Startup Weekend

UP (http://www.up.co/)

Startup Weekend Dubai 2015 Thursday, November 19 - 21, 2015

UP Dubai (/Communities/United-Arab-Emirates/Dubai/) ❯

Startup Weekend (/Communities/United-Arab-Emirates/Dubai/Startup-Weekend)

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Events (/Communities/United-Arab-Emirates/Dubai/Startup-Weekend/Events)

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Startup Weekend Dubai 2015

(http://maps.google.com/?

q=CLUSTER%20R%2C%20JUMEIRA%20LAKE%20TOWERS%20Under%20the%20stairs%20to%20t Thursday, November 19 - 21, 2015  xIhy4a4jFadgg0ys) Event starts at 6:00 pm ASTROLABS CLUSTER R, JUMEIRA LAKE TOWERS Under the stairs to the right of parking. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates

Buy Tickets (http://www.eventbrite.com/event/18361900940? a =UP%20Community%20Sites)

Entrepreneurs on a mission. Startup Weekend (http://startupweekend.org/) is a 54 hour startup event that provides

Startup Weekend (http://startupweekend.org/) is a 54 hour startup event that provides the networking, resources, and incentives for individuals and teams to go from idea to launch. Startup Weekend’s motto: Build Community. Start Companies. No Talk. All Action. In conjunction with local facilitators around the world, Startup Weekend is run by two guys out of Seattle, WA. Together, we are our own community of passionate entrepreneurs on a mission to help other entrepreneurs and facilitate innovation.The event is open to anyone interested in the local entrepreneurial community, and it puts them in a setting where anything is possible. In the past 3 years, 550+ startups have started, 22,000+ entrepreneurs have been inspired. Teams have even started to generate revenue during the 54hr event, and others have even gone on to direct angel and VC investment. None of these stats take into account the amazing networking, ongoing professional relationships, and amazing experience that happen at every event.

SEE WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT LEARN MORE (/COMMUNITIES/UNITED-ARAB-EMIRATES/DUBAI/STARTUP-WEEKEND/ABOUT)

Startup Weekend - Trailer

01:30

LATEST BLOG UPDATES READ MORE STORIES

Bootcamp recap: No More Reasons Not to Start Aya Sadder

(/communities/united-arab-emirates/dubai/blog/2015/11/02/bootcamp-recap-reasons-start) We’re back! SW Dubai 2015 Aya Sadder

(/communities/united-arab-emirates/dubai/blog/2015/09/15/back-sw-dubai-2015)

EVENT SCHEDULE Thursday November 19th 6:00 pm Registration Arrive at the venue and get checked in 6:30 pm Dinner & Networking Eat food, share ideas, practice pitches, get to know fellow participants 7:20 pm Welcome & Speakers Review agenda for the weekend and introduce speakers, coaches, and community leaders 7:30 pm Pitches Start Optionally line up to give your pitch 9:00 pm Voting Attendees vote for the top pitches 9:15 pm Form Teams Teams start forming and discussing ideas 10:00 pm Begin Work Start to formalize teams and take an inventory of skills. Be honest, and direct about what resources and skills are needed for the weekend. You may stay and work as late as the venue will allow

Friday November 20th Saturday November 21st

SPEAKERS

Stefano Schintu

Executive Creative Director at MarkaVIP

 (https://linkedin.com/in/stefanoschinto) A Creative Thinker & Designer with an acute sensitivity to exemplary quality. Matchmaker between brands and their customers, striving to solve problems and create opportunities through design thinking. From responsive web & mobile platforms to television campaigns and social media, Stefano architected and designed experiences that have served millions of people around the globe producing iconic & innovative work that has been internationally awarded and recognised.

Tena Pick

CEO & Co-Founder

 (http://www.sustainabilityplatform.org) Tena is a social impact consultant passionate about applying her skills to help start-ups in the developing world. She is currently working on projects in Pakistan, Palestine and India. Her main interests include women empowerment and development of rural communities. Tena is also the Head of Media for C3- Consult and Coach for a Cause, a non-for pro t organization that brings together business professionals and social entrepreneurs in the MENA region (Middle East and North Africa). She handles all media relations for the organization and is the editor of the blog (www.consciouscapitalismblog.me (http://www.consciouscapitalismblog.me) ). She also holds various workshops on theory of change and social business basics and has helped organize Social Enterprise Week, the rst event of its kind in the Middle East. Tena holds a bachelor’s degree in entrepreneurial economics from VERN’ University of Applied Science and a Masters degree in Social Entrepreneurship from Hult International Business School. During her Master program, she led a multinational team during a waste management project in rural Indonesia. The project was sponsored by HSBC.

