Arabnet Riyadh

Saad AlKhudairyFounder, CEO, Abu Nawaf NetworkSaad is the founder and CEO of AbuNawaf Network, the largest e-mailing group in Saudi Arabia, and the producer of the first Saudi talk-show, Quarter to Nine. He is an investor and partner in Tech-wd.com, Unlimit-tech.com, and Saudishift.com.

Rania SalamehHead of Jeddah Young Business Women Committee, Jeddah Chamber of Commerce

Shadi HassanFounder, Managing Director, Flagship ProWith 20 years of high-level industry experience in strategic communications planning in the Middle East, Shadi Al Hasan is renowned for his strength in brand positioning and alternative creative solutions. His unique ability lies in conceptualizing localized communication strategies and developing channels that are in line with the cultural setting of the Arab world. Shadi is an ex M&C Saatchi Jordan creative director and local partner. He currently heads up Adworx Advertising and the newly established company Rufoof Online, “the first Arabic eBook platform on mobile”. Much spoken about projects of Shadi’s include the successful development, planning, and execution of branding and integrated marketing campaigns for multinationals Philips, Hyundai, and BP Middle East as well as many regional governmental departments and local UAE clients. His contributions to the fields of creative communications and digital solutions have earned him significant industry recognition. He has spoken at multiple conferences and seminars and is a regular resident at renowned pan-Arab satellite programs.

Wael QuaderCEO, Noqoush Mobile Media GroupWael Quader has more than 13 years of experience in the software and mobile industries in the Levant and the GCC. In 2010 and with 3 million dollars of funding, he co-founded Noqoush Mobile Media Group, a leading Arab company that specializes in mobile media monetization through AdFalcon, the first mobile advertising network in the Middle East. Wael is currently the CEO of Noqoush and responsible for guiding the strategy and overall performance of the

company. Prior to Noqoush, as director of professional services at major software houses in the region, Wael was responsible for guiding and monitoring the overall operations of a wide variety of services and overseeing the delivery of numerous multimillion dollar projects for many of the region’s top enterprises. As a participant in many conferences and a mentor at Oasis500 Venture Fund, Wael has been effective in raising awareness about the mobile industry in the region.

Abdulaziz Al-ShalanMarketing Manager, C3 Films

Abdullah AlzabinCo-founder, Lumba Inc.Abdullah Alzabin is the co-founder of Lumba, Inc, an Arabic mobile game developer based in San Francisco. At Lumba, he is leading the development and management of the company’s first title – Desert Tycoon. Prior to Lumba, Abdullah was a management consultant at Bain & Company in San Francisco where he serviced consumer internet and technology clients in the Silicon Valley and the West Coast. Earlier in his career, he was an associate at NBK Capital’s private equity fund in Dubai and Morgan Stanley’s investment banking group in London as well as an analyst at Wafra Investment Advisory Group in New York. Abdullah holds a MBA from Harvard Business School and a bachelor’s degree in finance and economics from the University of Virginia.

Abdullah HamedFounder, CEO, GametakoAbdullah Hamed is the founder and CEO of GameTako.com, which is a web game development platform that helps Arabic developers create entertaining games and monetize them. Initially, Abdullah wanted to develop games and so decided to build the platform for his own games. Abdullah is an indie game developer who developed what may be the first Arabic Android game, Save Them. He is a true believer in having joyful experiences and rejects joyless games. He is inspired by people like Jonathan Blow (Braid), Team Meat (Super Meat Boy), Phil Fish (Fez), and Andy Moore (SteamBirds). Abdullah is secretly a pixelated blue hedgehog who is as lazy as an Italian plumber in overalls.

