PAST SPEAKERS

Alain Godard is Chairman and Managing Director of the European Fund for Digital Sovereignty, the "Tech Champion initiative". This pan-European initiative, approved in February 2022 by European Ministers of Economy and Finance, aims to finance future tech champions in Europe

Alain Godard

Chairman & Managing Director,

European Digital Sovereignty Fund

Luxembourg

Osama Bukhari

Head of Banking Commitee,

The Saudi International Chamber of Commerce

Saudi Arabia

With over 25 years in business technology, Mr. Aiedh M. Al-Zahrani has been a driving force in banking. Formerly Riyad Bank's CIO, he now excels as the Chief Operating Officer of Arab National Bank in Saudi Arabia, where he continues to shape the industry with visionary leadership.

Aiedh Al-Zahrani

Chief Operating Officer,

Arab National Bank

Saudi Arabia

DATE Fintech Show Speaker Essam Al Bakr

Essam Al Bakr

Chief Executive Officer,

Ejada Investment

Saudi Arabia

DATE Fintech Show Speaker Fares M. Alsaleh
Mr. Fares Alsaleh is the Manager of Fintech Development within the Saudi Central Bank, where he is leading the strategic initiatives aimed at developing the Fintech sector and ecosystem in the Kingdom. He also heads the Regulatory Sandbox which is playing a pivotal role in exponential growth of the Fintech sector, in alignment with the national Financial Sector Development Program under Vision 2030.

Fares M. Alsaleh

Manager of Fintech Development,

Saudi Central Bank (SAMA)

Saudi Arabia

DATE Fintech Show Speaker Dr. Fatmah Baothman
Dr. Fatmah is a member of the global future council on the future of artificial intelligence by WEF, AI business development & innovation, technology strategist, AI advisor, consultant, and alumni roll of Honor-UK.

Dr. Fatmah Baothman

Member of WEF's Global Future Council on the Future of Artificial Intelligence,

AI Society

Saudi Arabia

Jessica Renier leads technological development and policy on artificial intelligence and machine learning, digital identity, digital assets and Central Bank Digital Currency, payments innovation, data management, cloud technologies, and quantum computing.

Jessica Renier

Managing Director - Digital Finance,

Institute of International Finance

United States

Michael Clark

Data Strategy and Transformation Lead and Futurist,

Mastercard

Cornelia Meyer is a business consultant, macro-economist and energy expert as well as a media commentator. She is also Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of MRL Corporation and Chairman and Chief Economist of LBV Asset Management. MRL provides et altera the Chief Economist and CIO services to the (European Family Office) EFO-Alliance, Europe’s premier platform for family offices.

Cornelia Meyer

Chairman & Chief Executive Officer,

MRL Corporation

Saudi Arabia

Maria Medvedeva

Country Manager,

Mastercard

Saudi Arabia & Bahrain

WAEL FATTOUH

Chief Information Security Officer,

AlJazira Bank

Saudi Arabia

With over 24 years of experience in digital transformation and insurance operations, I am a seasoned business leader and a Director of Digital Channels at Al Rajhi Takaful, the largest Islamic insurance company in the world.

Tamer Hamza

Vice President IT Strategy & Planning,

Al Rajhi Takaful

Saudi Arabia

Jonathan has been at the leading edge of the financial services industry for the last 29 years across the Asia Pacific region and globally.

Jonathan Larsen

Chief Executive Officer,

PingAn Global Voyager Fund

China

Monica Brand Engel is the co-founding Managing Partner of Quona Capital, she is a wife and mother of twins as well as an investor and entrepreneur, who has launched funds and products aimed at broadening financial inclusion globally.

Monica Brand Engel

Managing Partner,

Quona Capital

United States

As a Partner at Oliver Wyman, Mustafa Domanic’s recent projects include building advanced data and analytics capabilities for banks, developing finance and risk capabilities at public institutions, and improving governance and regulation of the financial markets with key financial regulators.

Mustafa Domanic

Partner,

Oliver Wyman

United Arab Emirates

Jonathan is the founding partner of Antler MENAP. He has a proven track record of successfully building ventures across diverse markets. Before Antler, Jonathan founded Smileneo, a direct-to-consumer health tech business in the MENA region, which was acquired in 2023. He also served as the Co-CEO of Daraz, the leading online marketplace in South Asia, acquired by Alibaba in 2018. Additionally, Jonathan held the position of Managing Director at Jumia, the leading online marketplace in Africa that went public on the NYSE in 2019.

