Disrupting the world of construction

Abe Seksek

A serial Entrepreneur with multiple exits Ibrahim “Abe” Seksek is the current CEO and Head of Talent of MENA and Africa of Startupbootcamp, a Rainmaking company.  Before joining Startupbootcamp he Co-Founded a couple of companies such as ZenHR Solutions, which addresses the entire HR cycle, and Crystel, Jordan’s first business process outsourcing (BPO) provider. Ibrahim also worked as Head of Global Operations Support for Naspers, the parent company of dubizzle and OLX, which oversaw the operations in 70 countries.

Hercu Viljoen

Hercu completed his schooling in South Africa in 1980 and then spent two years in the South African defense force as a commissioned officer in the Engineering Corps.

Hercu was granted a scholarship from Grinaker to study Civil Engineering at University of Pretoria and after graduation worked at Grinaker for the next 20 years. He started as a site engineer in 1987 and finished as the Managing Director of Building Inland in 2006, taking responsibility for building projects in Southern Africa as well as being involved in the formation of ALEC, a new construction company in the UAE.

Hercu joined ALEC (Dubai) in 2006 as a Project Director. In 2008 he also became responsible for the Abu Dhabi projects. In 2010 he was involved with expanding ALEC into Qatar and Oman, established offices there and secured the first projects in those regions.

In 2012 ALEC restructured the business and Hercu became the Managing Director responsible to diversify the ALEC income stream through a portfolio of related businesses. Hercu directed the Related Businesses as his main responsibility and assisted the greater business with vision, future planning, innovation, integrity, and alignment.

In 2020 Hercu retired from the main ALEC business to join and establish APIO, a joint venture business between ALEC and CNM in the UK. He is currently officially retired and involved with a few start-up businesses as angel investor and advisor.

Hisham Akhtar

Hisham is an ecosystem builder and business consultant with extensive experience in the entrepreneurship sphere as part of top-tier startup incubators and accelerators. He has advised founders across the venture life cycle on how to build, fund, launch and grow startups in different business verticals, along with advising corporates on how to increase their innovation capabilities.

His current role at Plug and Play entails the strategic leadership, growth and execution of the Industry 4.0 open-innovation platform. This includes understanding and enhancing corporates’ innovation requirements through advisory services and connections with world-class startups. He further supports the regional innovation ecosystem through mentorship of founders and startups, including sourcing investment opportunities for Plug and Play’s venture capital arm.

Prior to this, Hisham launched the region’s first government supported venture studio at the Sharjah Entrepreneurship Center. Additionally, he conceptualized and led 10 accelerator programs, advising and supporting 100+ founders through this journey. He started his career at Rocket Internet, one of the largest venture studios globally, leading and advising multiple ventures in the GCC region and managing 500+ partners. Hisham has continued to enhance his business consulting and entrepreneurial skill set by successfully completing the Stanford Innovation and Entrepreneurship Program and has successfully earned an MBA from the prestigious London Business School.

Imad Itani

Imad Itani is the Innovation manager for ALEC, one of the leading construction firms in the Gulf region. Imad is an experienced construction professional having background in delivering high profile projects including airports, theme parks, hotels and high-rise towers. He is known for utilizing experience, proactive project management skills and different innovation tools to transform practices in the construction industry.

Imad is highly motivated with a genuine eagerness to learn and develop thus keeping pace of new procedures, strategies, and technologies to stay abreast of developments across different fields.

Passionate about people and utilizing interpersonal skills to increase collaboration between all parties hence adding value across the whole construction ecosystem. Imad has also completed multiple certifications including PMP, EMBA from INSEAD in addition to many other certifications and trainings including innovation.

Imad has been leading the innovation drive across ALEC since early 2017; working with many staff across the organization and promoting the innovation culture. Since inception, many new initiatives were driven from simple ideas into successful projects that generates value to the organization. Continuous improvement is a prime focus and have been utilizing technologies including Data, Analytics, Technology & automation in addition to 3D printing, where it adds value, in increasing efficiency and process improvements. Imad has been featured in many articles explaining construction innovation and have also presented in multiple forums.

Jourdan Younis

Jourdan focuses on five main areas: Venture Capital, Technology, Artificial Intelligence, Sustainable Development, and Company Boards/Corporate Governance. He is especially passionate about Proptech, Fintech, and Blockchain, and the practical application of these technologies to help people build better lives for themselves. He has experience as an entrepreneur and investor in all these areas with a history of successful exits across multiple jurisdictions and cultures.

Jourdan currently serves on the Board of Directors for several companies and delivers executive level courses on behalf of universities and major financial institutions in emerging markets. Today, some of the organizations Jourdan focuses on include Presidio Invest, Mowgli Foundation UK, and Alpin. Presidio Invest, a venture company that focuses on collaborating with VC firms, family offices, incubators, alumni associations and funds for investments and deal flow, and Mowgli Foundation UK, a non-profit, are focused on supporting founders and start-ups in the Middle East and Africa to develop/scale in the fields of Cleantech, Fintech and Edtech. As an active director of the board, Jourdan helps these firms to fulfill their ambitious missions.

Jourdan is also a director and former Managing Director for Alpin Limited, a privately held sustainable development company he founded with offices in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Riyadh and Doha. He successfully brought together over 100 individuals to create a unique, diverse, and high-performing team comprising of PhDs, Building Physicists, ESG Professionals, Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, and MBAs.

Laura Mansour

Laura Mansour is the Program Director at Flat6Labs. She previously worked at Microsoft for Startups where she managed their flagship B2B technology accelerator program. Prior to her job at Microsoft she was part of the investment and venture growth team at Falak Startups, an accelerator based out of Cairo – Egypt. Laura has experience in management consulting as well; she led the EMEA business development team for an Edtech startups based out of the London UK.

Mauricio Weiss

GP and Founding Partner of Zacua Ventures, a global fund focused on early stage startups in the construction industry. Mauricio works closely with entrepreneurs to help them succeed, achieve high ESG standards and drive the industry forward to respond to the main climate and productivity challenges. His background working in the job-site first and at Cemex Ventures later taught him what is needed for a successful implementation of technology and the right approach for startups engaging large corporates.

Mohamad Alwan

Mohamad comes from a corporate finance experience with 10 years of experience in finance, strategy and financial modeling. He started his career as a financial auditor and transitioned to be a finance manager for a group of 16 companies in diverse industries like retail, construction, contracting, and manufacturing.

Mohamad holds a BA in Economics from the American University of Beirut and he is a Certified Management Accountant (CMA), Certified in Strategy and Competitive Advantage (CSCA), & a Certified Advanced Financial Modeler (CAFM).

Sameer Sortur

Sameer Sortur is the Founder & CEO at SquareCircle Global with specialities in Early Stage Venture Creation and Venture Deals, Investments, Corporate Innovation, AI & Frontier Technology Development, Market Entry & Tech/IP Commercialization for Early & Growth stage companies. At SquareCircle Global, he has enabled market entry and growth engineering for B2B and B2G focussed tech companies in the Sustainability & Circular Economy, Fintech, Healthtech to launch across Middle East Africa, Asia Pacific and the US. Sameer is actively involved in the early stage startup ecosystem as a Regional Director GCC for Founder Institute, the world’s largest pre-seed startup accelerator and recently as a Co-Director with Startup Grind Dubai, Startup Grind is the world’s largest community of startups, founders, innovators, and creators conducting 2000+ events across 600+ cities, 125+ countries, 1700+ Chapter team members and 5M+ Community members worldwide.