of Digital Asset products across the Financial Markets business including crypto trading, broking, and custody. René has extensive experience in building innovative products across payments, merchant platforms, digital assets and trading and has partnered with fintechs to build market leading services.

René Michau

Global Head of Digital Assets

Standard Chartered

Singapore

Sandeep Chouhan is a business transformation leader with an exceptional track record of performance acceleration, business turnaround, digitization & cost efficiency with over 34 years of experience at blue-chip banks across mature & emerging markets. He has worked with Barclays, Citibank, Morgan Stanley, Commercial Bank, Mashreq Bank, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank and Tata managing businesses in 33 countries across US, Europe, Asia, Middle East and Africa.

Sandeep Chouhan

Former Group Chief Operating Officer

Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank

UAE

Henri Arslanian is the former PwC Crypto Leader and Partner, the former Chairman of the FinTech Association of Hong Kong and an Adjunct Professor at the University of Hong Kong where he teaches the first FinTech university course globally. Henri advises many of the world’s leading crypto exchanges, investors, financial institutions and tech firms on their FinTech and crypto initiatives as well numerous governments, regulators and central banks on Fintech and crypto regulatory and policy matters.

Henri Arslanian

Managing Partner

Nine Blocks Capital Management

Hong Kong

Srinath is part of the Amazon Payments’ leadership team at Amazon UAE with 18+ years of experience in Product, Operations and Business Development in E-commerce, Banking and Fintech. He is currently working at Amazon UAE as Head of Product Management (Middle East & Africa) for Amazon Retail / Digital and Amazon Payment Services business.

Srinath Hariharan

Head of Product Management (Payments) – MEA

Amazon Payment Services

UAE

With over 25 years of regulatory experience, Mr Smith is responsible for overseeing the DFSA’s strategic planning, including its annual business planning cycle, and the organisation’s approach to setting its Risk Tolerance and managing non-firm specific risks. He is a member of the IAIS Financial Stability and Technical Committee, and is also involved in IAIS working groups.

Peter Smith

Managing Director – Policy and Strategy

Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA)

UAE

Faisal comes from a financial background where he was involved in the investments sector since the beginning of his career in 2007. He progressed during his time with Kuwait Finance Center (Markaz) where he engaged in Private Banking Services, working mainly with clients in the investments sector. In addition, Faisal was closely involved in the launch of multiple tech startups in the region. Today, Faisal is the Senior Vice President at Tap Payments.

Faisal Al Haroun

Senior Vice President

Tap Payments

UAE

Faraz is the CEO of noon, the region’s homegrown e-commerce platform and leading online shopping destination. noon is now an ecosystem of services, built to help empower and inspire a generation of diverse digital-first consumers and businesses. noon has rapidly built deep native capabilities in its marketplace, fulfillment, logistics, and payment platforms to help drive technology innovations to solve challenges in the region.

Faraz Khalid

CEO

Noon

UAE

Mohamed Imtiyaz is part of the Amazon Payments’ leadership team at Amazon UAE with 15+ years of experience in E-commerce and Fintech domain. He is currently working at Amazon UAE as Head of Business Development (MENA) for Amazon Payment Services business. In his current role, he is responsible for business development and go-to-market strategy for Amazon Payment Services across 8 MENA countries running a multi-billion-dollar business with full ownership of the P&L as well as strategic initiatives like international expansion.

Mohamed Imtiyaz

Head Of Business Development

Amazon Payment Services

UAE

Serial entrepreneur Abdulmajeed is the Co-Founder and CEO of Tamara – the Middle East’s leading buy now pay later (BNPL) startup counting millions of millennials and Gen Z as customers across Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait. After securing an initial $6 million seed funding round, Tamara last year raised US$ 110 million for its Series A led by payments giant Checkout.com – the largest investment ever raised by a Saudi startup and the largest Series A round raised by a Middle East startup.

Abdulmajeed Alsukhan

Co-Founder & CEO

Tamara

KSA

Andrew Matushkin is a Head of Global Business Development at B2Broker Group of Companies. Andrew has a substantial experience in financial market, including fintech, brokerage and payment business. Andrew has been a part of B2Broker group from early stages and has an extensive knowledge about FinTech industry.

