Irvine Floréale Murame is a young leader and Entrepreneur in Burundi. She is the founder of Infinity Group, one of the main Human Resource players in Burundi, and partner of SPARK in creating employability opportunuties of Burundian youth. Later on, pursuing her personal dreams and drive to serve, she founded INFINITY GROUP. INFINITY GROUP offers fellow Burundian youth an accelerated Job Readiness Program that aligns their skills to the market needs. Irvine’s vision translated into her innovative approaches, paves the way for young job seekers to become economic actors, through unique opportunities.

Omar is an entrepreneur and ecosystem builder who has built deep expertise in digital disruption across sectors and currently holds multiple positions. He is the Founder & CEO of ArabNet, which is focused on the technology and innovation industry in the MENA region. Omar is a Partner and Board Member at Lebanon Seed Fund, a $20 million early-stage fund supporting 100 Lebanese startups, having already invested in 33 startups to date. He is actively involved in advising government leaders on digital innovation and serves on the private sector advisory group for the Lebanese Minister of Technology and Investment.

Dania Ismail is the Co-founder of Jusoor, an NGO created to harness the potential of Syria’s youth through Education, Career Development, Entrepreneurship and Community Engagement. She is the Founder and Director of the Jusoor Entrepreneurship Program. Dania is currently the Director of Strategy at Telfaz11, one of the most influential and creative digital and premium media studios in KSA and the wider region. Previously, she served as Strategy and Business Development Manager for nine years with MBC Group. She launched MBC Ventures, the corporate venture capital fund for MBC Group and managed the fund’s investments and portfolio companies. 

Founder & CEO of Zaka AI

Christophe is an accomplished software engineer with extensive experience spanning over 12 years in various areas of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence. In addition to his technical expertise, he is also a seasoned entrepreneur with a track record of launching and scaling successful ventures.

As the visionary Founder & CEO of Zaka, an Artificial Intelligence education & consulting company, Christophe is passionate about promoting the growth of the AI sector, with a particular focus on the MENA region. His dedication to advancing AI is further demonstrated through his role as the Founder & President of Beirut AI, an esteemed NGO. Through his leadership, he brings together the applied Artificial Intelligence community in Lebanon, where he designs engaging community events and technical workshops that inspire and empower people to appreciate and implement AI.

With his exceptional leadership skills and technical expertise, Christophe is well positioned to drive the growth of the AI industry and shape its future. His passion for innovation and his ability to bring people together to achieve common goals make him a true asset to the industry.

Mariam began her career in Investment Banking, advising mid- and large-cap companies in connection with restructuring, financing, M&A, and capital markets transactions. She co-founded and managed a family wellness center. She completed her Master’s Degree in Public Administration and focused her thesis research on Social Enterprises in Egypt. In recent years, she has explored investment opportunities in Egypt’s burgeoning startup scene, and currently manages AUC Angels, the first university-based angel investor network in the MENA region.

John W. Kluge is a systems entrepreneur and committed social justice activist. He is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of the Alight Fund, an investment and financing company for refugee and host country entrepreneurs. Previously, he co-founded Eirene, a multi-family-office impact investing fund, and Toilet Hackers, a social enterprise. Kluge serves as a Trustee of Babson College, as a member of the Center for Strategic International Studies’ Taskforce on Global Forced Migration, as a Director of the Fonderie 47 Foundation, as the Co-Chair of the Virginia Policy Entrepreneurship Lab, and as a member of the Human Rights Commission of Charlottesville.

Fadi’s vision is to accelerate the conditions for world peace through entrepreneurship. His in-depth knowledge and experience building successful startups in Silicon Valley and around the world have earned him the respect of founders, investors, and policymakers alike. Seeking to rethink the traditional accelerator model, Fadi founded Blackbox in 2010 with a commitment to serving entrepreneurs and expanding entrepreneurial opportunities in every corner of the globe.

Ahmad is an award-winning social entrepreneur, and the author focused on supporting vulnerable communities, including those in conflict and fragile societies, and refugees to access entrepreneurship.

