Rishi Saha is Hill & Knowlton’s Regional Director, Australia, Middle East, Africa, and South and Central Asia and is responsible for the delivery of key strategic communications campaigns across these regions, with a particular emphasis on digital. Prior to August 2011, Rishi worked at the Prime Minister’s Office in the UK as David Cameron’s Head of Digital Communications. In this role, he oversaw the rebuild of the Number 10 website, led social media outreach and engagement for the British Government, and managed multiple key online projects. Before Downing Street, he was Head of New Media for the UK Conservative Party, leading all elements of digital strategy, content production, campaign technology, mobile, and social media in the years leading up to the 2010 General Election, where he won the Conservatives an Orange Award for best use of digital campaigning by a political party. Rishi was named in 2010’s Wired 100 list of UK digital innovators.

Saad is the founder and CEO of AbuNawaf Network, the largest e-mailing group in Saudi Arabia, and the producer of the first Saudi talk-show, Quarter to Nine. He is an investor and partner in Tech-wd.com, Unlimit-tech.com, and Saudishift.com.

With 20 years of high-level industry experience in strategic communications planning in the Middle East, Shadi Al Hasan is renowned for his strength in brand positioning and creative alternative solutions. His unique ability lies in conceptualizing localized communication strategies and developing channels that are in line with the cultural setting of the Arab world. Shadi is an ex M&C Saatchi Jordan creative director and local partner. He currently heads up Adworx Advertising and the newly established company Rufoof Online, “the first Arabic eBook platform on mobile”. Much spoken about projects of Shadi’s include the successful development, planning and execution of branding and integrated marketing campaigns for multinationals Philips, Hyundai, and BP Middle East as well as many regional governmental departments and local UAE clients. His contributions to the fields of creative communications and digital solutions have earned him significant industry recognition. He has spoken at multiple conferences and seminars and is a regular resident at renowned pan-Arab satellite programs.

Wael Quader has more than 13 years of experience in the software and mobile industries in the Levant and the GCC. In 2010 and with 3 million dollars of funding, he co-founded Noqoush Mobile Media Group, a leading Arab company that specializes in mobile media monetization through AdFalcon, the first mobile advertising network in the Middle East. Wael is currently the CEO of Noqoush and responsible for guiding the strategy and overall performance of the company. Prior to Noqoush, as director of professional services at major software houses in the region, Wael was responsible for guiding and monitoring the overall operations of a wide variety of services and overseeing the delivery of numerous multimillion dollar projects for many of the region's top enterprises. As a participant in many conferences and a mentor at Oasis500 Venture Fund, Wael has been effective in raising awareness about the mobile industry in the region.

Abdulaziz Al-Shalan is a marketing graduate from the College of Business Administration (CBA), Jeddah, working currently at C3 Films / Telfaz11.tv as the marketing manager and social media specialist. 

With 18 years of banking experience in the field of investment banking and asset management, compliance and retail banking, renowned Abdulaziz Hamza in developing and restructuring mechanisms that help in the dissemination of Arab culture and the Arabic content through Sibawayh, the Arabic E-books Publishing House, which owns several Arabic books exclusively on mobile devices and the first of its kind in the Arabic content protection and intellectual property rights, owned by Quad Dimensions Tech., LLC. Contributed with Quad Dimensions team in the development of economies and digital e-commerce solutions by working with several local Saudi companies in different market sectors to provide integrated technology solutions in the field of mobile applications via digital products. Presented and participated in several occasions and events inducing technology and the importance of technical economics in Saudi Arabia.

Abdullah Alzabin is the co-founder of Lumba, Inc., an Arabic mobile game developer based in San Francisco. At Lumba, he is leading the development and management of the company’s first title - Desert Tycoon. Prior to Lumba, Abdullah was a management consultant at Bain & Company in San Francisco where he serviced consumer internet and technology clients in the Silicon Valley and the West Coast. Earlier in his career, he was an Associate at NBK Capital’s private equity fund in Dubai and Morgan Stanley's investment banking group in London, as well as an Analyst at Wafra Investment Advisory Group in New York. Abdullah holds a MBA from Harvard Business School and a bachelor’s degree in finance and economics from the University of Virginia.