Andrew Matushkin

Global Business Development Manager

B2Broker

UAE

Arik Shtilman is CEO and co-founder of Rapyd, the leading fintech-as-a-service platform powering local payments anywhere in the world by bringing together 900-plus payment methods in over 100 countries. Arik founded Rapyd in 2016 with a singular goal in mind: to help businesses thrive in any local market around the globe.

Arik Shtilman

CEO and Co-Founder

Rapyd

England

Ronit Ghose

Global Head of Banking, Fintech & Digital Assets

Citi Global Insights

UAE

Rabih Khoury is the Managing Partner and Chief Exit Officer of Middle East Venture Partners (MEVP), which is the MENA regions oldest and largest technology venture capital firm. Mr. Khoury has extensive experience in private equity and advisory, having executed more than US$5 billion in transactions and raised more than US$2 billion in capital.

Rabih Khoury

Managing Partner and Chief Exit Officer

Middle East Venture Partners

UAE

Bryan Stirewalt is a senior managing director at K2 Integrity. With 35 years of experience across the public and private sectors—including 25 years of international experience in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia—Bryan works with corporations and regulators across the globe to develop best-in-class financial crime risk management solutions.

Bryan Stirewalt

Sr. Managing Director

K2 Integrity

USA

Sharif El-Badawi is the Chief Executive Officer of the newly established Dubai Future District Fund, an evergreen venture fund of funds and direct investment vehicle of the emirate of Dubai. The fund is anchored by Dubai Future Foundation and the Dubai International Financial Centre to invest in the Future of Finance and Future Economies with the aim of bolstering economic development in Dubai, the UAE and the broader region.

Sharif El-Badawi

Chief Executive Officer

Dubai Future District Fund

UAE

Arshad carries over 24 years of experience with exchanges and MTFs, including 18 years in the Middle East. He was part of the core team that created three unicorns, including two exchanges and one fintech startup. He has established multiple exchanges, including the Bahrain Financial Exchange where he was the founding director and CEO, and was instrumental in gaining all regulatory approvals, assembling the team and establishing the infrastructure, in addition to leading the entire business since 2008.

Arshad Khan

CEO

Yoshi Markets Limited

UAE

In his capacity as Head of Group Strategy at DIFC Authority, Christian is responsible to develop and continuously evolve the strategic agenda and initiatives of DIFC in line with the UAE’s commitment to innovation and development of future economies. As part of this vision, Christian also furthers in developing DIFC’s core and future of finance proposition and leading a number of initiatives to move the innovation agenda towards a broader conversation about the future of finance.

Christian Kunz

SVP - Strategy, DIFC Authority

DIFC

UAE

Mirna Sleiman is the founder and CEO of Fintech Galaxy, an open innovation platform that enables open banking and finance by offering a cloud-based innovation platform, an open API sandbox, and a global fintech marketplace.

Mirna Sleiman

Founder & CEO

Fintech Galaxy

UAE

Marwan, a Crypto Pioneer is also the CEO of Foresee Payment Services LLC which is the UAE’s first crypto commodity payment processing company. In February 2018, Marwan founded the region's first crypto over the counter crypto trading desk with the establishment of his company OTC Supply DMCC.

DR MARWAN ALZAROUNI

CEO

Dubai Blockchain Center

UAE

Olivier Crespin is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Zand. Since taking on this role in 2018, Crespin 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.

Olivier Crespin

Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer

Zand

UAE

Talal Tabbaa is the CEO and Co-Founder of CoinMENA, a regulated crypto-currency exchange under the Central Bank of Bahrain. He also serves on the Board of Middle East Payment Services (MEPS) in Amman, Jordan and on the advisory board of the Dubai Chamber of Digital Economy .He also co-founded Jibrel Network, a blockchain development company based in Zug, Switzerland. Prior to crypto,Talal worked in financial and supply chain consulting services at PwC as well as managing a private investment fund in Saudi Arabia.