He works as the Middle East and Africa Regional Manager at Techstars, The global platform for investment and innovation. Since 2012, he has been helping hundreds of Syrians to gain access to entrepreneurship opportunities and build a supportive environment as the Startup Roadshow entrepreneurship program Director and founder of Startup Syria.

He has written, “Entrepreneurship In Conflict Zones” and “Entrepreneurship in Exile,” to shed some light on the status quo of Syrian founders, in conflict zones, and as refugees in host countries.

Yannick Du Pont is the Founder and Director of SPARK and has been working in the field of higher education & economic development in post-conflict countries since 1994. With an MA in International Relations and Sociology from the University of Amsterdam, Mr. Du Pont worked for the Netherlands Minister of Development Cooperation from 1996 to 1997. After working with the Dutch IKV and the Development think-tank of the Dutch Labor Party, the Evert Vermeer Foundation, Mr. Du Pont was engaged as researcher for the Netherlands Institute of International Relations “Clingendael” to evaluate the performance of the OSCE Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina (2000/2001). SPARK has programs to support  growth oriented SMEs and facilitate youth job creation in 17 fragile States in primarily East and West Africa, North Africa & Somalia and the Middle East. In addition to his work at Spark, Yannick Du Pont also serves on the Board of the Max van der Stoel Foundation (Amsterdam), Advisory Board of the Centre of Theory of Change (New York), the Steering Board of the Knowledge Platform on Security and Rule of Law (The Hague) and the AIDCOIN Foundation (The Hague).

Iris is a strategic thinker and leader who has successfully lead Pan African entities in the East African Region while focusing on developing talent and sustaining unprofitable businesses. Throughout her professional journey, she has successfully designed and implemented business strategies and HR processes that resulted in increased revenue and human capital development. She worked respectively for ITM Africa, International Organization for Migration and Telecel Globe before founding her own consulting firm. She has placed thousands of staff, developed several Job readiness training programs that helped post-graduates & graduates acquire skills needed at the workplace.

Michel Botzung is the Manager of IFC’s Fragile and Conflict-Affected Situations (FCS) Africa program. Michel joined IFC 17 years ago and has since held several field positions in North Africa, the Middle East, India and more recently Africa, based in Nairobi. He currently manages IFC’s FCS Africa program, which was established in 2014 to support and help grow IFC’s investment and advisory engagements in African FCS.

Giima Lavaly is an FCS Africa Country Coordinator at IFC, covering Sierra Leone since August 2015 and Côte d’Ivoire since October 2018. Since then, she has been overseeing the operations for advisory and supporting investment activities in Sierra Leone. Giima has extensive experience working in West Africa, and before joining IFC in 2015, Giima worked for ManoCap Private Equity in Freetown, Sierra Leone and started her career in London, United Kingdom with Pascall and Watson Architects. Giima Lavaly is an Economics and Management graduate with a BSc from Brunel University in Middlesex, UK and MSc in International Management from the University of Liverpool.

Martine pursued a career development in architecture alongside developing a social enterprise called Jar Thuraya; an online marketplace of different homemade local products prepared by different women across Lebanon. Jar Thuraya was selected at the final pitch as Best in Category: “Cultural and Environmental preservation”. Martine is currently the Lebanese country director of the Global Peace Chain as well as part of the 2021 cohort of the gender innovation agora by unwoman. Currently chosen as one of Arab women entrepreneurs for the women innovators program by UNDP and 4YFN and pursuing certifications in Project Management and UX Design

Sami Al-Ahmad is a Syrian entrepreneur living in Cairo. Sami is the CEO & Founder of Khatwa, supporting Syrians through higher education opportunities. Besides that, he is the CEO & Co-Founder of MARJ3, MENA #1 Platform which Connects youth to Scholarships , Opportunities and Universities around the world. Sami is a fellow in the AMENDS program at Stanford University, and he is also a member of ChangemakerXChange Community and Global Shaper at World Economy Forum. Sami also is a talented Growth Hacker and was able to increase his platform traffic 100x within 2 years (from 25K per month to 2.5 million per month).