Abdullah Hamed is the founder of GameTako.com, which is a web game development platform that helps Arabic developers create entertaining games and monetize them. Initially, Abdullah wanted to develop games and so decided to build the platform for his games. Abdullah is an indie game developer who developed what may be the first Arabic Android game أنقذهم. He is a true believer in having joyful experiences and rejects joyless games. He is inspired by people like Jonathan Blow (Braid), Team Meat (Super Meat Boy), Phil Fish (Fez), and Andy Moore (SteamBirds). Abdullah is secretly a pixilated blue hedgehog who is as lazy as an Italian plumber in overalls.

Abdullah Mando is the Co-Founder and CEO of UTURN, an online network that creates and distributes local and entertaining content. Abdullah’s vision is to stimulate and nourish thought through mass media. Under his leadership, UTURN has sparked the new media industry in Saudi Arabia and has created a hub for talents and content creators in the region. In UTURN’s early days, Abdullah was involved in every aspect of the organization, including content development and creation. Today, his role is to ensure that UTURN is in the right direction and meeting its objectives as he develops processes and departments. His academic background enabled him to put the company on the right track to success, with its balance between content creation and business aspirations.

Heading Google Emerging Arabia, Abdulrahman is in charge of shaping Google’s investments in emerging markets in Arabia, streamlining business operations, and solidifying partnerships with governments and TMT companies. Abdulrahman led Emerging Arabia to become Google's 2nd fastest growing business operation worldwide and crafted a number of key strategic deals that Google is replicating across emerging markets globally. Prior to Google, Abdulrahman led different bets at Blueprint, Oracle, Morgan Stanley, and Atos Origin. He is co-founder of several tech ventures including Honeybee Tech Ventures, Syphir, Laimoon.com, and PopOver Games. Abdulrahman is an advisory board member of multiple non-profits, an ambassador to the "Innovation for Peace" initiative sponsored by the UN and the World Summit for Innovation & Entrepreneurship, and a founding mentor of the Mohammed bin Rashed Foundation's Sawaed ICT initiative. Abdulrahman was named one of the most influential Arabs under 30 by Arabian Business. He holds BSc and MEng degrees in EECS from MIT.

Mr Mahayri is the Vice President of a pioneering investment management company that invests in several entrepreneurial ventures, a global public equity portfolio and a local real estate properties. Mr Mahayri got his MBA from Oxford University in the UK with a focus on Management and Investments. Prior to that, he got his BSc in international business from KAU with a first honor. He also participated in the Private Equity and Venture Capital program of Harvard Business School and Financing the Entrepreneurial Business from London Business School. Mahayri showed sustained interest in writing researches on the venture capital field as part of his studies in Oxford university and his professional field.

Ahmed Al Khatib is the founder and CEO of MarkaVIP, a private sales website that focuses on the Middle East. After working in Silicon Valley for 10 years, Ahmed moved to the Middle East in early 2010 and founded MarkaVIP in Jordan in November of that year. Earlier in his career, Ahmed worked at a number of exciting e-commerce businesses including eBay, Amazon and Zazzle.com, where he developed the worldwide content-delivery of Zazzle.com’s e-commerce application platform. Ahmed possesses a wealth of expertise in developing business and technology solutions and applying them to augment, improve and transform e-commerce environments.

Alper Celen is the founder of COMMIT Internet Ventures, the owner of Fursaty.com , a leading e-commerce site serving local deals in the Gulf based out of Saudi Arabia.  Alper is also the managing partner of COMMIT Network, a holding company building turn-key businesses for telecom operators in the Middle East based out of Dubai.  Prior to COMMIT, Alper was member of the leadership team of McKinsey & Company’s Scandinavia Office where he led projects in telecom, supply chain, FMCG, and basic materials sectors in the Middle East and Europe and was an organization design expert for leading high-tech and public sector clients.  Before McKinsey, Alper was a manager at Nokia Corporate Strategy advising technology strategy.  Alper has held management positions at three high-tech companies in the USA: Ansys, IBM, and Millitech, a NASA contractor. Alper has an MBA with high distinction from MIT Sloan School of Management and an ME and BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Virginia.  He is on the advisory boards of high-tech companies GenieTag, HyperIn, and Fluid Interaction, and non-profit organizations Entrepreneurs’ Organization Turkey and Siebel Scholarship Foundation.

