Where Finance + Technology Create Limitless Opportunities

Amnah Ajmal is the Executive Vice President, Market Development, EEMEA for Mastercard. In this role, she is responsible for acceptance, acquiring, merchants, digital partnerships, fintech’s, strategy and M&A for the region. Prior to this role she led the North America product organization, based out of the US, responsible for the development and management of consumer and small business payment solutions, including credit, debit, prepaid, small business and acceptance solutions, with a focus on creating sustainable competitive differentiation for Mastercard and its customers.
Amnah joined Mastercard in 2015 as Head of Products for Middle East & Africa where she focused on driving innovation across consumer and commercial payments based on technology, partnerships and delivering digitally integrated consumer experiences.

Prior to joining Mastercard she was heading the consumer bank franchise for Standard Chartered Malaysia responsible for end-end P&L. She was also responsible for retail banking strategy for Indonesia, Malaysia & Taiwan in a global role based out of Singapore. Prior to Standard Chartered, Amnah worked at Citigroup in UAE, Egypt, UK and Poland. She held a number of positions at Citigroup including Asset Business Head for Poland responsible for full range of consumer asset products, innovation and distribution including credit cards, co brands, personal loans and mortgages.

She was honored to be listed as the top 100 women in Fintech, across the globe, for 2019 by Lattice80 and recognized as the top 25 women leaders in financial technology by the Financial Technology Report US for 2019 & 2020. She was recently recognized as the top 100 women in fintech, across the globe, for 2021 by IBM & Fintech magazine. She also holds the honor of being in America’s top 10 women in Fintech by the Fintech Magazine for 2020.
She holds a master’s degree from London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE).

Soliman Aldukhil is a Group VP at Tap Payments, working closely with the Group CEO to drive greater collaboration and implement strategies to scale the company further. After graduating from the Queensland University of Technology in Australia, he started his career in the banking industry focusing on accelerating digital transformation and providing a seamless service across banks like the Saudi Investment Bank, Bank Saudi Fransi, and Bank Albilad. He then moved to Saudi Payments, the national payment operator of the local scheme ‘mada’, and was involved in developing the digital payment ecosystem in Saudi Arabia. Soliman enjoys new challenges and is a deep believer in “There are no limits other than the limits that you put on yourself” which is precisely the mentality he brings in everything he does within his role.

Khalil Alami is the Founder CEO of the leading online payment gateway, Telr Khalil has more than two decades of experience in the financial services sector, including 19 years in the payment and card industry, with a focus on payment infrastructure and system implementation Khalil has deep knowledge of industry structure, with emphasis on card processing and settlement, the four party system, international payments architecture, electronic and mobile payments, consumer touch points, and network security Khalil is also a Member of the Regional Fintech Working Group of the Arab Monetary Fund Khalil has an MBA from the American University of Beirut and a Bachelor of Science from Purdue University in Economics.

Ahmed Mohamed Al Naqbi is the Chief Executive Officer of Emirates Development Bank (EDB). As a seasoned banker with over 17 years of experience, he has led EDB’s journey of transformation into the key financial engine for the UAE’s economic development and industrial advancement. Ahmed focuses on initiatives enabling EDB to fill critical lending gaps by easing access to financing for start-ups, SMEs and large corporates in the UAE’s priority industry sectors of manufacturing, healthcare, infrastructure, food security, and technology. Since his appointment in May 2021, he has leveraged his experience in strategy, planning, digitisation and transformation to implement new workstreams to drive innovation throughout the Bank and enhance EDB’s products and service offering, for which he was recognised as “Best CEO for Banking Transformation in the UAE for 2021” by International Finance magazine. Prior to joining EDB, Ahmed served as managing director across retail, corporate, and investment banking at the National Bank of Abu Dhabi and First Abu Dhabi Bank. Ahmed is an alumnus of Harvard Business School and Virginia Tech’s School of Architecture and Urban Studies, USA.

As Group Head of Mashreq’s Retail Banking Group (RBG), Fernando ensures that every Mashreq retail customer receives a superior banking experience. He is responsible for delivering profitable revenue growth and managing and executing the retail strategy across Mashreq’s personal banking, Mashreq Gold, private banking, SMEs, Islamic and Emirati segments, in addition to the bank’s digital propositions - Mashreq Neo and NEOBiz. Fernando brings almost 30 years of financial services experience to his new role at Mashreq. Most recently, he served as the Managing Director & Global Head of Retail Products and Segments for Standard Chartered Bank in Singapore. He began his career in McKinsey & Company where he focused on banking, insurance, retail and digital across EMEA and the US. In 2002 Fernando joined Bankinter where he held a number of senior positions in retail banking. 2011 saw him move to BBVA to lead their retail and commercial products and segments units across all of the Group’s banks. He enjoys widespread retail, digital and commercial banking experience having worked in a diverse range of specialist disciplines, notably private, affluent, emerging affluent, mass, SMEs and mid-market. In addition, he has also developed expertise in digital, CRM, analytics, marketing, and distribution. He holds a General Management Program (G.M.P.) from Harvard Business School, an MBA from Instituto De Empresa in Madrid, and a B.S. in Aeronautical Engineering (specialization in Aircraft and Spacecraft design) from Universidad Politécnica De Madrid.