Yehia El-Katib

Co-Founder & Commercial Director at The Gami ers

 (http://www.thegamifiers.com) Yehia co-founded The Gami ers, one of the rst gami cation digital agencies in the Middle East, in 2013. With a vision to bring this new gami cation technology to the region to capitalize on governments’ and corporations’ passion to invest in technology and innovation to better serve their citizens and customers, Yehia was one of the key gures behind most of the Gami cation projects launched in the region over the past several years. This includes working closely with the TRA to gamify www.government.ae (http://www.government.ae), the main gateway to the federal

government of the UAE. More recently was the Gami cation of The Entertainer Mobile app. Previously Yehia worked for LinkdotNet as the Regional Manager where he was in charge of its subsidiaries Link Development, LinkOnline and Connect Ads in the GCC Region.

Younis Maqousi

Analytical Lead - Retail MENA of Google

 (http://www.google.com) Younis is a senior analytical lead at Google, with a core focus on business intelligence and big data analysis. Having started with Goolge in 2008, Younis has worked across di erent products including; Search, AdSense and Adwords encompassing the entire online ecosystem of users, advertisers and publishers. Younis started his career as a software engineer, then shifting his focus to analytical work and big data.

Chad Fox

Legal Advisor at Bird & Bird

 (http://www.twobirds.com) Chad is a legal advisor for Bird & Bird. Bird & Bird have a deep industry knowledge, excellence in client service and international reach. Their 1,100 lawyers and legal practitioners, spread across Europe, The Middle East and Asia, use their passion and insight to connect with our clients’ vision and help them to achieve real commercial advantage. They o er cutting-edge strategic legal guidance in leading sectors where our clients operate. Last nancial year our unparalleled expertise saw us help clients based in 118 countries across the globe. http://www.twobirds.com/ (http://www.twobirds.com/)

EVENT JUDGES

Joshua Rajkumar  (http://www.sustainabilityplatform.org) oshua is the co-founder of The Sustainability Platform, an innovative social impact consultancy that operates in Dubai, focused on maximizing and measuring social impact for CSR programs, NGOs and SMEs in the Middle East and South Asia. He is a development economics specialist with international experience in the for- and non-pro t industries, and is passionate about social enterprise project design, implementation, and scalability. Joshua is also the Regional Director of Hult Prize for the Middle East and Africa. Hult Prize is the largest crowd-sourcing platform for social good, with a $1m award for the most scalable and sustainable social enterprise developed to tackle some of the world’s most pressing problems. Joshua is experienced in high-level diplomacy in both the public and private sector with government leaders and company executives through his time with the Head of State team at the Clinton Global Initiative and currently as a Partner at EMCOP, an engineering services company whose principal is Mitsubishi Electric. He is committed to bridging the gap between the organizational e ciency of the private world and the mission of

He is committed to bridging the gap between the organizational e ciency of the private world and the mission of social enterprises, specializing in social impact measurement. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Journalism from NYU and a Master’s in Social Entrepreneurship from Hult International Business School, and competed in the Hult Prize 2012 winning the London regional nals in the energy track.

Chantalle Dumonceaux Co-Founder of WOMENA

 (http://www.sustainabilityplatform.org) Co-founder of WOMENA, a Dubai-based angel group for women, where I oversee operations, strategy, and investments. We help Gulf-based high-net-worth women get involved in angel investing while bene ting from a supportive network and ongoing guidance. I believe that entrepreneurship is a key force behind economic progress and that women will drive this force more and more in the 21st century. I've worked in startups and angel groups in New York and Zurich and have seen rsthand the impact and rewards of angel investing best practices and I want to bring these to the Middle East while adapting them to the local culture. I've lived, in sequential order, in Los Angeles, Paris, Zurich, New York, and now between Abu Dhabi and Dubai. I travel a lot, I like tinkering with things, and I'm learning to DJ.