Amer comes from an advertising background, where he spent the last 7 years between big agencies like Leo Burnett, Y&R, and BBDO. Throughout his work at various international agencies, his clients have included prominent brands like STC, Ford, Danone and Microsoft. A believer in the new rules of advertising and marketing, he has a great passion for the new age of digital communications. Convinced that brands can capitalize on the power of social media to connect with their customers, Amer left the traditional advertising agencies to bring Hashtag to life. Hashtag is a new media agency that specializes in humanizing brands on the social web. Its main purpose is to help brands bridge the communication gap online and join the ongoing conversation. Amer is also a blogger at interactiveme.com, where he writes about social media marketing practices in the Middle East.

As CEO of Ertiqa, a leading digital and mobile content and services company, Badr Ward has been at the forefront of some of the region’s most successful digital and mobile initiatives, leading teams across five offices in the MENA region with numerous affiliates globally. He is a regular speaker at and contributor to the industry’s regional and international conferences and publications on mobile, digital, and new media. Badr is one of the most experienced and visionary digital and mobile leaders in the MENA region. He has masterminded award winning digital services and is currently developing further ground-breaking products and services.

Bassam has been a digital entrepreneur since 2005. He is the co-founder of Ethos Interactive, an award-winning digital agency that handles leading local and international brands in the Middle East including American Express and IKEA. Bassam is a board member of ABI Media Network, a digital media startup in Saudi Arabia that recently launched the Abisayara.com portal designed to assist online car shoppers with formulating opinions on which cars to buy, when to buy them and how much to pay for them. He recently founded Qwallety, a mobile social application that will launch its beta in early 2013. Qwallety introduces an innovative way to help shoppers with their purchasing decisions.

Dr. Abdulaziz is Director of the KACST-BADIR Program for Technology Incubation, which is now evolving into a technology innovation entrepreneurship and incubation program with a range of program elements being developed. He was the implementation Project Manager of KACST’s BADIR-ICT, and then Deputy Executive Director, before becoming Director in 2009. Dr. Alhargan has government and private sector experience. He worked in Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Agricultureand was researcher at KACST’s Computer and Electronics Research Institute. Prior to this he was with the world bank in Washington DC as an IT Consultant. He has a PhD in computer science from George Washington University, a Masters in computer science from the American University, Washington DC, and BSc in engineering from King Saud University in Riyadh. Dr. Alhargan has spoken at number of international conferences and published several articles and books on computing.

Dr. Sulaiman Mirdad is the Deputy Governor for Information Technology at the Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC). Prior to Joining CITC, Dr. Mirdad was VP for Technology at the Advanced Arabian Systems (Naseej) and Co-founder and Principal Engineer at InfoLibria in the US. Dr. Mirdad also co-authored a number of worldwide patents on content distribution and delivery. For these achievements, he was awarded the King Abdulaziz Order of Merit (First Degree) in 2008.

Eamonn Carey works on Kiip's expansion in EMEA and APAC markets. Kiip is a network that rewards people for their achievements in games and applications. They work with brands like Pepsi, P&G, Sony, Disney, YO! Sushi and many others. Prior to Kiip, Eamonn started up, succeeded and failed with several startups in Europe and the Middle East - working with clients like Diageo, Best Buy, O2, 3, the Abu Dhabi Government and many others. He first started developing games to impress girls in the mid 1980s. His efforts were unsuccessful. His love for games lived on in spite of that.

Essam AlZamel is a serial web and technology entrepreneur with over 10 years’ experience in the web industry. He is the founder of Remal IT, a leading web services and portals company which owns and operates one of the largest networks in the Arab world. Essam was named "Young Entrepreneur of The Year" in 2009 by the Prince Salman Awards for Young Entrepreneurs. Essam has created multiple successful and innovative products, including Awamer, an online service that automates stock trading in the Saudi Market; ProVise, patent-pending software that measures actual work time of employees; and Kammelna.com, an online card gaming website which was later acquired by Peak Games in one of the largest deals in the region. Essam is currently developing a new educational game, "Areeb World”, an immersive virtual world combining social media, education, and entertainment that provides K-12 students with learning activities tied to their curriculums. Essam has a BS in Chemical Engineering from Tulane University.