Ahmed Al Awadi is the Managing Director and CEO of FintX, the fintech arm of Emirates Post Group. He is responsible for setting the strategic direction, transformation, and management of the existing financial service entities within the Group including Wall Street Exchange, Instant Cash, and Vertex. A finance professional with over 20 years of experience in senior management and board level positions, Al Awadi drives the fintech vision of Emirates Post Group through FintX, identifying new venture opportunities and strategic partnerships within the fintech space. His expertise will allow FintX to contribute to the financial sector, both in the UAE and internationally, by driving digital adoption through technology, strategic partnerships, and unique product offerings. An MBA graduate in International Finance from the American University in Dubai and a BA in Finance Management from Georgia State University, Al Awadi was the CFO and CPO of Etisalat as well as the Chairman of Ubiquitous Telecommunications Technology (UTT) and of Digital Finance Services (DFS - eWallet). Al Awadi also serves as a Board Member of Emirates Post Group and is a member of various committees and boards.

After 24 years with the FBI, Chris Voss has assembled a toolbox of effective tactics for high-pressure negotiations. In his talk, Voss shares the specific things you can do to turn the tide of a negotiation in your favor—illustrating his points with both riveting, high-stakes stories of criminal negotiations and humorous, personal anecdotes from his trips to the mall alike. From why you always want to get your counterpart to say your name to why “yes” is the last thing you want to hear, Voss explains how to move a conversation along, how to startle people in the right way, and how to uncover what someone’s real motivation is. In this talk, Chris Voss takes his arsenal of tactics to help you succeed in deal making and high-stakes negotiations in to the world of banking and finance.

With extensive experience within the fintech and payments industry, Renier provides Geidea with a unique experience and insight in fintech innovation and hyper-growth companies. His past roles include serving as the CEO of PayPal Europe, Middle East, and Africa – and COO for Barclays International Retail and Commercial Banking.
Renier was also a Board Member of Revolut, and still serves as Chairman of Divido and TransferGo, London-based Fintechs. He was also a partner with McKinsey & Company in London, New Delhi, and San Francisco. He is a Professor of Fintech and Innovation at the London Institute of Banking and Finance. He holds a Master of Science (MsC) with distinction in Computer Science as well as an MBA with Distinction from INSEAD, France.

Khalifa Hassan Al Forah Al Shamsi was appointed as CEO of e& life on 2 February 2022. Reporting to Hatem Dowidar, e& CEO, Khalifa’s appointment is part of e&’s ongoing digital transformation strategy to significantly expand Etisalat’s digital portfolio by growing the existing business, as well as capturing new opportunities in the consumer market, through its new dedicated vertical – e& life. e& life’s strength will lie in its various portfolios, starting off with our Fintech and TV & multimedia functions, including E-vision, under Khalifa’s leadership. Khalifa has over 28 years of experience in the telecom, media, and ICT industries. He led Etisalat’s first move into the digital space through the deployment of mobile services, fibre-based broadband and advanced data services. He has held several leadership positions within e&, including Head of Mobile Networks, Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Digital Officer. His role in building the business unit ‘Etisalat Digital Services’ was critical to generating new revenue streams and accelerating business growth. In his previous role as the Group Chief Corporate Strategy & Governance Officer, he was a key contributor to developing the vision and future strategic priorities of e&.

Yashish Dahiya is the Chairman & CEO, PB Fintech. He started Policybazaar.com in 2008 with a strong belief that customers in India need more financial cover for death, disease, and disability and the long-term profitability of the insurance industry depends upon how well the industry is focussed on these three. Under his leadership, the group company started PaisaBazaar.com, an online financial marketplace for investment and lending products in 2014. Before starting his entrepreneurial journey with PolicyBazaar.com, he was the Managing Director of ebookers.com, a leading pan-European online travel distributor, which was also an FTSE 250 company listed on Nasdaq. Yashish was also a management consultant with Bain & Co. in their London office. Yashish holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering from IIT Delhi, a Post Graduate Diploma in Management from IIM Ahmedabad, and an MBA from INSEAD. Yashish likes to spend his spare time outdoors, is the current masters national champion in swimming and is the fifth fastest Ironman from India across all ages.

Rodrigo Santos is an Information Security professional with over 15 years of experience in this area. Being able to easily move between the more technical and executive side, he is currently the Senior Manager of InfoSec at Nubank, one of the largest fintechs in the world with more than 65 million customers, leading the team called InfoSec Core, which encompasses several teams of security, such as Offensive Security, Defensive Security, Cyber Intel, SOC, Cloud Security, Mobily Security, Vulnerability Management, IAM Security, Cryptography, Incident Response & CSIRT among others. He also worked at Tempest Security Intelligence, one of the largest security consultancies in Brazil, in various roles such as Director of incident response and professional services.