Talal Tabbaa

CEO and Co-Founder

CoinMENA

UAE

Nameer Khan is a leading thought leader in the MENA region, and serves as an Executive Advisor to leading fintech's / regulatory authorities. As the Chairman of MFTA, Nameer has strategically partnered with the regional regulators and central banks to establish a robust fintech framework. His area of focus for 2022 is enabling Sustainability in the world of Fintech to enable impact across the FI landscape.

Nameer Khan

Chairman

MENA Fintech Association

UAE

Muneer Khan

Partner

Simmons & Simmons

UAE

Ken leads the DFSA’s innovation and technology risk supervision programmes. This includes overseeing the Innovation Testing Licence programme (a.k.a. regulatory sandbox); the supervision of innovative technology-enabled financial services providers such as payment services providers, crowdfunding platforms, automated wealth management, and DLT-based product offerings; and the cyber risk supervision programme.

Ken Coghill

Director and Head of IT Risk Supervision

Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA)

UAE

Anubhav has over 21 years of experience in Retail Banking and domestic payments network, predominantly managing the digital products – including Mobility, ATMs, Cards and Net banking. He has managed the products such as Unified Payments Interface (UPI), Immediate Payments Service (IMPS), BHIM and led the business development of NFS ATM network. He has led a dynamic and creative team of product managers bringing in novelty to the existing platforms while managing the costs and Revenue margins.

Anubhav Sharma

Head of Business Development & Marketing

NPCI International Payments Limited

India

Amrita Sethi

First NFT Artist in the Middle East

Creator of SoundBYTEs(c)

UAE

Cal is perhaps one of the very few international technology lawyers with expertise in ICO compliance and strategy. A law graduate from London, Cal is a UK lawyer and US multi-state litigation expert. In 2016, he left a top California law firm to start Gresham International, a compliance and strategy firm specializing in the cryptocurrency.

CAL EVANS

Founder

Gresham International

UK

Nadeem Ladki has over 20 years of experience in financial services, leading high-performing global teams and delivering impactful, strategic partnerships. During his time at Deutsche Bank, Nadeem worked in the US, Europe and the Middle East, delivering FX and Treasury solutions to Institutional and Corporate clients. More recently, he was a Managing Director at Standard Chartered Bank leading Partnerships and Client Solutions for the Corporate and Investment Bank's digital transformation agenda.

Nadeem Ladki

Executive Director – Business Development & Strategic Partnerships

Binance

UAE

Deepak Mehra is the Head of Investment at Commercial Bank of Dubai where he has worked since 2007. In his more than 30 years of banking experience, he has held senior positions with Citibank, Dubai Bank, and Credit Suisse. Deepak is an engineering graduate from the Indian Institute of Technology in 1989 and MBA from IMT in 1991. He is a regular speaker on Bloomberg TV and Dubai Eye FM radio, as well as in seminars and conferences internationally and is the author of a successful career self-help book “Ready, Steady, Go!”

Deepak Mehra

Head of Investments

Commercial Bank of Dubai

UAE

Feras Jalbout

CEO & Founder

Baraka

UAE

Talal Bayaa is the CEO and co-founder of Bayzat, a UAE based technology start-up that empowers businesses with smart insurance, HR and payroll solutions. As CEO, Talal is responsible for providing the vision, overall leadership and strategic management for the company as well as ensuring the highest quality of the services provided.

Talal Bayaa

CEO and Co-founder

Bayzat

UAE

Basil Al Askari

Co-Founder & CEO

MidChains

UAE

At Sequoia, GV Ravishankar advises on both technology as well as non-technology investments. He’s deeply interested in technology’s role in helping to drive efficiencies, reduce costs and improve access in consumer and healthcare markets. He also serves on the boards of BYJUs, Capital Float, Eruditus Learning, Faces Cosmetics, Five Star finance, Finova Capital, HomeLane, India Shelter Finance Corporation, among many others.

Ravishankar GV

Managing Director

Sequoia Capital

India

Before founding Souqalmal.com in 2012, Musa set up the consulting arm of MasterCard Middle East and Africa. Previously Musa held had various roles including marketing, financial literacy, customer advocacy and e- commerce for GE’s financial arm, GE Money. She led the first online financial literacy initiative in the U.K., Moneybasics.co.uk., later relocating to the Middle East in 2008 where she consulted for Bain & Company Middle East, focusing on financial services projects such as growth strategies for banks in the region.