I work as a director of e-Media at alriyadh newspaper, where we build web sites in-house and follow up implement, develop & design, in addition to publishing latest news in (AlRiyadh.Net), producing the daily issue of the newspaper in Arabic & English, following up the mobile phones text messages, drafting and broadcasting them, together with all the e-Marketing issues. I worked as a lecturer in Al-Imam & Prince Sultan Universities, and I worked as director of of e-Services Section in Emirate Al-Riyadh , and Systems Analyst in Computer Department of King Saoud University , and a part time technical editor In some Saudi newspapers. I established and managed hawaaworld.com sites (the biggest Arab women network) and AlZaeem.com (The official site of Al-Hilal Al Saudi Club), in addition to participating in the implementation of “King Saud University Gate”, BAB.com Site & Asyah gate (asyeh.com). I was awarded the prize of “the Advanced Electronics Company” for the best university graduation project in the Kingdom in 2000.

Mr. Mikail is the global director of e-commerce at Aramex. He is an active member of the company’s Global Management Team and offers a wealth of knowledge of the e-commerce industry and an in depth understanding of current and future markets trends. Prior to joining the Aramex team, he held a number of managerial positions, specifically in the marketing communications industry, where he managed the teams of internationally renowned agencies such as Grey Advertising, Bates PanGulf and LOWE MENA, among others. Mr. Mikail obtained his BA in marketing from Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU).

Hatim Alkahily joined Google in 2011 as the Industry Head on the Saudi team helping some of the largest Saudi companies get the most out of the web. Prior to Google, Hatim’s worked for more than eight years in the Marketing field in Saudi with several companies including Emaar The Economic City, Fitaihi Group and Unilever. Working in a wide range of industries provided him the opportunity to develop a deep understanding of the Marketing field and the Saudi market. Hatim received his MBA from INSEAD in 2011, and his Bachelor's degree from the Electrical Engineering College at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals in 2001.

Hosam is a co-founder and managing director at Namshi, the Middle East's premier fashion e-commerce destination. Prior to joining Namshi, Hosam worked in private equity with Waha Capital in Abu Dhabi focusing on managing Waha's portfolio of assets in addition to sourcing new investments for the firm across multiple industries. Previously, Hosam was a project manager at GE's Water and Process Technologies business across the Middle East and East Africa region. Prior to that, he worked at Schlumberger as a project engineer across Europe and Africa. Hosam has a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Queen's University in Canada and an MBA from Harvard Business School in Boston.

Fahad Al Saud is a Stanford graduate in engineering. He joined Facebook as Analyst and Head of User Operations‐Arabic in 2008 which earned him the distinction of being named 'Most Influential International Youth' at the 2011 Arab Youth Media Forum. Fahad's a frequent lecturer on social media and privacy issues in the Middle East at NATO; he also consults the Saudi government on cyber technology, and Badir-AMI in multi-media and gaming. He introduced a number of ventures in online gaming and social networking, including Saudi Arabia's first "Start-up weekend". In October 2012, Playsino acquired Prince Fahad's Popover Games, a multi-player heritage games producer for Facebook and mobile platforms. As co-founder, Prince Fahad was pivotal in one of the first international sales of an Arab-owned social gaming company. Fahad's latest venture aligns with his pride in the Middle East: NA3M (New Arabic Media) represents a new age commitment to entrepreneurship in the region, through supporting technologically driven start-up companies.

Hussain Al Essa is a content marketer, branding consultant, a partner at The Marketing Department and the founder of Muhtawa Content Marketing.

Khaled Kefel is the country manager for Research In Motion (RIM), Saudi Arabia. He is responsible for corporate strategy, business development, marketing, and sales in the Kingdom. Since joining RIM in 2001, Khaled has held a variety of technical, sales, and management roles across multiple countries. His previous roles at RIM include General Manager for the RIM Middle East business, based out of the UAE; BlackBerry Enterprise Architect & Director of Technical Services for RIM’s North American and EMEA businesses; and Director of Sales in Europe. Prior to joining RIM, Khaled held various positions at IT consulting firms, managing large IT infrastructure projects. Khaled holds a BS in electrical engineering.

Khaled AlFarraj was born in Khobar, Saudi Arabia. His work in visual media started in 2002 as the writer of the famous “Tash ma Tash” series as well as “Biyout Nadima”, a dramatic series aired on Infinity and Saudi Channel One. He also contributed to the first part of the famous CBM program, and he wrote and produced “3iyal Ka7ah”, a play starring the Kuwaiti actor Mohamad Al Ajami, in addition to writing for various dramatic works and various other disciplines. He joined “Sa7i” YouTube channel since it was first established at the end of 2011 and became its executive manager by the end of 2012. Khaled also wrote and acted in “Bazaar Al Diyah”, the first of Sa7i’s films.

