Our exhibiting start-ups get the chance to enter the highly regarded Start-up City Pitch Competition.
The top 10 finalists will get to pitch onsite in front of our esteemed judges, key stakeholders and investors.
Join us on 6 December 2023 at the Innovation Hub Theatre, Sheikh Saeed Hall 1.
Amir Dehghan, Expansion & Strategy Lead at AstroLabs, specializes in guiding companies through their KSA expansion strategies and offering advisory services for scaling strategies. Amir has over 8 years of management consulting experience spanning diverse sectors. Prior to AstroLabs, Amir led various advisory projects for corporates and large SMEs across Europe and the Middle East, with a focus on market penetration and growth.
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.
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.
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.
A Global partnerships leader and entrepreneur with 17 years of experience. He is a specialist in developing businesses and building relationships with new and existing investors, partners, and Fortune 100 companies across the globe.
Maurice started out his career in finance at MAF Trust working for the family office of Majid Al Futtaim. After 8 years he ventured into entrepreneurship with his own startup, AFKARMENA, focusing on reward-based crowdfunding. In parallel he transitioned his career in finance into MENA regional sales for a hedge fund called ISAM. He expanded his network and expertise by joining CAFU in its early days as Head of Partnerships building various strategies including its connected car vision. Currently he is the Senior Manager – Digital Economy Ecosystem & Acceleration at Dubai Chamber of Digital Economy focusing on attracting and retaining strong talent, attractive capital as well as businesses to the UAE.
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.
Mete Varas has been a prominent entrepreneur in technology businesses, involved in numerous ventures as a founder, advisor, and NED. Besides thinking, writing, and advising on proptech, innovation, and transformation, he’s the founder of the “EurAsia Proptech Initiative” based in Istanbul and the “ME Proptech Initiative” down in Dubai.
He’s one of the ambassadors for Ocean Protocol and a writer for SciFuture.
Nikhil Choudhary is a Silicon Valley-based venture capitalist and the Managing Partner of Nirman Ventures, a pioneering global VC fund dedicated to shaping the future of construction-tech, clean-tech, and infrastructure technology. His journey is marked by a trail of successes, having founded award-winning AEC companies in the United States.
A luminary in the real estate industry, Nikhil is a prolific author and visionary whose insights have graced the pages of esteemed publications such as Business Collective, Forbes, and Inc.com. His remarkable leadership was exemplified by catapulting his former firm to the #1 growth rank in the Inc500.
Nikhil has been recognized as one of the Top 40 Thought Leaders on LinkedIn in 2023 and honored with the prestigious Indian Achiever Award for Entrepreneur of the Year.
As an industry operator with profound expertise, Nikhil brings unparalleled value to the startups within Nirman’s portfolio. Driven by a profound vision of innovation, sustainability, and inclusivity, Nikhil Choudhary is resolutely dedicated to catalyzing a positive transformation in the construction sector. His journey is a testament to the power of vision, entrepreneurship, and a tireless pursuit of positive change.
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.
Sion leads the ventures and investment activities at Plug and Play Abu Dhabi. From direct investments in early stage startups, to technology sourcing for corporate and government partners, Sion has interfaced with entities across the fintech, healthtech and industry 4.0 verticals. She hopes to build a thriving local ecosystem for startups of all stages. Outside of Sion’s day-to-day work, she is a mentor for the Zayed University Partner Challenge Program, as well as an advocate and advisor to female founders through the Women in VC network and Plug and Play’s FoundHer initiative.
Started the career journey in the retail & corporate banking sector. Graduated with honors with a BS in banking and finance the Lebanese American University. Then started the venture building journey at an impact venture builder with a portfolio of sector agnostic startups including but not limited to Agritech, Fintech, Femtech, Foodtech and EVs. Involved in all stages of the startups from ideation to fully functional and revenue generating.
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