Ambareen Musa

Chief Executive Officer

Souqalmal

UAE

Mosam Gadia is responsible for the development of fintech products and services including noon’s homegrown payment platform, noon pay. A business management and finance professional with more than 15 years of experience in the industry, has worked passionately to drive next-gen innovation in the fintech field, playing an integral role in the creation of noon pay - a secure, speedy, and efficient online payment platform from noon.

Mosam Gadia

Senior Vice President

Noon Payments

UAE

Philip Bahoshy is the founder and CEO of MAGNiTT, the first startup data platform serving founders and investors across emerging venture markets. Raised in the UK with Iraqi origins, Philip obtained an MBA from INSEAD in 2013 and a BSc in Economics from the London School of Economics.

Philip Bahoshy

CEO

MAGNiTT

UAE

Karl is a strategic business leader with over 20 years’ experience in building market presence and driving revenue growth across Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East, and Africa. Recognized as an industry transformational leader across the Digital Economy, Fintech, Innovation, Partnership, Venture and Investment space; Karl has developed global and regional ecosystem partnerships across a broad spectrum of industries in the government, enterprise, and start-up sector.

Karl Tlais

Strategic Advisor & Founder

iAdvisory

UAE

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.

Peter Englund

Senior Executive Officer
Head of Commercial Insurance Middle East

Zurich Insurance Company Ltd

UAE

Rachel is a Senior Advisor at SkyBridge Capital. Based in the Middle East since 2008, Rachel spent almost a decade at Mubadala Investment Company - one of the Middle East’s largest sovereign wealth funds - in their Capital Markets & Treasury team. A CFA Charterholder and chartered treasurer, in 2014 the Association of Corporate Treasurers named Rachel “The One to Watch” in Treasury.

Rachel Pether

Senior Advisor

Skybridge Capital

UAE

Nadine co-founded Sarwa after years of consultancy and executive roles in growth marketing with a track record of projects delivered for clients ranging from government entities such as the Office of HH the Crown Prince of Dubai and multi-nationals such as Nestle. Prior to that, she worked for Dubai Tourism and Commerce Marketing, Government of Dubai in retail strategy and strategic alliances where she managed city wide activations and festivals.

Nadine Mezher

CMO, Co-Founder

Sarwa

UAE

A seasoned CEO, CTO, CISO, Advisor, and author of the book “La Face Cachée du Crédit”, with experience in Blockchain, DeFi, NFT, Cyber Security, AI, IoT, 5G, Digital Twin (Meta Verse) Cloud, Disaster Recovery, Bigdata, he created the powerful framework A6 of security: Assess, Assess, Apply, Administer, Awareness & Agility.

Jorge Sebastião

Project Advisor, Co-Founder Global Blockchain Organization, Co-Founder EcoX

CISSP

UAE

Kevin is the founder and CEO of Semper Fortis Esports PLC and GIMA Group Inc., an Alternative Investment Advisory based in Newport Beach, California and Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

KEVIN SOLTANI

Founder & Managing Partner

GIMA Group Inc.

USA

Danielle Szetho is Global Head of FinTech Client Advisory at Standard Chartered, helping the Bank be a better partner for leading FinTechs and TechFins globally. She is also a founding Advisory Board member of the Emerging Payments Association of Asia, driving industry growth, standards development and regulatory advancement in payments. Prior to Standard Chartered, Danielle was founding CEO of FinTech Australia, Australia’s premier fintech industry association.

Danielle Szetho

Global Head of FinTech Client Advisory

Standard Chartered

Singapore

Founder of Lean Technologies to help catalyze the flourishing fintech ecosystem across the Middle East, achieved by distilling critical yet fragmented financial infrastructure into an intuitive and universal API suite. As a Venture Capitalist, his focus and subsequent investments were in fintech across the Middle East, Silicon Valley, and Europe.