Mayar Hajhamad has been studying civil engineering in Turkey. One year before graduation, Mayar opened his own company which is in the same line as his father, who has a business in irrigation systems. They are currently working in tandem, manufacturing and exporting irrigation systems mainly to Arabic speaking countries, both from Turkey and from Iraq.

Rami is founder and chief disruptor at Abnewnormal AI Venture Studio, and Professor of Practice at the School of Social and Basic Sciences at ‎Al Hussein Technical University (HTU). Before joining HTU as faculty member and founding his venture studio he was the senior vice president and group chief innovation officer at Jordan Ahli Bank, and founding CEO of “Ahli FinTech” where he co-founded the 1st Bank fully owned financial technologies company and fintech accelerator in the middle east. Making him the first person to be approved by the central bank of Jordan for a c-level chief innovation officer role in a bank in Jordan.

Ussal Şahbaz is the founder of Ussal Consultancy, a boutique consultancy house on innovation and governments. From 2018 to 2019, Ussal was the CEO of EDAM, one of Turkey’s most prominent think tanks. Between 2016-2018, Şahbaz was General Electric’s innovation director for Turkey. He managed the Business 20 and Think 20 engagement groups whilst Turkey chaired the G20, and started the Innovation Studies Programme of The Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey (TEPAV). His government career included positions at the Turkish Competition Authority and President of Turkey’s Office.

Niccolò Rinaldi has been in charge of Information for the United Nations in Afghanistan and he is since 1991 a senior EU official. He is the Head of Unit for Asia, Australia and New Zealand. He was former Member of the European Parliament and Directorate-General for External Policies of the Union.

Dave is a 5X founder and has been part of 11 transactions as founder, operator, board member, and advisor. His primary time is spent helping founders scale their companies for growth and exit. As a community builder and speaker, he works with accelerators and start-up programs worldwide, having formerly served as SVP of Program of UP Global (Startup Weekend + Startup America, sold to Techstars).

Aleksander built and sold 2 software startups in the last 5 years. After that, he taught entrepreneurship at the university, only to join Contabo on the journey to become tier 1 cloud computing provider.

Victoria is a Venture Partner at Expert Dojo; she has over ten years of experience in investment, due diligence, financial analysis, strategic planning, and business development in various industries, including Sensor & Technology, Semiconductor, Oil & Gas, Asset Management, Private Equity, and Venture Capital Industries in the UK, US, and Europe. Since 2018, she has invested in over 40 startups around the Globe. Additionally, she is an Advisor at Astia Angel Group, Women Network, in the US and the UK.”

Valentina is an entrepreneur and a journalist. She is the founder of Startups Without Borders, a platform that connects refugee and migrant entrepreneurs to resources, while providing investors with an entry point to under-the-radar startups with disruptive potential. Their annual Startups Without Borders Summit was featured amongst the Top 60 startup events to follow in 2021. She was awarded the Women Economic Forum’s Women in Excellence Award 2019, and acts as an advisor for SXSW Pitch. Valentina has been involved in the Middle East’s startup landscape since 2013, having launched Egypt’s largest platform on entrepreneurship, Startup Scene Middle East, in 2017.

Idil Abshir is a communications and knowledge management consultant for IFC’s Fragile and Conflict-affected Situations (FCS) Africa program. Since 2017, she has been producing stories, reports, multimedia products, and organizing events, aimed at sharing operational knowledge and insights about investing in Africa’s fragile markets. Prior to IFC, Idil worked as a journalist producing breaking news, feature stories and analysis for various publications including The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, amongst others. She has also worked for Oxfam, the AU/UN joint mission in Somalia, and completed consultancies for Facebook, UNICEF and GIZ.

Jan Vos is the founder and CEO of a fintech company called MoneyPhone which provides micro-credits in emerging markets. Vos previously founded @GLOBE and GovWorks, internet companies that contracted clients including ABNAMRO, Ernst & Young and the cities of Amsterdam and The Hague. After selling the companies, he continued his career as CEO and Founder of an Emerging Markets Private Equity Impact Investment Fund. Investors included the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Dutch Development Bank (FMO), and family offices.

