Pieter Feith is a Dutch diplomat and crisis management expert. Mr Feith was an International Civilian Representative in Kosovo supporting the economic development; he further served within the European Union Special Representative and headed the ACEH Monitoring Mission (AMM). Pieter is a fellow in the Center for Transatlantic Relations and is a Scholar at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies. (Masterclass)

Mohammed Skaik is a Senior Entrepreneurship Expert at SPARK. He works on business development in the Middle East fragile states. He is focused on providing employment opportunities, particularly for bulges of Syrian refugees in neighboring host countries. Given his former role as the leader of Business & Tech Incubator (BTI) in Gaza, Mohammed is considered a key regional figure in the Middle East to empower youth through employment and entrepreneurship. He is actively engaged in the private sector development and entrepreneurship support in the MENA region, in particular countries that SPARK is active in.

Roelof Peter van Laar has been a Member of Parliament for the Labour Party (PvdA) since 2013. Van Laar graduated from Miasmal College in Wijchen and continued to study political science at the University of Leiden followed by an MBA at the Webster University. Van Laar co-founded the Stop Child Abuse foundation.

Toby Abbott spent the first half of his career in renewable energy, and the second half in corporate responsibility and sustainability. Mr Abbott has co-founded two businesses and more recently led a sustainability programme for Superdry.  Mr Abbott supports numerous projects that Virgin Unite are involved in to develop entrepreneurs globally to use business as a force for good.

Dr. Wennmann of The Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies is an expert in economic perspectives on violent conflict, dispute resolution, and peacebuilding. His research and advisory experience includes work on state building in hybrid political orders, negotiated exits from shadow economies, and conflict prevention. He is a member of the Editorial Board of Global Governance and is the Executive Coordinator of the Geneva Peacebuilding Platform.

Michael Grimm is a Professor of Development Economics at the University of Passau and a Research Professor at the German Institute of Economic Research (DIW). He holds two MAs and a PhD in Development Economics from Sciences-Po Paris. He is a founding member of the Rotterdam Global Health Initiative and a member of the European Development Research Network.

Eva is a consultant at The Power of Nutrition, a foundation investing in the prevention of stunting. Prior to this Eva worked for The Virgin Group, The Economist and founded the OVO Foundation. Eva’s main interests are social mobility, social entrepreneurship and the youth development. Eva is currently pursuing her MA in Sustainability Business Leadership at the University of Cambridge.

Ayman Tabbaa is a founding member and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Syrian Economic Forum. Mr. Tabbaa is a businessman was based in Damascus, Syria, where he owned a property development company. Mr. Tabbaa received his bachelor’s degree in business administration in the United States. Prior to owning his property development company, he managed several finance and property development companies. He has spent time living in the United States and Dubai.

Christopher Sveen is an entrepreneur with a focus on innovative technologies within clean-tech and hi-tech. He is the Founder & CEO of STAK-it, a mobile application and software platform. Prior to this he was the Director of Business Development, at Sustainia a sustainable company for products and services. Christopher co-founded Novarena Technologies Ltd,  a start-up which developed innovative recycling technology.

Bart is a Business Developer at Social Enterprise NL. He has been instrumental in uniting entrepreneurs, researchers, and officials over a variety of social innovation issues at the Institute of Social Innovation. For Rijksdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland (RVO) Bart matched entrepreneurs in emerging markets with Dutch business partners. He studied social geography and theatre. (Moderator)

Egbert Pos is the Burundi and Zimbabwe Programme Manager at the Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy and a central figure for NIMD’s work in Fragile and Conflict Affected Settings. Egbert is highly experienced on political parties and systems in Africa. Egbert worked previously for the Netherlands Ministry for Foreign Affairs as a Policy Officer for Peace & Security and as Desk Officer for Burundi.

Lindsey’s career has focused on facilitating entrepreneurship in challenging contexts. As Mentoring Programme Manager at Virgin Unite, she supports local partners to run high quality mentoring programmes in diverse contexts. Previously she worked in the youth entrepreneurship space, developing and managing programmes in Latin America, India and East Africa. She is a trustee for Teach A Man To Fish and Glad’s House.

Mirwais Momand is founder and CEO of Mido Dairy, which aims to create a sustainable regional dairy chain in Kabul with a focus on job creation. Momand is passionate about the use of entrepreneurship to reduce poverty; he is outgoing vice-curator of WEF’s Global Shapers Community, Amsterdam, and President of Rehna Foundation, an institution which supports street children in Kabul.

