Researcher,
Wamda and MENA Venture Investments
Jamil Wyne works in Jordan where he manages several research projects on startups and social enterprises in the MENA region. Before joining MVI he was the Special Projects Manager at INJAZ Al Arab where he worked with partners to develop a regional strategy for implementing entrepreneurship education in Arab schools.
Founder & CEO,
C3 - Consult and Coach for a Cause
C3 is a social enterprise aiming to unlock the potential of social ventures and maximize their impact on the community. C3 mobilizes corporate professionals, business consultants and coaches to support social entrepreneurs on a volunteer basis.
Senior Research Specialist,
Booz & Company
Mounira Jamjoom is a Senior Research Specialist with the Ideation Center, Booz & Company’s think tank in the Middle East. She is leading the Ideation Center’s research efforts on education, women’s studies, and evolving social issues that have important implications for the Middle East region. Mounira holds a Ph.D. in Education from Oxford University and a Master’s Degree from Columbia University. She has written extensively on education in Saudi Arabia, among other topics. She is based in the Dubai Office.
Managing Director,
Balthazar Capital
Heather Henyon is the Founder and Managing Partner of Balthazar Capital, a microfinance investment advisory firm for the Arab region. Prior to launching Balthazar Capital, Heather was the founding general manager of Grameen-Jameel Pan-Arab Microfinance Ltd., a social business jointly owned by Grameen Foundation and Abdul Latif Jameel Group.
Director - CSR Division,
Al Ahli Holding Group
Through Al Ahli’s Global Business Opportunities program, Ms. Hourani has successfully marked a major milestone in Al Ahli Group’s efforts to identify business opportunities, develop the entrepreneurial skills for youth, and build their ability to own a global business; hence, shifting them from being job seekers to job providers.
COO,
INJAZ UAE
INJAZ-UAE is a member of Junior Achievement (JA) Worldwide, the world’s largest non-profit business education organization reaching nearly 10 million students a year. In the MENA region, JA is represented by INJAZ al-Arab, reaching 198,000 students a year, across 12 Arab countries.
Senior CSR Training Specialist,
Dubai Chamber of Commerce & Industry
Vineetha Mathew is responsible for the development, design and delivery of the Centre’s training services to raise awareness and provides practical guidance in the area of CSR, sustainability, corporate governance and business excellence. She also leads and manages the Dubai Chamber Sustainability Network, the first business group for CSR in Dubai.
Founder and Managing Director,
Goumbook.com
Tatiana’s passion for Sustainability led her to co-found Goumbook in 2009, creating the first green information resource and green directory for the MENA Region. In 2011 she founded the Give a Ghaf Tree Planting Program to raise awareness on the local ecosystem and the water crisis affecting the region. Her commitment to the Environment blossomed into a sense of duty towards the community and today she is actively involved in the green arena and co-hosts the Green Team radio show on DubaiEye 103.8.
Founder & CEO,
The Change Initiative
Gundeep has established the largest Eco-Store in the region which sells sustainable products. He began his career as an operations manager with ITC in India, before serving the Charanjit Singh Group and Southern Pacific Corporation. In 1997 Singh started The Learning Curve, before joining Al Ghurair Group, followed by HSBC Middle East. Singh is a certified trainer and a published author in India of ‘First Steps to Career Success’ and ‘Understanding Your Capability’.
Area Sales Manager,
averda
averda is the largest environmental solutions provider in the GCC and MENA region, specializing in integrated waste and resource management. An extensive service portfolio addresses a broad range of environmental needs, from city beautification and cleaning to the collection, treatment, disposal and recycling of all forms of solid and liquid waste for all industries.
Partner,
Bambootique
Based in Dubai, Bambootique is a green entrepreneurial venture, founded with the aim of empowering consumers to make socially conscious, informed choices by providing a quality product that hassignificant environmental advantages over the standard, commercial options in the market.
Partner,
Liquid of Life
Rukhsana has spearheaded the growth of the company, which provides alternative solutions to plastic bottled drinking water and drinking water filtration systems generally. Last year she was listed as one of the top 50 most influential people who are shaping the future of the facilities management industry in the GCC region.
Managing Partner,
Tanmeyah Consulting
Raida Al-Zu’bi is an Arab Social Development expert specializing in Technology for Social Development (Tech4D) and Social Entrepreneurship. She has extensive experience working in established regional and international academic development and public sector organizations including Harvard University, Institute of Development Studies (IDS)-Sussex Univeristy, Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC), UNESCWA, UNICEF, and UNIFEM.