Abdullah MandoCo-founder, CEO, Uturn EnterntainmentAbdullah Mando is the co-founder and CEO of UTURN, an online network that creates and distributes local and entertaining content. Abdullah’s vision is to stimulate and nourish thought through mass media. Under his leadership, UTURN has sparked the new media industry in Saudi Arabia and has created a hub for talents and content creators in the region. In UTURN’s early days, Abdullah was involved in every aspect of the organization including content development and creation. Today, his role is to ensure that UTURN is in the right direction and meeting its objectives as he develops processes and departments. His academic background enabled him to put the company on the right track to success, with its balance between content creation and business aspirations.Twitter: @mandowi

Abdulrahman TarabzouniRegional Manager, Emerging Arabia , Google Inc.Heading Google Emerging Arabia, Abdulrahman is in charge of shaping Google’s investments in emerging markets in Arabia, streamlining business operations, and solidifying partnerships with governments and TMT companies. Abdulrahman led Emerging Arabia to become Google’s 2nd fastest growing business operation worldwide and crafted a number of key strategic deals that Google is replicating across emerging markets globally. Prior to Google, Abdulrahman led different bets at Blueprint, Oracle, Morgan Stanley, and Atos Origin. He is co-founder of several tech ventures including Honeybee Tech Ventures, Syphir, Laimoon.com, and PopOver Games. Abdulrahman is an advisory board member of multiple non-profits, an ambassador to the “Innovation for Peace” initiative sponsored by the UN and the World Summit for Innovation & Entrepreneurship, and a founding mentor of the Mohammed bin Rashed Foundation’s Sawaed ICT initiative. Abdulrahman was named one of the most influential Arabs under 30 by Arabian Business. He holds BSc and MEng degrees in EECS from MIT.

Ahmed AlKhatibFounder, CEO, MarkaVIP

Amer MassimiFounder, Hashtag Social Media AgencyAmer comes from an advertising background, where he spent the last 7 years between big agencies like Leo Burnett, Y&R, and BBDO. Throughout his work at various international agencies, his clients have included prominent brands like STC, Ford, Danone and Microsoft. A believer in the new rules of advertising and marketing, he has a great passion for the new age of digital communications. Convinced that brands can capitalize on the power of social media to connect with their customers, Amer left the traditional advertising agencies to bring Hashtag to life. Hashtag is a new media agency that specializes in humanizing brands on the social web. Its main purpose is to help brands bridge the communication gap online and join the ongoing conversation. Amer is also a blogger at interactiveme.com, where he writes about social media marketing practices in the Middle East.

Badr WardCEO, ErtiqaAs CEO of Ertiqa, a leading digital and mobile content and services company, Badr Ward has been at the forefront of some of the region’s most successful digital and mobile initiatives, leading teams across five offices in the MENA region with numerous affiliates globally. He is a regular speaker at and contributor to the industry’s regional and international conferences and publications on mobile, digital, and new media. Badr is one of the most experienced and visionary digital and mobile leaders in the MENA region. He has masterminded award winning digital services and is currently developing further ground-breaking products and services.

Bassam Al HakimDirector, Business Development, Ethos Interactive

Eammon CareyEMEA Director, KiipTwitter: @eamonncarey

Essam AlZamelFounder, CEO, Remal ITEssam AlZamel is a serial web and technology entrepreneur with over 10 years’ experience in the web industry. He is the founder of Remal IT, a leading web services and portals company which owns and operates one of the largest networks in the Arab world. Essam was named “Young Entrepreneur of The Year” in 2009 by the Prince Salman Awards for Young Entrepreneurs. Essam has created multiple successful and innovative products, including Awamer, an online service that automates stock trading in the Saudi market; ProVise, patent-pending software that measures actual work time of employees; and Kammelna.com, an online card gaming website which was later acquired by Peak Games in one of the largest deals in the region. Essam is currently developing a new educational game, “Areeb World”, an immersive virtual world combining social media, education, and entertainment that provides K-12 students with learning activities tied to their curriculums. Essam has a BS in chemical engineering from Tulane University.