Roxana and Bogdan Romanica are the winners of IGNITE! 2014’s research competition. They are Project Managers, and both currently work for Fundatia Corona, a Romanian NGO for vulnerable people. The research was inspired by Bogdan’s view on Sociology which should contribute to the welfare of people living in difficult conditions and by Roxana’s passion towards restoring peace in conflict affected places.

Sithabile Mangwengwende is dedicated to empowering women by connecting female entrepreneurs with the resources to integrate them into the mainstream economy, with over 20 years experience in this field. Sithabile is Executive Director of PROWEB, a women’s economic empowerment, and has chaired the WABAZ, The Women Alliance of Business Associations in Zimbabwe. She holds a B.Com Degree and MSc in Development Studies.

Andrej Kirn is the Senior Community Manager in the International Organisations and Government Affairs in the World Economic Forum. Mr Kirn completed his BA Politics and International Studies in the University of Warwick and his MSc in EU International Relations and Diplomacy Studies at the College of Europe. Mr Kirn has former work experience at the Slovenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the European External Action Service.

Nasser Al Faqih is a UNDP advisor and program designer for economic recovery in crisis settings around the world.  Nasser has experience in the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) and the Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committee in the areas of agricultural revitalization, youth and women economic empowerment and entrepreneurship.

Watipaso has over 25 years of experience working in international development in both general and private sector development, and is SME Specialist and Consultant at the African Development Bank (AfDB). His extensive professional experience includes serving as CEO for Malawi’s Investment Promotion Agency, an Economist at the World Bank, and Regional Investment Promotion Adviser for MIGA, Investment promotion expert for COMESA.

Richard van Hoolwerff is the Country Manager of SPARK Ivory Coast. He has studied Psychology, Cognitive Science and International Relations at the University of Amsterdam. With SPARK, he set up Liberia’s first ever business startup centre, supporting businesses from waste collection to palm oil production. In an effort to support entrepreneurship he has established Ignite Fund Liberia and GEN Liberia to create a startup ecosystem from scratch. He is also the founder of Emergi, a solar energy company to develop renewable energy solutions that create economic and social value.

Bernedine Bos is the manager for government and society at MVO Netherlands; a Dutch organization which advocates for CSR. Bernedine has previously held positions as a researcher at the Institute for Social History, Center for International legal Cooperation, the National Initiative for Sustainable Development, Share People and Symbeyond. Bernedine has a MSc in Russian Studies from the University of Amsterdam.

Mark van Dorp works in the Multinational Corporations in Conflict-Affected Areas programme and the Food and Land programme at SOMO. Mark has twenty years of experience in the field of post-conflict economic reconstruction, natural resource management, value chain development analysis, corporate research and market assessments. He has worked for various international organizations. Mark has an MSc in Economics from the University of Amsterdam.

Joost co-founded Healthy Entrepreneurs in 2011, establishing a successful franchise concept, with 900 micro-entrepreneurs providing health products and information to people in developing countries. Joost worked previously as sales and marketing director at IDA Foundation, and has 16 years experience in sales and distribution of food commodities and medicines in low- and middle-income countries. He studied Business Administration at RSM.

Emmely Benschop is programme manager at The Hague Academy. Emmely’s area of expertise covers topics such as decentralisation, leadership, peacebuilding and local governance, post-2015 development goals and gender responsive governance. Emmely previously worked for the Dutch Ministry of Interior and The Netherlands Embassy in Jakarta. Emmely holds an MSc Organisational Psychology from Utrecht University and BA International Relations at Lund University, Sweden.

Jasper Spikker is SPARK’s Ignite Fund Investment Manager in Rwanda. His main responsibilities include deal sourcing, due diligence and portfolio management. In case of equity investments, Jasper takes his seat on the board of the investee. Jasper has an MBA from the University of Twente and several years of experience as business consultant with special emphasis on agri-business and manufacturing.

Gemma is a development sociologist specialising in conflict and post-conflict dynamics. From 2009-2015 she helped manage the IS Academy Human Security in Fragile States, hosting PhD and policy research on socio-economic recovery. Her core research interests are the (local) politics of reconstruction, institutional multiplicity and governance in conflict and post-conflict settings, and land claims and land governance challenges in conflict-affected settings.

Khaalid is SPARK’s Country Representative in Somalia / Somaliland. He specializes in facilitating access to finance and private sector development. Since returning to Somalia he has been instrumental in establishing SPARK’s Diaspora Migrant Entrepreneurship Programme, an innovative programme which aims to stimulate entrepreneurship and private sector growth in the Horn of Africa by encouraging return migration of Somali Diaspora from Europe.