Dr Jonathan Doerr 

Partner,

Antler

United Arab Emirates

Bryan is a global leader in future of finance strategies and risk management solutions, leveraging more than 35 years of experience in both public and private sectors in the United States, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.

Bryan Stirewalt

MENA Financial Services Regulatory Lead,

EY

United States

Sonia Shaw

Partner & Vice-President of Global Partnerships,

CoinW

United Arab Emirates

William is Managing Director of Orbit Startups, the first and longest-running startup program in Asia and General Partner of SOSV the 4th most active venture capital investor in the world and 5th in Asia/rest of the world (2021, TechCrunch) with US$1.5bn in assets under management.

William Bao Bean

Managing Director,

Orbit Startups

United States

Ajay Lakhotia has revolutionized wealth creation for 2.5+ Cr Indians through his startup 'StockGro' making it the leading Financial Inclusion and InvestmentTech platform in Asia.

Ajay Lakhotia

Founder & Chief Executive Officer,

StockGro

India

Stefan Kimmel is the CEO at M2, leading the company's mission to establish a world-class global digital currency investment platform. With over 25 years of experience in finance, fintech and digital innovation, Stefan has a proven track record of delivering products and services to his clients. He specializes in leveraging digital products to optimize the delivery of financial solutions, ensuring optional outcomes for his clients.

Stefan Kimmel

Chief Executive Officer,

M2

United Arab Emirates

Wees Abraham

Managing Partner,

Elēkrŏn Ventures

Saudi Arabia

Mehdi Fichtali

Founder & Chief Executive Officer,

FinaMaze

United Arab Emirates

Vineet is the CEO & Managing Partner at Cypher Capital, a leading Web3 Native VC based in UAE and has led 200+ Investments like Mysten Labs, Sei Network, Casper Labs, Web3Auth, ZKLink among others.

Vineet Budki

Managing Partner & Chief Executive Officer,

Cypher Capital

United Arab Emirates

Naif AbuSaida

Founder & Chief Executive Officer,

Hakbah

Ihor Pidruchnyy a.k.a Ian Arden is an investor in Web3, AI, RPA, and QC (30 investments with ~300% CoC IRR), connecting Silicon Valley with GCC, serial entrepreneur (20+ brands), and advisor.

Ian Arden

General Partner,

Mempool

NIKLAS PONNERT

MD & Chief Strategy Officer,

eWTP Arabia Capital

Strategic Digital Transformation Director propelling AI adoption for societal impact and economic growth, with 8+ years of cross-industry leadership, a passion for inclusive innovation, and active involvement in global professional and social impact communities for a tech-driven vision of a better world.

Elina Idrisova

Regional Director of Digital Transformation,

Elevatus

Saudi Arabia

Abbondandolo 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 the overall operations of the company across the region, as well as expanding the business across the Middle East and North Africa region.

Remo Giovanni Abbondandolo

General Manager, MENA,

Checkout.com

United Arab Emirates

Mohammed Al Shobani holds 13 years of experience in top international companies in technology and insurance such as Microsoft and Bupa, as well as local companies like Tawuniya and Alrajhi Takaful, Alshobani brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to the table.

Mohammed Alshobani

CIO,

SAICO

Saudi Arabia

DATE AI Show Speaker   Nouf Hijazi

Nouf Hijazi

Busines Presenter,

Al Arabiya News Channel

Emon Shakoor (إيمان عبد الشكور) is a Saudi neuroscience researcher turned venture capitalist. She is the founder & CEO of Blossom Accelerator;Saudi’s first tech-inclusion accelerator. An Angel Investor. Emon hosts the leading podcast in Arabic titled “شغف” dedicated to women leaders & female founders in partnership with Anghami. She is also the Saudi ambassador for Women Entrepreneurship Day Organization (WEDO). Emon has been recognized as one of nine Saudi women who has made an impact on the world as she is the pioneer of women entrepreneurship in KSA.

Emon Shakoor

Founder & CEO,

Bllossom

Saudi Arabia

Vishal cofounded CreedCap, an integrated investment and advisory firm that actively advises and invests in the Indian, UAE and US ecosystems, across the Consumer, HealthTech, SaaS, Electrification and Transportation sectors. It has an investment portfolio of 20 companies and successfully closed 180+ M&A, Capital Raising transactions.

Moderator

Vishal Pereira

Founder’s Office,

StockGro

India

Moderator

Maya El Hajjeh

Director of Innovation,

Fintech Galaxy