Hani AlGhofailyDirector Dept. of e-Media, AlRiyadh NewspaperHani AlGhofaily is the director of the e-media department at Alriyadh newspaper, which is responsible for designing and developing Alriyadh’s websites as well as publishing the latest news on Alriyadh.net. The department also handles the paper’s mobile services and apps for hand-held devices and tablets in addition to running all editorial and marketing activities for these digital services. Hani founded hawaaworld.com , the largest Arabic women’s network, in 1998, and he founded AlZaeem.com, the official site of the Al Hilal Al Saudi Club, in 2000. Hani has worked as the head of the e-services division in the Emirate of Riyadh and as a systems analyst in the computing department of King Saud University. Hani was also a lecturer at Al-Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud Islamic University and Prince Sultan University and has been a part-time tech editor at several Saudi papers. In 2000, Hani was awarded the Best University Project in the Kingdom prize by the Advanced Electronics Company.

Hassan MikhailRegional Manager of E-commerce, Aramex

Hatim AlKahilyIndustry Head – Emerging Arabia, Google Inc.

Hosam ArabCo-founder, Managing Director, Namshi.comHosam is a co-founder and the managing director at Namshi, the Middle East’s premier fashion e-commerce destination. Prior to joining Namshi, Hosam worked in private equity with Waha Capital in Abu Dhabi focusing on managing Waha’s portfolio of assets in addition to sourcing new investments for the firm across multiple industries. Previously, Hosam was a project manager at GE’s Water and Process Technologies business across the Middle East and East Africa region. Prior to that, he worked at Schlumberger as a project engineer across Europe and Africa. Hosam has a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Queen’s University in Canada and an MBA from Harvard Business School in Boston.

HRH Prince Fahad bin Faisal Al-SaudSocial Entrepreneur, Na3mPrince Fahad is a social entrepreneur, innovative philanthropist and devout humanitarian. A distinguished member of the Saudi royal family, he has dedicated himself to a technological revolution focused on bridging cultural gaps among youth generations worldwide. In 2008, Prince Fahad became Facebook’s Analyst and Head of User Operations‐Arabic. His leadership on the language barrier breaking endeavor earned him the distinction of being named ‘Most Influential International Youth’ at the 2011 Arab Youth Media Forum. Later that year, he became Chair at New York City’s Nexxus Global Youth Summit. Prince Fahad is a frequent lecturer on social media and privacy issues in the Middle East at the NATO Defense College. He consults the Saudi government on cyber technology and other capacity‐building programs within the Kingdom. Prince Fahad maintains a strong support system for youth development through a number of philanthropic initiatives that promote youth leadership and social responsibility.

Hussein AlEisaCo-founder, The Marketing Department

Khaled KefelCountry Manager, KSA, Research In MotionKhaled Kefel is the country manager for Research In Motion (RIM), Saudi Arabia. He is responsible for corporate strategy, business development, marketing, and sales in the Kingdom. Since joining RIM in 2001, Khaled has held a variety of technical, sales, and management roles across multiple countries. His previous roles at RIM include General Manager for the RIM Middle East business, based out of the UAE; BlackBerry Enterprise Architect & Director of Technical Services for RIM’s North American and EMEA businesses; and Director of Sales in Europe. Prior to joining RIM, Khaled held various positions at IT consulting firms, managing large IT infrastructure projects. Khaled holds a BS in electrical engineering.

Malik NejerFounder, Nejer StudioTwitter: @Nejer

Mashhoor Al DubayanCEO, Saudi Gamer

Mazen ElDarrabCEO, Ecommerce SeaMazen AlDarrab is specialized in e-commerce and helping businesses and organizations to empower their enterprises through the power of (e). Mazen is currently heading eCommerce SEA, a Saudi start up focusing on building ecommerce ventures in Arabia, in addition to sitting on the boards of several e-marketing and social media startups. Mazen holds a master’s degree in e-commerce/e-marketing from the University of Western Australia and a bachelor’s degree in information and computer science from King Saud University.

Mina TaklaCo-founder, TaghreedatMina Nagy Takla is the co-founder of Taghreedat, a regional and international Arabic digital content community-building initiative which has over 100,000 Twitter followers and has recently been selected as one the Middle East’s top 25 technology initiatives leading the innovation scene in the region. Along with Co-Founder Sami Mubarak, Mina established Taghreedat as an unprecedented online community initiative that takes a user-centered approach to develop more and better-quality Arabic digital content on the web. Working with a number of prestigious international stakeholders including Twitter, the Wikimedia Foundation, Storify, and TED, Taghreedat has been able to have a profound impact on enriching Arabic digital content through localization and community projects, involving a wide community of over 2,500 voluntary Arab translators from 31 countries worldwide including the Middle East, the UK, the US and Australia.