Sladjana is a Social Development Specialist at the European Investment Bank and has led the development of the EIB’s approach to conflict sensitivity. Her previous experience includes working for the World Bank, think tanks, NGOs and media. She holds two MA degrees from the University of Vienna and Johns Hopkins University in the field of Social Sciences, International Relations and Economics.

William is Director of the Business Start-up Center Monrovia, which supports SMEs and Entrepreneurship Development. He received training from Foundation BiD and the IFC in Finance and Business, and has over 5 years’ experience in private sector development. William studied International Entrepreneurship and Business Development at University of Twente, and University of Tilburg, and holds a B.Sc. in Economics from AMEU.

Abrahim advises governments and international organisations on counter terrorism financing and early recovery. He established and managed the Syrian Interim Government’s financial and economic team. Abrahim was central in the establishment of Syria Recovery Trust Fund, leading its Management Unit as Director General. He was a policy adviser and analyst for the Dutch Central Bank and holds an MA Economics from the VU University Amsterdam.

Musa Kulaklikaya is the Director General of SESRIC and the former Turkish Ambassador to Mauritania. He was formerly president of the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency, where he undertook significant international development projects including infrastructure development, sustainable agriculture production, irrigation systems, health, vocational education training, capacity building programmes. These projects were in collaboration with collaboration with international partners including IDB, World Bank, UNDP, FAO, ECO and SESRIC.

Dr. Hajhamed is General Director of International Agriculture Cooperation Office (IACO) at the Ministry of Agriculture of the Syrian Interim Government. He was previously Head plant pathology at GCSAR and holds a Ph.D. in plant pathology and Molecular biology from Ain Shams University in Egypt. Dr. Hajhamed currently manages several projects on Agro science, Agriculture and food security inside Syria.

Coen van Haeringen is a senior expert at PUM, working as country coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Jordan, Syria and Yemen. Coen volunteers the specialized knowledge and expertise he developed throughout his extensive professional experience in international construction, petrochemical engineering and offshore construction. He supports entrepreneurs to improving their businesses, creating sustainable growth and job creation in the Middle East.

Tom Buitelaar is a Researcher under the Global Governance Program of The Hague Institute for Global Justice, where he is currently working on a number of projects, including the NWO-funded project “Employment for Stability.” Tom holds an MA in International Relations from Utrecht University (cum laude) and in Military History from the University of Amsterdam (cum laude).

Dr. Oliver Jütersonke is Head of Research for the Centre on Conflict, Development and Peacebuilding (CCDP) at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies. Beyond empirical research on the linkages between security and development, he focuses on elaborating innovative ways of relating social science research methods and analysis to public policy and peacebuilding debates.

Raheil Aziz is SPARK’s Country Representative in Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KR-I). He aspires to help economically rebuild the Kurdistan region and construct ties between the Netherlands and KR-I. Raheil has been instrumental in establishing SPARK’s Diaspora Migrant Entrepreneurship Programme in the region and has overseen the establishment of Holland House, a forum for entrepreneurs doing business in Kurdistan.

Donato Kiniger-Passigli is the head of the Fragile States and Disaster Response Group at the International Labour Office (ILO). He has been working with the UN for 27 years and undertook assignments ranging from development assistance to humanitarian aid, peacekeeping and employment generation and from combating the use of weapons of mass destruction to the prosecution of war criminals.

Aissatou is in charge of Advisory Services and Technical Assistance for inclusive private sector development at the AfDB. Aissatou leads a team specialized in the designing programmes which target SME promotion, value chain development, youth entrepreneurship and access to finance. Aissatou is a trained corporate lawyer and has a DESS in finance and international tax system management from University of Paris-Dauphine.

François Lenfant has extensive experience in the conflict transformation sector, having worked previously with Catholic Relief Services, Cordaid, and Oxfam Novib. He is currently researcher at the University of Amsterdam and independent consultant. His area of expertise is Corporate Social Responsibility, looking specifically at the role of business in conflict countries. He has published numerous articles on the topic in scientific journals.

Aminata Maiga is Director of the ILO in the DRC, which supports a tripartite constituency in Central Africa (governments, employers’ associations and trade unions) in the formulation and implementation of policies, strategies and programmes for the promotion of decent work. Through her experience managing programmes in Central Africa Aminata has an excellent understanding of the challenges of employment in conflict contexts.