Maria is an entrepreneur who is passionate about the social aspect of the business by supporting the youth of the community. In 2009 Maria was named one of top 30 student entrepreneurs in the world at the Global Student Entrepreneur Award and continues to explore entrepreneurial ventures. In 2010 her company was named the fastest growing start up in Saudi Arabia at the Global Competitiveness Forum. Maria participated in many local and international conferences as a youth motivator and a role model, at the age of 21 Maria was appointed a board member and head of business development at Rumman Company and in one year period she raised the value of the company by 300%. In 2012 Maria was named one of the Arabian Business Power 500-Most Influential Arabs, and listed in the Gulf Business GCC's 30 under 30 top young achievers.

Mashhoor Aldubayan is a user experience designer passionate about improving how things work and understanding how users think. He worked with multiple companies and startups on improving their web and mobile experiences to reach their full potential. Mashhoor started a specialized resource about user experience in Arabic at uxfix.com, with more than 100 specialized articles to evangelize the benefits of this field.

Mazen AlDarrab is specialized in e-commerce and helping businesses and organizations to empower their enterprises through the power of (e). Mazen is currently heading eCommerce SEA, a Saudi start up focusing on building ecommerce ventures in Arabia, in addition to sitting on the boards of several e-marketing and social media startups. Mazen holds a master’s degree in e-commerce/e-marketing from the University of Western Australia and a bachelor’s degree in information and computer science from King Saud University.

Mina Nagy Takla is the co-founder of Taghreedat, a regional and international Arabic digital content community-building initiative which has over 100,000 Twitter followers and has recently been selected as one the Middle East's top 25 technology initiatives leading the innovation scene in the region. Along with Co-Founder Sami Mubarak, Mina established Taghreedat as an unprecedented online community initiative that takes a user-centered approach to develop more and better-quality Arabic digital content on the web. Working with a number of prestigious international stakeholders including Twitter, the Wikimedia Foundation, Storify, and TED, Taghreedat has been able to have a profound impact on enriching Arabic digital content through localization and community projects, involving a wide community of over 2,500 voluntary Arab translators from 31 countries worldwide including the Middle East, the UK, the US and Australia.

Mohamad Khawaja is the CEO of Startappz. Before joining N2V, Khawaja worked for several years at the Queen Rania Center for Entrepreneurship as the Executive Director. He is one of the co-creators of "Business Model Generation", selected as of one of the top 10 business books on Amazon in 2010. Mohamad holds a Bachelors degree in Communication Engineering from the Hashemite University in Jordan.

With 10 solid years of digital media experience, Mohammad paved the way for the industry in the region by serving as the CEO of Neo Digital, the first dedicated online media agency in the Middle East. Mohammad’s competency rests in strategically evaluating digital platforms, mediums and channels. He has well-rounded experience in building and leading effective digital units. In his capacity as a regional digital director for Initiative Media, Mohammad is in charge of nurturing digital understanding across the region and ultimately growing the digital media business and products across the MENA region.

Mohammed AlBismi is a young Saudi entrepreneur with a degree in economics from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland. He founded a media institution specialized in presenting expert Arabic content in several areas including video games and consumer electronics. His first site, True-Gaming.net was launched in 2004, and his second, Electroni, was launched in 2010, both found great success in the region.

Mohammed AlModhayan is an entrepreneur and online marketing specialist who is Google AdWords certified. He is a co-founder and managing partner at The Marketing Department and the former head of marketing and product development at Derayah.com.

Omar holds an MBA of international business/Electronic Integrated Marketing and Communication (e-IMC). He has more than 10 years of digital and email marketing, marketing planning, research and strategies experience in addition to being Google AdWords certified and a PMP. Omar’s diversified experience began with Orange, Jordan Petroleum Refinery, Dubai Holding (Marketing Manager), Co-founder of Imagine eMarketing and finally General Manager for EmailCiti - a leader email behavior and lead generation company in the MENA Region (over 15 million Email Users). Planned, adopted and managed sustainable digital integration marketing campaigns with millions of $US. EmailCiti deals with elite 100+ brands in the region such as Emirates, STC, Mobily, Emirates, GM, BMW, Mercedes, Apple, HP, Burberry, British Airline, Aramex, Jordan Tourism Board, Jordan Dubai Energy, Royal Jordanian among others.