Ange Muyubira combined her passion indigenous artisanal techniques from East Africa and the will to make a difference, she implemented the Kaz’O’zah social impact model. The model, which is based on skills development, economic and social empowerment, has already touched more than 5140 artisans´ in both Burundi and Uganda since 2012. They recruit, train and finance vulnerable Burundians to work in the artisanal sector. Ange always had a visionary with the goal of improving the lives of those with less opportunity, especially those from her home country of Burundi.

Marianne is B.O.T’s Founder and Managing Director, where she leads on international business growth, strategic implementation and strategic partnership development. In addition to her role as B.O.T’s Director, Marianne is DOT Lebanon’s Country Director & DOT Global’s Director of Operations for the MENA Region.

With DOT Global, Marianne was director of the IBM Corporate Social Volunteering program supporting 12 countries in East and North Africa, Asia, Middle East, and Latin America. Marianne has extensive experience in NGO Management and relief and development project implementation and is an expert in issues surrounding vulnerable communities in Lebanon.

With a background in Special Economic Zone spill-over policy effects, international relations, fragile state economic development, and special economic zone (SEZ) development,  Richard supports governments, development agencies, and investors in developing fragile states economic recovery strategies for SSA. Aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Richard specializes in developing, managing, allinging economic development projects to create linkages that capture the greatest possible economic, environmental, and social impact. In his work as SPARK country director (2010-2019) Richard has worked with partners including the IFC, the EU, Virgin Unite and USAID. He has also been invited as a speaker on topics such as business development, and access to finance for early stage companies in developing markets. Richard is also founder and CEO of Emergi,  a startup which offers innovative products to contribute to a renewable future.

Aline is the Co-Director of Cewas and a water and natural resource management specialist, connecting agricultural, sanitation, waste and other environmental sectors with innovation, business development and impact financing. Aline coordinates and manages all Cewas activities in the Middle East, with a strong focus on environmental business development & ecosystem support programs in the region. Based on her experience in entrepreneurial support, she has developed comprehensive sector-specific ecosystem strategies in several MENA countries and initiated partnerships and coordination platforms to enhance innovative finance mechanisms, talent growth and specialized business support. Aline has extensive water, environment, and business -related knowledge and networks, which she draws upon to coach sector-specific businesses and support developing respective markets.

Claudio is an Italian serial entrepreneur and industry leader considered an expert in solar mini-grids and in DRE generation (Distributed Renewable Energy). He is currently serving in several boards in the energy sector around the world both profit and non-profit. He is also the President of the Board of Directors of the Alliance for Rural Electrification.

UN SDG7 “Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all” is his passion and focus. He founded few successful startups in the renewable energy sector. He is founder of Green Climate Venture (GCV) an early-stage impact investor focused in off-grid renewable energy sector and related applications.

Olivier is serving as IFC’s Country Manager for the Côte d’Ivoire cluster (covering Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Mali, Liberia and Sierra Leone) since March 2019. Prior to that, he was the IFC’s Resident Representative in Guinea since February 2017. He joined IFC in 2008 as a Trade Finance Officer in what was then the Financial Markets Division of IFC’s Sub-Saharan Africa Department. In 2014, he became the Regional Lead for IFC’s Trade & Commodity Finance department covering Sub-Saharan Africa. Prior to joining IFC, Olivier worked for the Corporate and Institutional Banking Department at BNP Paribas, Brussels, Belgium.

Hatem Osman is an entrepreneur and founder of various companies in the technological sector. His flagship company, VIVA, focuses on applying innovative FinTech solutions in Europe and the MENA region. Osman’s knowledge on MENA’s regional infrastructure has allowed him to develop unique solutions that are tailored to the area, making them effective and practical. Adamant on progressing the social and economic climate, Mr. Osman has worked together with commercial and central banks, mobile operators, and public institutions to develop customized payment methods integrated within a communication compartment that is available for both closed and open communities. VIVA’s presence is international, with the greatest reach in countries like Belgium, Holland, France, KSA, UAE, Iraq, Sudan, and Lebanon.