Hisham Al-Falih

CEO & Co-founder

Lean Technologies

KSA

Wim Torfs is a founding partner in Glowfish Ventures, headquartered in Dubai. He has 20+ years of international experience, mostly in the field of technology venture building, investments and management consulting. Within his role at Glowfish Ventures, he has actively co-founded several leading technology ventures within the Middle East as well as Glowfish Ventures’ technology labs and in-house incubator, creating a portfolio of ventures worth over USD 150m.

Wim Torfs

Founding Partner

Glowfish Ventures

UAE

A thirteen-year veteran of IBM in Middle East and Africa, Saqr Ereiqat is the former Head of Public Sector Consultancy in Dubai, where Saqr is recognized as a pioneer in enterprise blockchain, being a co-author of the first IBM blockchain for government methodology and helped define the official government blockchain strategy of Dubai.

Saqr Ereiqat

Co-Founder & Managing Partner

Crypto Oasis

UAE

With 35 years’ experience working with Finance, FMCG data, Loyalty and Telecoms, Emmet Kelly has moved from Statistician to Digital Market Research entrepreneur, through to the App Development, Fraud, Regulatory, Compliance and Loyalty sectors. Since 2014 he has held director positions in Banking and Telecoms corporates in Ireland, the UK and the Middle East including AIB, Barclaycard, Eircom, EITC/DU, and Meteor.

Emmet Kelly

Chief Data Officer

YAP

UAE

Akshay serves as Head of Innovation & Design for Visa for 90+ countries in Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (CEMEA). He leads teams of product experts, designers, engineers, and digital commerce specialists based in Visa’s Innovation Centre in Dubai, and Visa’s Innovation Studios in Moscow and Nairobi. The Innovation & Design team co-creates new commerce use cases with products with banks, internet companies, FinTechs and merchants across the region. Akshay also holds 7 global patents in the FinTech and payments, and has served in various digital leadership capacities in Asia-Pacific and EMEA.

Akshay Chopra

Vice President, Head of Innovation & Design

Visa

UAE

Joseph Dallago is the Co-Founder & CEO
of Rain, the first licensed cryptocurrency exchange in the Middle East. Dallago brings over a decade of experience in technology and entrepreneurship having founded and exited two startups prior to Rain. A passionate serial entrepreneur with deep insights and knowledge of cryptocurrency, Joseph has followed the bitcoin revolution from the early days. In September of 2017, Rain began working closely with the Central Bank of Bahrain(CBB)and became the very first licensed crypto company in the Middle East, establishing the needed trust to unlock crypto in the region.

Joseph Dallago

Co-Founder & CEO

Rain

UAE

Hosam is the Co-Founder and CEO of
Tabby, the leading consumer payments fintech operational across Saudi Arabia, UAE and Egypt with over $120m in equity raised. Previously, Hosam was Co-Founder and CEO of Namshi, the Middle East’s premier online fashion destination which was fully acquired by Emaar Malls in 2019. Prior to co-founding Namshi, he worked in Private Equity with Waha Capital in Abu Dhabi, managing Waha's portfolio of assets. Hosam earned a Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering from Canada’s Queen's University and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School in Boston.

Hosam Arab

Co-Founder & CEO

Tabby

UAE

Salim Awan is a seasoned payments, cards and financial industry professional with over 20 years in the industry, including 14 years at different leadership roles in the GCC. He worked with several of the Middle East’s leading banks and financial institutions, encompassing card issuing, and acquiring / processing portfolios, and also in the FinTech start-up sector agency banking and micro lending.

Salim Awan

Managing Director - Institutional Payments

Magnati

UAE

Sufiyan Al Issa

Regional Head of Operations

International Finance Corporation (IFC)

UAE

Melissa C. Guzy is the Founder and Managing Partner of Arbor Ventures. Before founding of Arbor Ventures, Melissa was a Managing Partner and a member of the Investment Committee at VantagePoint Capital Partners, where she invested in early stage technology companies in Asia, Europe and Silicon Valley. Her current board positions include EverCompliant, Fundbox, InCountry, Tabby, Planck Re and TrueAccord. Melissa was the investor board member of Paidy which was acquired by Paypal for US$ 2.88 billion.