Muhammed Mekki

Co-Founder of Astrolabs

 (http://www.astrolabs.com) Muhammed is a Founding Partner at AstroLabs, a startup hub and training academy for tech entrepreneurs scaling up in the Middle East. As an Iraqi-American, he has always been interested in bridging ideas and people between the US and the MENA region.Muhammed caught the entrepreneurial bug while studying for his MBA at Stanford University and working with the founding team of a Silicon Valley tech startup. In 2011, he co-founded Dubai-based Namshi and helped grow the startup from 1 to 150 employees, raise over $20 million in venture capital, and establish a seasoned senior management team. He developed domain expertise in e-commerce.Muhammed is a former McKinsey & Company consultant with clients across the GCC. He studied economics at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and is a Fulbright Scholar with expertise in Islamic Finance. Muhammed is an avid traveler, having visited over 60 countries and is always looking for his next adventure.

Herve Collignon

Founder of HOOKS Strategy & Innovation

 (http://hooks.fr/en/) Hervé Collignon founded HOOKS Strategy & Innovation in 2013, a consulting rm expert in innovation process and brand strategy management. Designer by education, he has also a certi cate in marketing from the Manchester Chartered Institute and a diploma from the IBM Global Sales School. After his design school and 6 years in graphic and industrial design agencies in Paris and in New York, Hervé moved his career towards design management responsibilities in large corporations. With over 16 years of design management experience as Design Manager for IBM and P&G, Hervé has become an expert in Design Thinking for his clients. He recently received his Design Thinking certi cation from the d.school/Stanford University. Today, HOOKS advises clients such as Kelloggs, Air Liquide, Tarkett International, Frederic Beausoleil, Carpool Arabia, The Welcomist, Norev, etc… While in France, Hervé gave lectures at EM Lyon for the innovation entrepreneur IDEA program.

Emad Ghanem

Regional Manager – Middle East and Gulf Region

 (www.soti.net) Regional Manager – Middle East and Gulf Region With over 10 years of experience in the eld of IT and technology, Emad has developed a solid background and knowledge in Enterprise Mobility, taking care of regional and international brands locally as well as across the region. Emad’s prime focus is to support the di erent entities in the region to adapt new technologies and intelligent solutions that enhance their productivity through Enterprise Mobility systems. He works closely with both private and governmental sectors and organizations managing various bundles of innovative solutions, which not only support them in utilizing maximum resources and develop their entire service levels, but also re ect positively on their ROIs and overall future expectations. Emad carries a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science from the University of Pebble Hills, USA.

COACHES AND MENTORS

Ramzy Ismail

Incubation Manager at Flat6Labs Abu Dhabi Ramzy Ismail is the Program Manager for Flat6Labs Abu Dhabi. Prior to relocating to the UAE, Ramzy worked for EnterBridge Mobility, a SaaS product company based out of the U.S. as the Director of Business Development. Concurrently, Ramzy served as the Co-founder and CEO of Venuable.com, a mobile and web-based unique venues marketplace that was accelerated through Lighthouse Lab RVA (GAN accelerator) in 2013. Before becoming a founder Ramzy was an Associate in Genworth Financial’s Leadership Development Program where he rotated through M&A and expense analytics roles. His experience also includes corporate strategy and product development internships with VeriSign, Capital One, and the CFO of Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). He graduated from VCU in 2012 with dual degrees Finance and Entrepreneurship.

Ghassan Kara

Associate at Strategy&

 (http://www.strategyand.pwc.com/) Management consultant at Strategy& (Formerly Booz & Company) in the Middle East, based out of the Dubai o ce. Prior to joining Strategy&, I attended Boston University where I studied Biomedical Engineering and Energy Technologies. Beyond strategy consulting, my interests lie in tech and internet startups, healthcare, and education.

Mohamed Mehanna

Strategy Consultant at Roland Berger

 (https://linkedin.com/in/mohamemehanna)  (http://www.rolandberger.com)

A strategy consultant in the TMT & Digital practice at Roland Berger Middle East where he advised several telecom operators, media companies, OTT apps and e-commerce players across the Middle East and Far East in various strategic topics including market entry strategies, business plans development, M&A due diligences and partnership negotiations. Prior to that, Mohamed worked as a software engineering intern at NEC Electronics Tokyo. Mohamed holds a BE in Computer and Communications Engineering from the American Univeristy of Beirut.

