V-Lab Summit Speakers

Basil is an experienced company builder who works with founders to create disruptive companies with an enterprise technology focus in MENA.

Walid is the Founder and CEO of valU, the Chairman of Paytabs Egypt and the Vice Chairman of EFG EV Fintech. He sits on multiple boards including, EFG Hermes Corp Solutions for leasing and factoring, Bedaya for mortgage finance and KarmSolar.

Dr. Wessam is the Country Director of DROSOS FOUNDATION in Egypt since September 2014. In 2021, she started overseeing the portfolios of Jordan and Lebanon in addition to Egypt.

Saeed Talaat is the CEO of Klickit, a fintech company operating in the educational payments space. Klickit managed over a span of only five years to boast a portfolio of more than 55 thousand public schools and 400 private schools.

Ahmed is an engineer, project manager and entrepreneur. Through his mixed experience across technology, community service and his family business, Ahmed founded ElGameya to help individuals afford their financial needs.

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Wael is a computer engineer, serial entrepreneur, and YC alumnus who has co-founded various startups in the Silicon Valley and the Middle East. He was one of the early employees of Careem holding roles including VP of Product Management and VP of Platform Superapp Business Unit.

Amin is in charge of developing and executing the CIB’s financial inclusion strategy and enabling access to financial services through appropriate partnerships. He recently rejoined CIB after a two-year secondment at the Institute of International Finance.

Menan holds 9 years of professional experience in private sector development policy. Her current portfolio focuses on entrepreneurship policy and ecosystem development strategy, digital financial services and financial inclusion, with a focus on women and youth in MENA.

Lina has more than 10 years of experience working in national and international organizations on entrepreneurship, job creation and youth empowerment. She holds a MSc. in International Public Policy from University College London and a BA in Political Science from AUC.

Fatma is responsible for formulating, facilitating and communicating Khazna’s strategic initiatives and future goals. Prior to Khazna, she was a senior associate with Arqaam Capital’s Investment Banking team.

Mirna brings in 20 years of experience with multinational organizations and public sector entities across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Tamer is a Partner of Shorooq Partners, a leading early-stage Venture Capital firm in the Middle East, North Africa and Pakistan (MENAP) region. He began his career at the forefront of policy making with one of the world’s most influential business designers.

Hani is a leading Egyptian Business Designer and Innovation Consultant bringing a decade of experience in preparing executives and entrepreneurs to become innovators.

Mohamed is the manager of Banque Misr’s open innovation program. He is working towards building a holistic innovation platform enabling deeper integration with external innovative companies and individuals.

Mariam began her career in Investment Banking, advising mid- and large-cap companies. She co-founded and managed a family wellness center. In recent years, she explored investment opportunities in Egypt's startup scene and currently manages AUC Angels.

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Islam started his career during his studies at the AUC to build Paymob, which has grown to process millions of transactions and billions of dollars each year. He is also a member of the Board of Trustees for the Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center (TIEC).

Mohamed is an investment associate at AUC Angels, the first university-based angel investor network in MENA. He is an international partner at the World Business Angels Investment Forum, an affiliated partner of the G20 Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion.

Sarah is a global award winning architect with 18 years experience in the field of Green and Environmental Buildings and Sustainable Development. She is also the founder of one of Egypt’s unique environmental design, training and strategy companies.

Ahmed is the co-founder and CEO of Pylon, an impact-driven infrastructure management platform for water and electricity distribution companies that solves utilities’ toughest challenges while offsetting carbon emissions and helping achieve UN SDGs.

Enas is the co-founder and COO of Flextock, a tech-enabled supply chain solution empowering commerce in MEA. She started her career at Nestlé before managing Careem Bus in Egypt.

Rafeh launched Cubit Ventures and Founder Institute Egypt, is an advisor to Loyal VC and led one of the largest consulting firms in Egypt.

Ayman is an expert in entrepreneurship and economic development, the Abdul Latif Jameel Endowed Chair of Entrepreneurship and Associate Professor at AUC School of Business and the founding director of AUC Venture Lab and AUC Angels.

Eslam has 25+ years experience in corporate innovation and product development, digital transformation, brand management, venture capital and startup incubation across North America, Europe, Africa and Middle East.

Hossam is the co-founder, head of product and CEO at Orcas. He managed to build a world-class product that automates the tutoring experience for both learners and tutors accommodating more than 20K learners.

Mohamed Rahmy is a seasoned business strategist with two-decades of experience across the MENA region in finance, investment banking and -more recently- within the region’s entrepreneurship ecosystem where he was leading the mandate of Endeavor.

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Yasmine brings 10 years of project management and leadership experience in youth development, employability programs and entrepreneurship. To date, she has worked with more than one hundred startups.

Verina has worked with startups for more than five years across health-tech, fintech and creative industries. She brings her analytical and communication skillsets and a design thinking mindset, to help startups on their acceleration journey.

Hussein is a computer engineer who loves product, design and consumer psychology. He co-founded Koinz, a startup that is leading social food ordering in the region with 1M users and 7M dollars of funding raised to date.

Haytham is the Group Chief Operating and Transformation Officer for Arab African International Bank and Assistant to the Bank Managing Director.