Mellisa Guzy

Co-Founder & Managing Partner

Arbor Ventures

UAE

Bhavin is a Partner in FRA’s Dubai office. He has more than 18 years’ experience in professional services, focusing on Financial Institutions, Sovereign Wealth Funds, Investment Companies, Development Institutions, and Regulators. Based in the region since 2009, Bhavin has served clients across Asia, Middle East, Africa, America, and Europe. Bhavin is a Harvard Business School alum and he has also been awarded as a Young Global Leader (YGL) by the World Economic Forum.

Bhavin Shah

Partner & Head of MEA

Forensic Risk Alliance (FRA)

UAE

In 1998, Sameer started his professional career with India’s largest mortgage finance company, HDFC (Housing Development Finance Corporation) Limited as a Management Trainee and has traversed critical junctures over 18 years to become the first CEO of HDFC International Life and Re Company Limited in January 2016.

Sameer Yogishwar

CEO

HDFC International Life & Re

India

Alex Baghdijan is Partner and Co-Founder at the full-service marketing and content creation agency, Funday. He leads Funday’s web3 division and advises some of the largest web3 brands, from crypto exchanges to blockchain foundations to cutting-edge consumer applications. Through Funday, Alex launched Moonboots, a newsletter for those new to crypto, as well as gmgn supply co., a DAO focused on launching 100 community-based CPG brands.

Alex Baghdjian

Partner & Co-Founder

Funday

USA

Paul "The Profit" Dawalibi is a technology entrepreneur, investor, and gamer, with over 20 years of venture capital and startup experience. He is currently the CEO of Holodeck Media - the leading global media company focused exclusively on metaverse, gaming and crypto content. This unique combination of skills and experience allow him to understand and communicate the business opportunity around gaming and metaverse in a way that has never been done before.

Paul Dawalibi

CEO

Holodeck Ventures

UAE

Khurram Jafree is Head of Products and Services for Middle East & Africa at BNP Paribas Wealth Management, based in Dubai. Prior to joining BNP Paribas Wealth Management, he was Director and Head of Investment Advisory, Middle East for Barclays Wealth in Dubai and before that Chair of the Investment Committee, Investment Director at Gerrard Investment Management, Barclays Wealth in London responsible for all Discretionary Portfolio Management activity.

Khurram Jafree

Head of Products & Services

BNP Paribas Wealth Management Middle East & Africa

Gordon Einstein is a hybrid Crypto-Attorney, Technologist, and Enterprise Strategist. Gordon received his undergraduate degree in Politics in 1991 from Brandeis University in Boston and then received his JD in 1995 from the USC Gould School of Law in Los Angeles. Gordon is also a proud Eagle Scout, having served in Boy Scout Troop 223. Gordon's law practice initially centered on startup, venture capital, investment banking, regulatory compliance, intellectual property and general business law.

Gordon Einstein

Founding Partner

CryptoLaw Partners

UAE

Lisa Nyman is the Senior Director of Digital Partnerships, Fintech & Ventures for Central & Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (CEMEA) for Visa. Based in Dubai, UAE, Lisa leads the business development with key strategic partners, primarily the global tech giants, as well as regional players within the neo-banking and mobile wallet space across the ˃90 CEMEA markets.

Lisa Nyman

Senior Director, Digital Partnerships, Fintech & Ventures

Visa

UAE

Sara Hamdan is a former Merrill Lynch banker, New York Times journalist and editor at Google. After winning a Netflix short story award, she also received the Emirates Literature Foundation writers fellowship and is currently working on her debut novel. She is a wife to a crypto enthusiast and a mum of two.

Sara Hamdan

Editor

UAE

Federica is a Senior Regulatory & Government Affairs professional, with extensive experience engaging with public authorities in the UK, EU and Middle East, where she currently serves 18 markets with American Express. She is specialized in payments; climate change & sustainability; data protection; and digital policy. In parallel, she is chairing the Sustainable Fintech Alliance, the vertical of the MENA Fintech Association dedicated to sustainability.