Omar Christidis is the Founder of ArabNet, the premier conference for the Arab web/mobile industry. In 2011, the ArabNet Digital Summit brought together more than 1,000 attendees and 100 speakers from more than 22 countries, and featured 20 pitches from promising entrepreneurs. He is also the Vice President of the family-owned business, IBAG, which has 15 years experience in organizing corporate events, and which manages ArabNet. Omar co-founded and serves as a Board Member of the Yale Arab Alumni Association (YAAA), a community of over 200 Yale alumni and affiliates with an active interest in the Arab World. Born and raised in Lebanon, Omar holds a BA and MBA from Yale University and has a background in consulting (Booz & Co) and finance (private wealth management - family office).

Omar is the chief strategy officer at Sandstorm Digital, a new age brand communications agency focused on digital, content marketing and transmedia corporate and brand storytelling. Omar has over 20 years’ experience in brand strategy and marketing communications gained in the Middle East and Europe, with the last 10 being in digital within large media agency environments. During that time, Omar developed and implemented cutting edge digital campaigns for some of the world's leading brands.  Omar is considered a thought leader in the digital space and regularly blogs about SEO, social, mobile, new age brand building, and digital strategy on various sites including the Huffington Post.  Omar is also passionate about entrepreneurship (being an entrepreneur himself) and is currently offering his time and expertise to support the marketing efforts of various Arab digital startups in the Middle East.

Omar is the CEO and co-founder of Jeeran.com.  Jeeran.com is a local online platform with a mission to help consumers interact better with places in their city.  Jeeran is currently a team of 40+ people spread across three countries. Omar currently spends most of his time leading the growth of Jeeran by filling in many shoes, typical of many entrepreneurs working on their startups.  He is an Endeavor entrepreneur and an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year nominee.

Innovative Business Solutions is a group of companies, each focusing on a specific area such as e-commerce, smart buildings, program management and financial services. Osama received his education from King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals and California State University at Long Beach. Osama believes that the best business education he has received is from his father and from his toughest clients. Osama started his career with Procter & Gamble as a student; he was the youngest manager to work with the seasoned executives that established P&G Gulf FZE in Dubai. Osama has recently started an initiative that invites young Saudi inventors to pitch their Internet and mobile innovations. He is committed to working with selected Saudi inventors to bring their products to market. Additionally, Osama recently started a project with a group of Saudi investors to improve the e-commerce infrastructure in Saudi Arabia.

Rafah has 17 years of experience in technology and management fields, where she worked for international consulting firms as well as in senior management positions at local companies. She is a serial entrepreneur who started several projects and startups in Saudi Arabia. Since 2008, her main focus has been social media; she established Reach Holdings Ltd, an agency for managing social media presence and offering social media marketing in the Saudi market. In January 2010, she launched 3eesho.com , a social network that provides support, information and ongoing advice to users to increase health awareness about obesity, diabetes and the problems resulting from leading an inactive lifestyle. In February 2012, Rafah launched an interactive iPad magazine for 3eesho, the first of its kind in Arabic. Soon 3eesho will be launching live webinars and a mobile application for food intake and calorie calculations. Reach has been selected as an Arabia500 winner in 2011 and 2012.

Rashid Al Ballaa is the founder and CEO of N2V, an Internet holding company that is “disrupting digital Arabia” and stimulating the growth of a multi-billion USD Internet industry in Arabia. N2V enables web ventures in Arabia through investing capital and offering essential infrastructure services, mentorship, and support to help accelerate their growth. Rashid is also a board member of National Technology Group (NTG), MENA’s largest ICT conglomerate and key provider of financial technology and services. NTG’s annual revenue grew to over 700 million through 20+ subsidiaries and JVs in the MENA region. Before N2V, Rashid founded and managed Mubasher Financial Services (MFS), MENA’s first STP e-brokerage company and the only provider of direct market access to MENA equity markets. Rashid now serves on the board of MFS. Rashid holds a BSc in computer science with an honors degree from King Saud University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Rayan Alwabil is the co-founder and CEO of Rayz, a Saudi startup specialized in social media management and creative marketing. He is a consumer behavior and marketing graduate from the University of Reading, UK. Rayan is a passionate entrepreneur with a mission to enhance the quality of Arabic content online and a vision of creating the next "big thing" in social media.