Growing up as a Yemeni American, coffee was always a part of Mokhtar’s identity. After studying and researching the Specialty coffee market and the coffee sector in Yemen, Mokhtar founded Mocha Mill in 2013.  Mokhtar’s mission is to empower Yemeni coffee farmers with the knowledge and tools to bring about positive changes in the quality of their coffees and lives.

As General Manager of the Libyan Programme for Reintegration and Development at SESRIC, Mustafa has overseen Libya’s ex-combatant reintegration programmes, which have served over 162,000 beneficiaries to date. Mustafa has twenty years experience of entrepreneurship in the IT sector and four years of experience in politics, public management, social services management and SME’s development.

Eleonora is a research fellow at UNU-MERIT in the Netherlands, and holds a PhD in development economics from Wageningen University. She has over eight years of experience in economic research into the impact of violent conflict on socio-economic indicators as well as designing large-N surveys and field experiments to evaluate the impact of development programmes, including employment interventions in Sub-Saharan Africa.

As Heineken-Brarudi Corporate Affairs Advisor, Sacha is responsible for planning, implementing and monitoring sorghum production as part of the company’s Local Sourcing Sorghum project in Burundi. Sacha monitors the project’s sustainable growth, ensuring coordination with the brewery and stakeholders. Sacha has 12 years professional Marketing experience. He has a BA in International Business Administration from the USIU.

Lauren is SPARK’s country manager in South Sudan, since 2012 and has been managing its Agri-Business Creation programme focused on Value Chain Development.  Lauren founded Di Lorén a cosmetics company made with botanical ingredients from East Africa.  Lauren is a New York University Reynolds Fellow in Social Entrepreneurship and has four years experience in agribusiness and value chain development.

Jörn is a Carlo Schmid Fellow at the ILO‘s Fragile States and Disaster Response Group. Jörn focuses on post-conflict reconstruction and is interested in how institutions can foster employment creation in fragile settings through approaches such as social entrepreneurship. He has experience in West Africa and Al Zaatari Refugee Camp, Jordan. He holds a Double Degree in International and European Governance from Sciences Po Lille.

Nicola Armacost is a Board Member of MISFA Afghanistan and the Managing Director of Arc Finance, which works to join practitioners, funders, pro-poor enterprises, and end-users in the fields of finance, energy, water and sanitation. Nicola has 20 years experience in development, of which 17 are in Microfinance. Nicola is an advisor for Frontier Markets and Parwaz, and has previously worked for Women’s World Banking.

Marc works at Oxfam Novib, as part of the Innovation Team, where he is setting-up an investor network for impact companies that are supported by Oxfam’s BDS programmes. In addition, he is Global Project Leader for the IKEA Foundation funded programme Empower Youth for Work, running in 4 countries. He previously lead the Entrepreneurship Development program for SPARK (MFSII) and worked as consultant at Enclude/Triodos Facet.

Annemarie van Mossel is senior advisor at BiD Network, preparing SMEs in emerging markets for finance. Her experience is in deal flow origination, Ready4Finance training, reviewing business plans, providing institutional support and program coordination in various countries. Before becoming a senior advisor she was involved in operational management. She studied Cultural Anthropology, Music Education and SME Finance.

Johan te Velde is the co-founder and senior consultant at Double Loop Advisors. He conducts capacity building, baseline studies and evaluations for a variety of government and non-governmental organisations on peacebuilding and service delivery in fragile countries. He was engaged in action research in a SPARK programme promoting employment in agricultural value chains in Burundi and South Sudan.

Anas Rajab is the founder and CEO of ElMzad, an online marketplace for trading domain names and websites. ElMzad was incubated by SPARK and accelerated by GazaSkyGeeks. Anas worked previously as a start-up support specialist for MEA at Microsoft Jordan. Mr Rajab has a BSc in Computer Science at and continued to study Technology Entrepreneurship at Stanford Business School.

Karen Reijner is a consultant/trainer specialising in M&E large development programmes, and held the position of Interim Director at MDF Training & Consultancy. Karen has worked previously at the Twynstra Gudde  and the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). She holds an MA in International Economics & Geography from the University of Utrecht.

Machiel Spuij is an agri-business development specialist, with extensive experience in capacity building and value chain development in Tanzania. He is the managing director of The Dutch Connexion, an agricultural service provider as well as the owner of Fairtrade Farmers Support, an advisory service for agri-business development. Machiel holds a Bsc in bioprocess technology from Wageningen UR.

Alain Prenat has over 20 years experience in education and capacity building sector designing, organising and facilitating training programmes. He currently manages agro-industry projects in East Africa and is developing partnerships with the public sector. His work implements the M4P approach, reducing poverty through agricultural value chain development. Alain established a coffee plantation in Goma DRC.