Federica Piazza

Regional Head of Regulatory Affairs

American Express Middle East

Bahrain

Sultan was appointed as the CEO of Instant Cash in March 2020. Instant Cash is a member of United Fintech Solutions, which is the financial services arm of the Emirates Post Group.

Sultan Al Mahmoud

CEO

Instant Cash FZE

UAE

Alper Celen is the founder of Enhance Ventures, a venture studio for the future of commerce and finance in the Middle East, North Africa, Pakistan, and Turkey. Enhance’s portfolio includes JOI GIFTS, CLEVR, BLUE TERRA among others. Previous to Enhance, Alper was the founder of FOODONCLICK.com in Saudi Arabia (acquired by DELIVERYHERO in 2015). Alper is an active high-tech startup investor and advisor. His portfolio includes BUGLANCE, MUBI, ZENSION, and TAGVANCE.

Alper Celen

Founding Partner

Enhance Ventures

UAE

Alexia is Executive Chairman at the Abed Group, a family office whose primary pillar - Abed Ventures - runs the Caribbean’s largest blockchain RegTech incubator and accelerator comprising 14 blockchain companies. Alexia is a Board Member of Hut 8 Mining, which is Nasdaq & TSX-listed, and is one of North America’s largest, innovation-focused digital asset mining pioneers. Alexia is also an Advisor on the FinTech Advisory Board of the Government of Bermuda.

Alexia Hefti

Executive Chairman

Abed Ventures

UAE

Imane Adel is a senior leader in fintech and payment technologies who has driven growth in financial services across the Middle East & Africa region. She has prioritized leading value-based digital transformation in the region for a more financially literate and inclusive world. Imane has held positions at Yahoo!, and Visa.

Imane Adel

Executive Vice President – Strategy

Paymob

UAE

Remo Giovanni-Abbondandolo is SVP MENA at Checkout.com. He has over ten years’ experience supporting entrepreneurs and business leaders to scale their businesses across the MENA, Africa and APAC regions. At Checkout.com, Remo is responsible for expanding the business across the Middle East and North Africa region.

Remo Giovanni-Abbondandolo

SVP MENA

Checkout.com

UAE

with over 20 years of experience in various types of investigations, Yaron Hazan fills the position of VP Regulatory Affairs at ThetaRay. Yaron is leading ThetaRay activities at the GCC. Among his diverse skills and knowledge, Yaron’s responsibilities include aligning product features and functionalities to customer needs, regulatory engagement directly as well as in collaboration with customers, Participation at closed events conducted by FATF and BIS, and contribution to EU commission research on TF.

Yaron Hazan

VP Regulatory Affairs

ThetaRay

UAE

Faisal is the Chairman of The Latest Ventures, a regulated Venture Capital investment manager based in DIFC. He was previously the Founder and Executive Chairman of Ithmar Capital and Amanat Holdings PJSC. In addition, Faisal served as Chairman and board member of multiple businesses regionally and internationally including a FTSE 250 healthcare company that he lead its listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE).

Faisal Belhoul

Chairman

The Latest Ventures

UAE

Hubertus Thonhauser is Chairman and Partner in Ghaf Capital, a leading Web3 focused venture capital firm in Dubai as well as Founding Partner of Enabling Future, a venture capital firm investing primarily in fin-tech, market-places and blockchain infrastructure in the US and Europe.

Hubertus Thonhauser

Chairman and Partner

Ghaf Capital

UAE

Ibtissam Ouassif is the Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer of Cashew, one of the region's leading “buy now, pay later” (BNPL) payment providers. As one of the youngest female founders of a tech company in the Middle East, she leads a team focused on building products that provide consumers with more flexibility and financial power by using Buy Now, Pay Later.

Ibtissam Ouassif

Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer

Cashew Payments

UAE

Alexandra Topalian is a Canadian presenter for conferences and other corporate events such as awards ceremonies and expos, where she also interviews exhibitors, partners, and attendees. With over 25 years of experience in north America, Southeast Asia and the MENA region.

ALEXANDRA TOPALIAN

Emcee, Presenter, Moderator, Interviewer

UAE