Ronaldo is the co-founder and CEO of souq.com, which has grown to be the largest online retailer and marketplace in the Arab world. Recently souq.com acquired the private shopping club Sukar.com as well as invested in Run2sport.com; which offers sporting goods and apparel online. Ronaldo Mouchawar holds a Master's degree in Digital Communications and a Bachelor degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Northeastern University in Boston, MA. He has accumulative 15 years of experience in technology, and business management. He served as a technical and systems consultant with EDS in the US. In 2000, he spearheaded a consulting company that managed numerous, web and e-commerce projects in the Arab world. In 2005, he launched souq.com the first online marketplace for the Arab world

Saleh Al-Zaid is a software engineer with previous work experience as an oil exploration systems analyst at Saudi Aramco and a web development team leader at the Ministry of Higher Education. He is currently the founder and CEO of LunarApps. In his free time, Saleh has developed several successful web services that are being used globally including Untiny.com, TwtBase.com and TwitMail.com. In late 2011, Saleh left his job to become a full time entrepreneur and founded his own IT company, LunarApps, with the help of Saudi angle investors. The main focus of LunarApps is to develop social media tools. Its main project, TwitMail, is a powerful tool for Twitter users to convert emails to tweets. It is widely used, especially in MENA, to share long articles and files as attachments to Twitter.

Saud AlHawawi has a degree in computer programming. During his work as a programmer for the Saudi National Guard, AlHawawi founded Tech World with Abdel Malek Althari in 2008. Tech World is a site that aims to publish the latest news, studies, and articles about the tech industry, including news about web 2.0 services, the newest mobile and technological devices. Tech World also publishes programming and design lessons and interviews with important figures in the field and covers cutting edge issues, debates and events in the sector. Since 2008, Saud has managed the site and been its editor, and he has personally contributed in writing articles on the site. Under his leadership, Tech World has connected the best of the Arab World’s tech bloggers and writers with major international online media and websites including Mashable, Business Insider, and Read Write Web.

Sultan Al-Malik holds a Master of Science (Msc.) in International Marketing, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK, (1993). Also, Advanced Diploma in Commerce and English Language, The Economic Institute, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA.(1990). And Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.(1989). He attended several advanced training programs with Coca-Cola Company in Atlanta, Georgia, USA and with Coca-Cola Bottling Co. in Baton Rouge, LA, USA. Also, attended advanced executives training programs with INSEAD and Harvard Business School. He has 25 years of experience in the field of Marketing, market research, PR , International relations and general management. On 2006 he joined Ccommunication and Information Technology Commission (CITC),as Director General for (international affairs, PR and media). For the period from 2001-2006 he worked with Advanced Electronics Company Ltd (AEC) as Marketing Director and Corporate Development Vice President Assistant for five years. He also had worked for 13 years ( 1989 -2001) with Saudi Industrial Development Fund as Marketing Team Leader and Consultant. In his current job at CITC he is responsible for several main functions namely: media affairs, PR and event activates, and international affairs. He is also the spokesperson for CITC. Also , he is a member of CITC executives committee. He is a member of Young Arab leaders and Member of the Marketing committee at Riyadh Chamber of commerce.

Tarek Mansour is the Founder, Developer & Editor-in-Chief at iPhoneIslam.com iPhoneIslam the first and most popular Arabic website for iPhone,iPod Touch & iPad News & Apps Developing. iPhoneIslam team known as the first group of developers on the world who arabized the iPhone and add all the Arabic language capabilities support to that amazing device, also the only group who gives the iPad 3G capability to be used as GSM phone, Plus more than 25 app in the apple app store. iPhoneIslam Awards: First Place at Mobily Apps Developer Award, First place at QUWIC Mobile App Contest.