Dieter Kohn works as Senior Consultant in Sustainable Business Practices at Enculde. Dieter designs and implements large-scale entrepreneurship programmes and trains hundreds of trainers worldwide. His technical expertise include the fields of enterprise development and business support services, entrepreneurship development and training, gender and youth enterprise development, and sustainable business practices. He holds a BCom in Business Administration Université de Liège.

René Kim is a founding partner of Steward Redqueen. He has extensive experience in private sector development and socio-economic impact analysis. His clients are mainly multinational corporations and development banks.  René has previously worked at The Boston Consulting Group and also as a scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Arjen Berkvens is director of the Foundation Max van der Stoel (FMS), a political foundation based in The Netherlands. The FMS is a democracy support foundation with projects in the countries in the European Neighborhood. Arjen Berkvens was co-founder of the European Network of Political Foundations (ENoP.) He is an experienced manager of political campaigns and a professional trainer in political skills.

Siatta Gardiner-Lewis is the founder of Elohim Printers Inc. a Liberian paper product manufacturer and printing solution provider. The company secured equity investment from West Africa Venture Fund LLC , a private equity/venture capital Fund anchored by the IFC. Siatta was a participant in the Branson Scholarship Programme, an accelerator programme for Liberian entrepreneurs run in partnership with SPARK.

After working as a technical specialist and project manager in the private sector Hervé Berger moved into the development sector, and has since worked for Amnesty International, ECPAT International, ILO-IPEC, UNESCAP. In 2010 to became head the ILO’s Kabul Office, Afghanistan. He is currently engaged in ensuring that fundamental principles and rights at work are integral to the ILO’s response to fragile situations.

Ghaith Taraben is Head of the Qatar Red Crescent Society’s Mission in Turkey, working to provide disaster response and recovery services to the crisis in Syria. Ghaith joined QRCS two years ago, transferring his extensive professional experience as a manager of Syria’s premier telecom company, Syriatel, where he managed 25 service points and 275 employees. Ghaith holds a master degree in Financial Management.

Shadi Saleh is the founder and managing partner of Caspian Holdings Co., a Liberian company operating in waste management, industrial imports, water infrastructure and construction.  The company successfully secured a $4.4 million waste management contract with the World Bank.  Shadi was a participant in the Branson Scholarship Programme, an accelerator programme for Liberian entrepreneurs run by Virgin Unite in partnership with SPARK.

Marjolein Lem is a managing consultant at Berenschot International. She is an economist, specialising in strategies for international business and development cooperation. She has worked for a wide range of private and public clients throughout the world, with a focus on sub-Saharan Africa. Marjolein is co-author of ‘Doing business in Africa – a strategic guide for entrepreneurs’ (Berenschot, RSM and NABC, 2013).

Annemiek Stijnen works as a consultant in the development of medicines with a focus on pharmaceutical development, manufacturing, quality and project management. Since joining PUM Annemiek has supported a mission in Myanmar, numerous pharmaceutical, entrepreneur training and micro-finance projects in the DRC, working with Cordaid and Healthy Entrepreneurs, and a job creation project in South Africa. Annemiek holds a PhD in pharmacology.

James Holmes is a passionate believer in impact investing and education for all. He has built companies in property, education and financial services, and led the first European private investment in Chinese higher education helping to fund a campus for over 10,000 students. He funded the world’s first MOOC for 4m learners in 2003 and is Chairman of the Ignite Fund Investment Committee.

Bojan Mladenovic is the founder of Herc International Doo, a media, internet, cable and VOIP provider based in Kosovo which provides essential services to Serbian municipalities. Bojan built his company by listening to his customers’ demands. Bojan believes that Internet and Communication services are imperative to economic development and his astute management of these services has created jobs for local employees.

Dr. Abouzkeh Abdalnaser is Director-general of the Libya Enterprise for Small and Medium Enterprises, and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Committee on Capital Markets Authority in Libya. He worked formerly the financial advisor to the Minister of Economy in Libya. He holds a BA and MA in Accounting and a PhD in Philosophy in Accounting & Finance.

Anette is a Research Fellow in Private Sector Development and Peacebuilding at the Conflict Research Unit of Clingendael. Anette explores the interaction between private sector development and fragility dynamics. Her projects include private sector focused risk assessments and conflict analyses, and advisory support for conflict-sensitive private sector development strategies. Anette previously worked as Technical Advisor for GIZ HQ and UNIDO.