2017 | boostmena

1st November 2017

FIVE Palm Jumeirah Dubai

BOOSTMENA THEN AND NOW

BOOSTMENA started as the region's first investors-only tech conference in 2015 and has featured three editions, presented more than 36 local and international speakers, and gathered 500+ attendees. BOOSTMENA 2018 will not only feature an Investors Day, but will also gather the country's top talent for a Founders Day, the first in the region. Innovation is a key pillar to our vision and we promise an innovatively engaging two day conference that will shed the light on how a tech revolution is underway in the region.

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DAVID ROWAN

Editor-at-large

WIRED UK

Futurist and journalist, David Rowan has taken 120 flights in the past year to investigate the companies and entrepreneurs changing our world, recently spending time with the founders of WhatsApp, LinkedIn, Google, Spotify, Xiaomi, Nest, Twitter and countless other disruptive startups from Silicon Valley to Shenzhen, and MENA. David is Editor-at-large and founding Editor-in-chief of WIRED magazine (UK edition).

JEFF HARBACH

President & CEO

Kauffman Fellows

Jeff has been an entrepreneur and investor since 2002 and an angel investor himself with the Vegas Valley Angels. He has led multiple startups, including two 7-Eleven stores, a luxury furniture store and interior design firm, and a private country club golf network! Jeff leads Kauffman in delivering a world-class experience for each Fellow, providing leading-edge content around capital formation, and creating networking opportunities.

ALEX BANGASH

Founder

Trusted Insight

Alex Bangash is the founder of Trusted Insight, the largest online asset management platform for institutional investors. He is also the managing director of TI Platform Fund, an online venture capital fund-of-fund. Prior to founding Trusted Insight, Alex was also the founder of Rumson Group, an advisor to institutional investors. Alex has helped invest over $1 billion in over 50 funds.

NICO BERMAN

VP of Advertising & Partner

Mercado Libre & KaszeK

Partner at KaszeK Ventures, Nicolas "Nico" Berman is a legend in Latin America’s tech world. Before joining KaszeK Ventures, the largest fund in Latin America, as a partner in 2012, he spent 13 years at MercadoLibre as VP of Advertising and VP of Marketing. MercadoLibre went public in 2007, the first tech company in LATAM to IPO. Today it's worth over $12 billion, worth over 10x what it was the day of its IPO.

KLAUS HOMMELS

Founder & CEO

Lakestar

As founder and CEO of Lakestar, Klaus has been involved in investments such as Skype, Facebook and Spotify. Klaus invests in European and U.S. companies that show fast international growth. He invested in early 2011 in Airbnb, as well as Casacanda, which Fab.com acquired in 2012. His other recent investments include Harry's and Algomi. Before Lakestar, Klaus helped establish Freenet and was a venture partner of Benchmark Capital Europe.

NICOLAS BRUSSON

CEO

BlaBlaCar

Cofounder and CEO of BlaBlaCar, Nicolas is a force to be reckoned with. As the CEO of France’s star unicorn (the country only has one other), Nicolas and his co-founders have led the company to 45 million members across 22 countries in Europe. Nicolas is a strong advocate of agile structures that allow quick iterations in fast-growing environments. BlaBlaCar is the world's leading long distance carpooling service, connecting drivers with empty seats to people travelling the same way.

MAGNUS OLSSON

Cofounder & Managing Director

Careem

Magnus looks after product and technology. A geek at heart, Magnus started his first company at the age of fifteen. After moving to the Middle East in 2006, Magnus couldn’t wait to ditch his suit and tie and roll his sleeves up. You will often find him picking up a customer phone call, or chatting to a Captain about his day. Careem is his passion and he loves to hear customer feedback at every opportunity.

LUC VINCENT

VP Engineering

Lyft

Luc, currently VP of Engineering at Lyft, is leading the Mapping and Marketplace engineering efforts, ensuring that real-time transportation network continues to provide the best possible experience for millions of passengers and drivers through dispatch, matching, pricing, and mapping innovation. Luc was most recently at Google, and brings more than 25 years of experience leading world-class engineering teams.

KHALFAN BELHOUL

CEO

Dubai Future Accelerator

Khalfan Belhoul is CEO of the Dubai Future Accelerators and the Investment Arm at the Dubai Future Foundation. Prior to that, he was Vice President – Strategy at Dubai Holding, where he was responsible for formulating Dubai Holding’s strategic direction and enhance its investments and its role in the diversification of Dubai’s non-oil economy. Before joining Dubai Holding, Khalfan founded the Belhoul Investment Office, responsible for rolling-out a sophisticated asset allocation strategy spanning private equity, alternative investments, real estate and conventional assets.

ABDULRAHMAN TARABZOUNI

CEO & Managing Director

STV

Abdulrahman is the CEO & MD of STV, a $500M tech venture fund anchored by STC, the largest telecom company in the Middle East. He closed his first transaction in December 2016, and co-led Careem's (Series D) investment round at a >$1B valuation. Previously, he led new business development and global partnerships for Google's wireless connectivity & communications efforts. He has also co-founded a number of technology ventures in the US.

ABDULRAHMAN ADDAS

Chief Corporate Development Officer

Majid Al Futtaim

Abdulrahman has been Chief Corporate Development Officer at Majid Al Futtaim Holding LLC since July 2015. Previously, he was a Partner at Bain & Company, Inc and has over 10 years of experience in strategy consulting and corporate finance advisory in Europe and the Middle East. He has served on some of the most prominent telecoms and media companies in Saudi and the UAE, and advised on a broad range of topics including strategy development and planning, joint-ventures structuring.

JUNAID WAHEDNA

CEO

Wahed Invest

Junaid is the CEO and founder of Wahed Invest, the world's first Sharia-compliant robo-advisor. We believe he might have founded MENA's very next unicorn! He has a Graduate degree from the department of Industrial Engineering & Operations Research from Columbia University and is the holder of CAIA, CMA, and CIMA CDIF designations. Junaid is certified as an ethically compliant wealth advisor.

SONIA WEYMULLER

Partner

VentureSouq

Sonia is a founding partner of VentureSouq, a UAE-based early stage investing platform that has funded tech ventures from the US, UK, Africa, India and the MENA region. Previously, she headed Advertising for Turner Broadcasting’s portfolio of children’s platforms across MENA and Africa. Sonia has also worked with Viacom’s Emerging Markets’ Strategy Group and Microsoft’s Strategy and M&A team in London. She is a Charter Member for TiE’s Dubai chapter, serves as the UAE Director for the Yale Alumni Schools Committee and is an active Committee member and mentor at e7 Daughters of the Emirates.

TIM NUY

Deputy CEO

MyBucks

Tim is Deputy-CEO at MyBucks, a FinTech company based in Luxembourg that delivers seamless financial services through technology. MyBucks has experienced exponential growth in excess of 50% p.a. since its inception in 2011 and today has lending operations in eleven African countries as well as in Europe and Australia. Their product offering enables customers to manage their financial affairs easily and conveniently.