Mustafa Al Khanous, a Syrian, resides in NWS now. He was a lecturer at Aleppo university, the faculty of Agriculture. Mustafa occupied the position of the deputy of the head of the Free Agricultural Directorate in Idlib governorate. He also occupied many positions in many local and international organizations, such as, Ihsan LNGO projects manager supported by FAO, FSL advisor with WATAN LNGO. Currently he is a Livelihood Field Coordinator at WHH INGO in Syria.

Gabrielle De Vliegher is Youth Development Coordinator for SPARK Burundi. In this capacity, she is involved in a wide range of youth and female entrepreneurship and employability initiatives. She believes in entrepreneurship as an essential path for the socio-economic development of communities and in female entrepreneurship as a tool for women advancement.

Jordanian entrepreneur Raneem Meqbel holds a degree in civil engineering and social entrepreneurship. She launched Teenah.org in 2017, as the fish ethical merchandise in the Middle East. Teenah is a modern project in the sustainable fashion sector in Irbid. Working with Syrian refugees women and women from their host communities. Taking the SDG#8 ‘Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all. While COVID-19 brought several difficulties to the industry, she was able to develop her business and start a new eco-friendly digital production line with the help of the Qatar Fund for Development and SPARK.

In 2005 Reem & Tamara started Rimara Pak, a factory specialized in packaging for disposable cutlery sets in Jordan. As the sisters merged their talents into a business, they also merged their names to form the name of their business; Rimara Pak. They started with one plastic packaging machine and grew gradually to a factory that creates branded cutlery sets, napkins, wet wipes & packaging, controlling over 40% of the market share in Jordan. The sisters were aware that to remain market-relevant, a business needs to make continuous improvements, thus, they applied to Taqaddam programme offered by SPARK (SME growth programme).

Sabrine Chennaoui is the founder of MONSAPO Tunisia, a brand of ecological cleaning products that integrate waste as raw materials. She wanted to make from her human, social and environmental values, her life project. Her goal is to help professionals and consumers integrate ecological products into their cleaning process with high efficiency and at the best price. Her vision is to help reduce waste management and marine acidity through the impact that she can do through MONSAPO. She has a licence degree in business administration and a master’s degree in marketing from the Mediterranean school of business.

Simten Birsöz İnanç is the Coordinator of Foreign Affairs at Istanbul Planning Agency ıf Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM). Previously she worked as the IMM’s Migration Policies coordinator and initiated the first Migration action plan and migration unit of IMM. She has a professional background as coordinating foreign affairs and fundraising in several local authorities including Şişli Municipality of Istanbul. She is a board member of YERELIZ (Association for Local Monitoring, Research and Implementation), Board Member of Sıfır Ayrımcılık (Zero Discrimination) Association and act with in various other NGOs.  Her focus is on the strengthening the local action to create a better response to the global challenges including climate crisis, migration and inclusive public policy and innovation.

Marc de Klerk is a former manager at SPARK, now working as Innovation Specialist at Oxfam. Previous engagements were the Impact-driven SME’s Program at Oxfam, the MFSII Entrepreneurship Program at Spark and various BDS and Access to Finance projects at (now called) Palladium. He has a big ambition to mainstream innovative enterprises and entrepreneurs who have an intrinsic ambition to improve the world through their business model; for example through green entrepreneurship.

Mohamed A.M Al-Hadi is Lead Fragility and Resilience in the Islamic Development Bank. He joined the Islamic Development Bank in 2015 where he led global initiatives and fostered partnership forums and conferences in the area of resilience, fragility, emergencies, and resource mobilization for these types of interventions. Al-Hadi developed the IsDB Fragility and Resilience Policy and the Policy’s Operation Strategy and Work Plan. Part of his initiatives in the IsDB include the biannual “IsDB Resilience Report” which started in 2019, annual “Resilience Forum” which became a regular side event in the IsDB Annual Meeting since 2019. Before joining the IsDB, Al-Hadi was a Member of Parliament (MP) in Somalia (2009-2012) and founding member of Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS) in 2007. He was the founder and director of Alshahid Centre for Research and Media Studies in London.