- HE Sheikha Lubna bint Khalid bin Sultan Al Qasimi, UAE's Minister for Foreign Trade

HE Sheikha Lubna bint Khalid bin Sultan Al Qasimi is the UAE's Minister for Foreign Trade. The Emirati national has been challenging traditional opinions about women in business ever since she developed a system that reduced cargo turnaround at Dubai Ports Authority from one hour to ten minutes.

Sheikha Lubna's background might be in IT - she studied computer science at the California State University - but these days she is best known for her role in government. In November 2004 she was appointed the UAE's Minister of Economic and Planning and became the first female to hold a ministerial post in the UAE. Despite being actively involved in a number of businesses ventures, Sheikha Lubna has continued to play a pivotal role in the UAE government as the Minister of Foreign Trade.

In 2000 she founded Tejari, the Middle East's first business-to-business marketplace. As a result of Tejari, which means 'commerce' in Arabic, 70 percent of the Dubai's government purchases are made online. Sheikha Lubna also sits on board of directors for Dubai Chamber of Commerce & Industry and is on the board of directors (honorary) for the National US Arab Chamber of Commerce. She has even managed to find time to launch her own perfume line as part of a campaign to persuade more Arab women to set up their own retail businesses - proving that women really can have it all.


Rashid AL BALLAA, CEO - National Net Ventures (N2V)

Rashid Al Ballaa is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of National Net Ventures (N2V), one of the largest internet holding companies in the MENA region. N2V enables web ventures in the region by investing capital and offering essential infrastructure services to help accelerate their growth. Some of N2V flagship Companies are Net Advantage, OneCard, N2V Dev House, HawaaWorld, and Mubasher.Info.

Rashid is also a board member of National Technology Group (NTG), the region's largest ICT conglomerate and key provider of Financial Technology and Services. Some of NTG Flagship Companies include Arabic Computer Systems (ACS), Ebttikar, AIM, Getronics ME, and Mubasher Technologies Group.

Before N2V, Rashid was spearheading the regional business development efforts of Mubasher, the first e-trading solution in the MENA region with the most advanced e-trading engine that empowers investors to buy and sell securities online, providing the region with real-time price dissemination, sophisticated analytical tools, news and other information to allow investors to make sound investment decisions. Rashid is also the founder of Direct Broker for Financial Services (DBFS), the UAE's first STP e-brokerage company and currently the largest broker in the UAE. Rashid serves on the boards of both Mubasher and DBFS. Rashid holds a B.Sc. in Computer science with honors degree from King Saud University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.


Ali AL HUSRY , Chairman - Endeavor Jordan

Ali Al-Husry serves as a director of Hikma Pharmaceuticals PLC, the holding company for the Hikma Group, established in Jordan in 1978 and listed on the London Stock Exchange since 2005. In 1989 he launched Hikma's activities in Europe by establishing a subsidiary in Portugal. Mr. Al-Husry is a founder and Board Member of Capital Bank of Jordan, where he served as Chairman and CEO of the Bank since its establishment in 1995 until 2007. During his tenure as CEO of the Bank, Mr. Al-Husry pioneered the launch of Investment Banking activities in Jordan. In addition to his financial and operational expertise, Mr. Al-Husry brings in-depth knowledge of the MENA region.

Mr. Al-Husry is also an active philanthropist and Angel investor, recently spearheading the establishment of Dash Ventures, a multi-sector, multi-stage investment vehicle providing capital to high-growth startups and SMEs in Jordan, and serving as Executive Director. In 2008, he was the driving force behind the launch of Endeavor in Jordan, part of a global non-profit that is leading the movement to catalyze long-term economic growth by supporting high-impact entrepreneurs around the world. He serves as Chairman of the Endeavor Jordan board and is actively engaged in mentoring several of its Endeavor Entrepreneurs.