Twitter: @taghreedat

Mohammed AlBismiManaging Director, True-Gaming.net / ElectroniMohammed AlBismi is a young Saudi entrepreneur with a degree in economics from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland. He founded a media institution specialized in presenting expert Arabic content in several areas including video games and consumer electronics. His first site, True-Gaming.net was launched in 2004, and his second, Electroni, was launched in 2010; both sites found great success in the region.

Mohammed AlModhayanCo-founder and Department Head, The Marketing Department

Omar KattanChief Strategy Officer, Sandstrom Digital

Omar KoudsiCo-founder, CEO, Jeeran

Osama NattoFounder, CEO, Innovative Business Solutions

Rashid Al-BallaaCEO, National Net Ventures N2V

Saud AlhawawiCo-founder, Editor-in-chief, Tech WorldSaud AlHawawi has a diploma in computer programming. During his work as a programmer for the Saudi National Guard, AlHawawi founded Tech World with Abdel Malek Althari in 2008. Since then, Saud has managed the site and been its editor in addition to writing articles for the site. Owing to his leadership and the work of an elite selection of Arab bloggers, Tech World has achieved global recognition with major international online media sourcing news from the site including Mashable, Business Insider, and Read Write Web.Twitter: @saud264

Wael AlFayezManaging Director, Numu MultimediaBeing born and raised in the US and based in Saudi Arabia has given Wael AlFayez the chance to bridge many cultural divides. Drawing on 10+ years of experience in digital media and marketing, he has provided consulting services that have improved the state of digital media in the region. Heading NUMU Multimedia, Wael established a digital advertising company that drives superior results at all levels. He leads dedicated teams that leverage their industry specific knowledge to ensure that clients get the best digital advertising solutions and results. Wael is in charge of shaping the Saudi Research & Marketing Group’s (SRMG) digital advertising future, streamlining business operations, and solidifying partnerships with advertisers. He led the group’s digital advertising revenue to grow by 300%. Wael’s areas of specialization include digital marketing, digital advertising, digital media, strategic digital planning, and mobile marketing, among others.Twitter: @alfayezLinkedIn: Wael Al Fayez

Wael AttiliCreative Founder, Kharabeesh NetworkWael is an architect by training, an avid blogger, a young entrepreneur, and a passionate storyteller. Wael started working with Arabia.com in 1997 while still a student of architecture at Jordan University. He developed his career in information design, user experience, branding, and innovation until he finally started Kharabeesh in 2008. Kharabeesh is now considered one of the fastest growing entertainment networks based on social media that serve Arab Internet users around the world. Kharabeesh started off as a small storytelling house for the new Arab generation, aiming to place Arab entertainment on the WEB map. His hobby-turned- career has resulted in a large profile of productions that recount stories which stem out of his society to reflect its daily realties.

Yousef TuqanCEO, FlipMedia

Zafer YounesCo-founder, CEO, The Online ProjectZafer Younes is the co-founder and CEO of The Online Project, where his team develops and executes social media strategies for Fortune 500 companies and high-profile organizations operating in the Middle East and North Africa. At the age of 23, Zafer co-founded Modern Media, LTD,vidmate a Jordanian media house that owns and operates two popular radio stations including the award-winning Play 99.6. Modern Media offers consulting services to regional radio stations and designs direct marketing promotions for advertisers. Zafer’s focus today is on scaling The Online Project whose latest release, Content Scorer (a registered trademark), is currently used by more than 250 media agencies and brands across the US and Europe to monitor the effectiveness of their social media content. Zafer serves on the Mentorship Network of Oasis 500. In 2007, Zafer was selected by the International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX) for its Emerging Leaders Fellowship for media professionals. In 2010, he was recognized as a high impact entrepreneur by Endeavour Global.

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