Esraa Gamal is the Chief Operating Officer of Telr, the UAE based award winning payment gateway solutions provider. Gamal spearheaded many products for Local and International markets which helped classify the company as an e commerce best in class technology solutions provider for big, small and medium sized enterprises, focusing on growing markets across the Middle East and North Africa in addition to the Indian market. Gamal has a Bachelor of Science in Economics & Political Science from Cairo University, Egypt.

Arik Shtilman is CEO and co-founder of Rapyd, the leading fintech-as-a-service platform powering local payments anywhere in the world by bringing together 900-plus payment methods in over 100 countries. Arik founded Rapyd in 2016 with a singular goal in mind: to help businesses thrive in any local market around the globe.

Prior to starting Rapyd, Arik realized there was a massive need to create a way for fintech applications to scale globally so businesses could invest in expansion – not spend critical time attempting to build complex payments infrastructure. To solve this glaring challenge hindering growth in the payments space, Arik launched Rapyd as the first “Fintech-as-a-Service” product in the industry, the category-leading full stack of integrated payments, commerce and financial services capabilities that can be seamlessly embedded into any application. Now, by partnering with Rapyd, businesses and consumers anywhere in the world can easily engage in local and cross-border transactions in any market.

Before Rapyd, Arik founded ITNAVIGATOR, a cloud-based contact center and unified communications platform which was acquired by Avaya in 2013. Arik’s expertise in building high-growth companies leveraging cutting-edge technologies to meet global customer demand is proven in Rapyd’s fast-paced yet steady growth. Since Rapyd’s launch in 2016, Arik has taken the company global with offices in Dubai, Tel Aviv, London, San Francisco, Singapore, Reykjavik, and Miami, to name a few.

Ranjith K Shyamaladas is a serial entrepreneur with an expertise of 25 years in IT, Identity & FinTech Payments. He strongly believes in the power of innovation through technology, adhering to his background in software engineering. BIO-IDZ is actually the realization of his vision to seamlessly integrate security, payments & fashion through innovation.

Dr Ira is the founder of Fintech 4Longevity, a research and consulting community helping the financial sector be well prepared for the demographic trend of ageing. She is an expert in the economics of ageing with a particular focus on the role of fintech in improving the financial well-being of mid-life and older adults. In 2020, Ira joined a working group at the World Economic Forum on ‘Redefining Retirement’.
Ira is the founder of the International Financial Innovation for Ageing and Longevity Forum, an international forum which deals with the intersection of longevity, finance and technology. Her academic research deals with the effect of retirement and changing health on the economic outcomes of households within different pension and healthcare systems.
From 2008 to 2019, Ira served as a non-executive director to numerous public companies in Israel including the Bank of Jerusalem and worked previously as an accountant at KPMG.

In her current role at the AMF, Dr Youssef provides support to Arab countries in fields of Fintech, digital financial transformation, and digital financial inclusion. Moreover, she initiated the creation and development of the AMF’s ‘FinxAr’ index – a regional fintech index to track the development of the fintech sector in Arab countries.
A regular speaker in international fora, Dr Youssef has co-authored numerous fintech publications related to the Arab region, such as Open Banking and Open Finance, CBDCs, Digital identity, eKYC and Customer On-Boarding, as well as the tri-lingual (Arabic, English and French) fintech glossary; in addition to delivering regular training sessions on topics including fintech and digital financial services.
Prior to joining the AMF in 2016 she spent almost 12 years as Deputy Debt Manager for the Ministry of Finance in her native Egypt.

Sultan Alonazi is the Managing Director of the KSA office for Tap Payments, the leading paytech company revolutionizing online payments across MENA. After graduating from King Abdulaziz University, he has had over 24 years of experience in helping build and scale several successful companies in KSA and across MENA. With a wide range of experience in fintech, economics, marketing, and sales, his professional experience has revolved around banking, fintech, and government authorities with previous roles such as CEO of Geidea and other senior executive positions in Riyad Bank, SABB, STCpay, and Ministry of Justice. He is excited by the opportunity to participate in the journey toward realizing Saudi Arabia’s vision to become a cashless economy with Tap Payments.

Muaiyad is the Chief Executive officer & Co-Founder of Rasan & Tameeni. He brings 13+ years of transformational leadership experience inlaunching successful startups, creating market leading brands and introducing innovative life touching technology. Apart from KSA's 1st DigitalInsurance aggregation platform "Tameeni", he has introduced many industry first initiatives and brands such as Insurance Leasing aggregation platform for Banking & Leasing industry "Treza", Vehicle digital auction and market place "Awalmazad" and many more.
Muaiyad as an individual loves nature & wildlife photography and is an avid art lover. He is happier when he is with his family and his daughters "Lola & Amelia' and the happiest when he sees all Rasanians are enjoying life.