Mr. Al-Husry is also involved with community and other NGO work and recently joined the board of Ruwwad Development, a region-wide corporate social responsibility initiative. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Microfund for Women and is a member of the Board of Trustees of The Jordan Museum. He previously served as a Board member of The Association of Banks in Jordan, The Institute of Banking Studies, Al-Hussein Fund for Excellence as well as The Insurance Commission. Mr. Al-Husry holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Southern California and an M.B.A from INSEAD, France.


Said DARWAZAH, CEO- Hikma Pharmaceuticals PLC

Said S. Darwazah has been the Chief Executive Officer of Hikma Pharmaceuticals PLC since July 1, 2007. Darwazah served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Hikma Investment Company until 2003 when he was assigned Minister of Health in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Prior to that, he served as a president and CEO of West-Ward Pharmaceutical in USA. Currently, Darwazah is the Chairman of the board of Dead Sea Touristic & Real Estate Investments and Ma'an Development Company. Moreover, he is the Vice Chairman of the Capital Bank of Jordan and the Royal Health Awareness Society.

His participation in various non-for profit entities extends to being a Member of the Board of the Jordan River Foundation and the King Hussein Cancer and Biotechnology Institute. He is on the Board of Trustees of the American University of Beirut and is the Chairperson of the Health Care Accreditation Council.
Darwazah holds a Degree in Industrial Engineering from Purdue University in the US and an MBA from INSEAD.


Ossama HASSANEIN, Chairman - Techwadi

Ossama is an entrepreneur, mentor and venture capitalist. Over the last 35 years, he managed over $1 billion in 14 international technology funds at Berkeley International in San Francisco, Technocom Ventures in Paris, Newbridge Networks Holding in Canada, and Newbury Ventures and the Rising Tide Fundin Silicon Valley. In the 80's, he spearheaded the mezzanine financing of 80+ IT companies that became notable successes including Oracle, Cirrus Logic, Atmel, PMC-Sierra, Linear Technologies and LSI Logic. In the 90's, he led or co-founded six successful startups including ACC (acquired by Ericsson), Algety (merged and listed on NASDAQ), HighDeal (acquired by SAP), Highwave Optical (Listed on Euronext), NetCentrex (acquired by Comverse), and nCipher (listed on LSE).

He is currently chairman of the boards of BDNA in Mountain View, Echovox in Geneva, Zong in Menlo Park and the Egyptian American Society in Silicon Valley. He served on the Boards of Advisors of Harvard Center for Middle Eastern Studies, UC San Francisco, and the American University in Cairo (AUC). He is a frequent guest lecturer on international business leadership at AUC, Stanford University, Santa Clara University, UC Berkeley, the University of British Columbia, and the University of San Diego.


Mounir HUSSEINI, Senior Partner - Abraaj Capital

Mounir Husseini is a Senior Partner and Head of the Investor Coverage Group at Abraaj Capital. In this role, Husseini has high level and overall responsibility for Abraaj's global investor relationships, in addition to focusing on deal origination and business development for the group. Husseini is a member of the firm's Executive Committee.

Husseini most recently served at Deutsche Bank AG as Managing Director and Chief Country Officer for the UAE and Qatar and Senior Executive Officer, Deutsche Bank AG (DIFC) and General Manager of Deutsche Bank, Qatar Branch. In this role, Husseini led the development and execution of Deutsche Bank's Sovereign Wealth Funds strategy, resulting in significant debt capital market transactions and landmark equity acquisitions by Government controlled entities. Prior to joining Deutsche Bank AG, Husseini held leadership positions at Daimler AG, the latest of which was as Managing Director of Daimler AG's Structured Finance arm in Berlin, and served on its Executive Committee. During an eleven year tenure with Daimler AG, Husseini established Regional Centers for the Structured Finance division and enabled the firm's market entry into Russia and the CIS, introducing Islamic structures backed by UAE-based banks in that region for the first time.

Husseini holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Fairfield University in Connecticut, USA and completed his executive education at IMD, Lausanne, Switzerland. Husseini is a Founding Member of the Bader Young Entrepreneurship Program, a not-for-profit organization aimed at developing high impact entrepreneurs in Lebanon.