A Saudi of foreign origin, Tuba Terekli is the cofounder and CEO of Qotuf Al Riyadah Development Company – which reports to a steering committee of Saudi Arabian ministries to help formulate the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Working with the various chambers, ministries, universities, accelerator programs, and venture capitals, she has used her global and local networks to help develop entrepreneurship and women empowerment. She was a key initiator of the Saudi Fast Growth 100 and later the Arabia 500 initiatives that highlighted the most successful, innovative, high-impact businesses throughout the region. Her expertise was noted at Harvard by Professor Michael Porter and she became an iconic supporter known as the ‘Entrepreneur of the Entrepreneurship Support Movement in KSA’. Tuba also founded the first female-managed healthcare consultancy in the region which had been awarded by National Arab US Chamber of Commerce as one of the region’s most promising projects. She holds a Bachelor’s in Computer Science from Saudi Arabia, a Master’s in Business Administration from the UK and an Advanced Studies degree from the USA. She is also the cofounder and member of numerous local and international societies.

Being born and raised in the US and based in Saudi Arabia has given Wael AlFayez the chance to bridge many cultural divides. Drawing on 10+ years of experience in digital media and marketing, he has provided consulting services that have improved the state of digital media in the region. Heading NUMU Multimedia, Wael established a digital advertising company that drives superior results at all levels. He leads dedicated teams that leverage their industry specific knowledge to ensure that clients get the best digital advertising solutions and results. Wael is in charge of shaping the Saudi Research & Marketing Group’s (SRMG) digital advertising future, streamlining business operations, and solidifying partnerships with advertisers. He led the group's digital advertising revenue to grow by 300%. Wael’s areas of specialization include digital marketing, digital advertising, digital media, strategic digital planning, and mobile marketing, among others.

Walid is the investment manager at Mena Venture Investments Ltd. and Wamda Capital. He works to empower entrepreneurs across the region in various capacities; as the Entrepreneurial Unit Coordinator at Aramex International, the Regional Support Unit Coordinator for the M.I.T. Enterprise Forum Arab Business Plan Competition, and also as a mentor at Mowgli, Oasis500, and the Queen Rania Center for Entrepreneurship, among others. Walid helps with screening, selection, negotiation and investment at the seed / startup stage of ventures and provides access to a network of training, coaching and consultancy resources. Walid holds a B.Comm. in marketing from Concordia University. Upon graduating, Walid became the founder and director of 101 Immigration Inc., an immigration consultancy firm headquartered in Montreal, Canada that has eight offices in the MENA region. Walid also holds an MBA with honors from the American University of Beirut and has over 12 years of managerial, leadership and marketing experience.

Yousef Tuqan is one of the region’s most experienced and respected digital marketing experts, with a diverse agency career in the UAE that spans over 15 years. He is an outspoken and visible evangelist for the role of digital marketing in the region. He is a regular university guest lecturer and keynote speaker and a frequent contributor to regional publications on digital marketing in the Middle East. As CEO of Flip Media, the region’s leading digital agency which is now also a member of the Leo Burnett MENA Group of Companies, Yousef has been at the forefront of the region’s most successful online initiatives, leading a global team of 120 staff across four offices worldwide. Yousef is a Board Member of the International Advertising Association’s UAE Chapter, a Goodwill Ambassador for the charity Gulf For Good and an Adjunct Professor at the American University of Dubai.

Zafer Younes is the co-founder and CEO of The Online Project, where his team develops and executes social media strategies for Fortune 500 companies and high-profile organizations operating in the Middle East and North Africa. At the age of 23, Zafer co-founded Modern Media, LTD, a Jordanian media house that owns and operates two popular radio stations including the award-winning Play 99.6. Modern Media offers consulting services to regional radio stations and designs direct marketing promotions for advertisers. Zafer's focus today is on scaling The Online Project whose latest release, Content Scorer (a registered trademark), is currently used by more than 250 media agencies and brands across the US and Europe to monitor the effectiveness of their social media content. Zafer serves on the Mentorship Network of Oasis 500. In 2007, Zafer was selected by the International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX) for its Emerging Leaders Fellowship for media professionals. In 2010, he was recognized as a high impact entrepreneur by Endeavour Global.

Ziad Matar is currently senior director and head of the Middle East and Central Asia region for Qualcomm. Ziad joined Qualcomm in 2010 as Director of Business Development in the Middle East. Prior to that, Ziad spent more than 10 years at Ericsson in numerous technology, marketing and sales positions across the Middle East and West Africa. Ziad holds an MBA from Notre Dame University and a BE in Computer and Communications Engineering from the American University of Beirut.