Co-Founder,
Slices
Slices is a food company that provides communities with access to same-day fresh and nutritious meals. It initiated a school food programme this year by developing a menu that complies with international school-food standards and hopes to make a benchmark in the region. The company strongly believes in giving back to the community through donation of unsold food to charities and participation in community events with the aim of sharing ideas and knowledge.
Co-Founder,
Barzh
Barzh is an initiative by 4 Emirati founders that have a passion for everything Emirati and LOVE food! Barzh is an upcoming online Emirati food ordering service, a Cafe and barzh.ae is a virtual information center for Emirati food, to give the world a proper introduction to the Emirati cuisine. Mohammad has 5 years of experience in consulting for the government. He has extensive experience in start-up and early phase management of projects and has been part of a number of high profile governmental start-ups.
Area Developer GCC & India,
N_K_D Pizza
N_K_D Pizza (originally named World’s Healthiest Pizza) was launched as an ambitious business model that seeks to change the nutritional profile of fast food. By way of example, N_K_D Pizza is demonstrating that pizza does not have to be part of the problem in our global epidemic of obesity and chronic disease, but in fact can be part of the solution.
Raw Coffee Company
Raw Coffee Company is a family owned and operated boutique coffee roasting business roasting premium coffee in the UAE. We offer freshly roasted specialty 100% organic 100% ethically traded Arabica coffee with specialized blends and single origins available. Coffee is our passion, we source, roast, and supply what we believe to be an exceptional coffee experience that we supply to cafés, restaurants, hotels and home connoisseurs.
Dreamer in Chief and Lead Tree Shaker,
Growing Leaders Foundation
Sallyann left the corporate world to pursue her talent growing leaders through her Foundation, Growing Leaders. The Foundation impacts thousands of youths monthly in the Middle East and the Caribbean with its ground-breaking leadership curriculums being implemented in primary school classrooms, youth jails and orphanages through her 500 plus trained teachers/volunteers.
mPaani & 2011 Hult Global Case Winner,
Intervention Company Inc.
m.Paani is an award winning social enterprise that designs and implements mobile-based loyalty programs that help communities living at the bottom of the pyramid get the most out of their spend by connecting it to development rewards – safe water, education, healthcare and energy products – that can improve their lives. m.Paani is the winning model of the Hult Prize 2011, and was honoured by former President Bill Clinton and the Clinton Global Initiative.
Project Leader,
Sougha Initiative
Sougha is a social enterprise owned by Khalifa Fund for enterprise development, aimed at reviving the emirati heritage by technical and entrepreneurial skills development of local artisan groups to improve their socio-economic inclusion.Previously, Leila was an independent export consultant, where she designed projects aimed at improving artisan livelihood through international trade opportunity creation in Tunisia.
Founder & CEO,
cashy & campus cashy
cashy is the first dedicated personal finance social media platform in the Arab world. Informative and interactive, it is available in both English and Arabic. cashy provides real world suggestions and solutions on a wide range of subjects that help individuals manage their money in all aspects of their lives, all in a friendly and entertaining format. Campus cashy engages youth to think about the role of money in their lives.
Founder & CEO,
Wild Guanabana
Omar founded Wild Guanabana, a company that creates ethical life transformational travel experiences around the globe and the region’s first carbon neutral travel company. Omar is currently writing his book and aims to complete the 7-Summits challenge (climbing the highest mountain on every continent). Omar is also an active inspirational speaker, having delivered over 80 talks around the world.
Owner & Founder,
Back to Basics
Back to Basics aims to unite parents and home help in creating a safer home environment for children. We have a dual language first aid guide for infants and children available in English/Tagalog (Filipino) and English/Sinhala (Sri Lankan) for the benefit of everyone in the home.
CSR Development,
Al Ahli Holding Group
The CSR activities primarily focus on developing the region’s next generation of entrepreneurs and business leaders in an aim to solve the 2020 unemployment crisis and support cultural exchange between the Emirati leaders of tomorrow and the rest of the world.
GENERAL MANAGER,
Grameen - Jameel
Dr. Khaled Al-Gazawi joined the Grameen – Jameel Microfinance LTD (GJ) as the General Manager early 2013. Khaled has more than 14 years of experience in micro-finance, plus extensive experience in banking, marketing, and business consultancy. Khaled is a certified Trainer in various fields of microfinance, such as business planning, delinquency management, interest rate setting, accounting, operational risks management and financial analysis. Khaled holds a PhD. degree in International Management from the University of Phoenix, and an MBA from the Yarmouk University in Jordan.