Will Hutson

Chief Executive O

cer at LMTD

 (http://www.lmtd.me)(/communities/united-arab-emirates/dubai/startup-weekend) Experienced in growth companies with focus in industry speci c applied technologies and integrated marketing. Worked within, Entertainment, Media, Research, Tech, and Advertising industries.

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Eddy Farhat

Principle Analyst at Google MENA

 (https://twitter.com/EddyFarhat)  (https://linkedin.com//in/eddyfarhat)  (http://www.markavip.com) Eddy is the Chief Strategy O cer at MarkaVIP. His role focuses on supporting MarkaVIP's executive team in setting the company's strategy and following-up on its execution. Eddy started his career as a software engineer focusing on mobile and web development as well as research around peer-to-peer networks. Later on, Eddy joined the management consulting rm Booz&Company where he further developed his understanding of the digital eld before jumping into the MENA start-up world with MarkaVIP in 2012.

Alborz Toofani Founder & CEO

 (http://www.snappcard.com) "A dedicated entrepreneur with the passion of starting projects in the online as well as the o ine space. Alborz was born and raised in Germany and that is where he started his entrepreneurial journey at an early age. He founded a real-estate business before moving to Dubai to start SnappCard – a consumer engagement and customer loyalty platform that is tailored to Food & Beverage sector. His passion is everything startup and food related."

Katral Neda Hassan

Founder of In2 Consulting FZ LLC

 (http://www.snappcard.com) As a user experience specialist I have dedicated the last 10 years of my life to learning and developing optimal user experiences. Working within an agency setting, I have had the opportunity to work on a variety of di erent UX projects, strategy engagements and clients. Most speci cally I have been involved in the planning and managing of large-scale web initiatives. My main responsibilities included strategic IA analysis and IA development; user experience design and usability auditing; usability testing; accessibility auditing; and web analytics. Specialties: Keywords which describe what I do best: user centred design, interaction design, information architecture, usability and user research, taxonomy development, wireframe development, web site navigation, management information systems, business and market analysis and web analytics.

Dario de Angelis

Solutions Consultant at Docebo

 (http://www.snappcard.com) Dario is an Aerospace Engineer turned into Digital Marketing and Sales specialist. He is in charge of executing Docebo's marketing strategy, particularly through: website management, Google Analytics, Google Adwords, Social Media Management (Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, G+, Pinterest), Email Marketing, Online advertisement, Webinar Management, Online branding, Seach Engine Marketing & Optimization, Content Marketing and more.

Zahra Nasrallah

Social Media consultant at Social Addicts

 (http://www.snappcard.com) Zahra Nasralla brings forward years of Marketing experience, having worked as a consultant aiding companies harness Social Media Solutions to grow their business. She is the Founder of Social Addicts, a company designed to generate market share and develop leads through the use of tailored Social Media Strategies for any size enterprise

Sajjad Kamal

Co-Founder at Alemhealth

 (https://twitter.com/sajjadk)  (http://inov.io) Sajjad is the founder of Inovio Labs, a product development lab at the intersection of design and technology developing cutting edge solutions for entrepreneurs and clients in the UAE and Canada. Inovio Labs has worked in the UAE with organisations such as Mubadala, Health Authority Abu Dhabi, Cartoon Network and a number of passionate entrepreneurs. Sajjad has previously worked on NextStretch.com (http://nextstretch.com/), a platform that organises classes and courses in Dubai with an ability to live book placements; RestroPro.com

platform that organises classes and courses in Dubai with an ability to live book placements; RestroPro.com (http://restropro.com/): a white-label platform for restaurants to manage online and on mobile food orders. Sajjad has also previously worked at Apple, Blackberry, Nobel Prize winning - Grameen Bank and other startups. Sajjad holds a double Major in Mathematics( Combinatorics and Optimization) and Business Administration from the University of Waterloo in Canada. Sajjad loves ideating and has previously won Startup Weekend Abu Dhabi and Angelhack Global Hackathon - World's Largest Hackathon.

Anmar Georges

Field Marketing Manager – MENA at SOTI

 (http://www.soti.net) Anmar has an extensive experience in product management and business development. He brings forward a 5 years of experience having worked as marketing specialist in multinational companies like Nokia, Microsoft, Lenovo and now with SOTI. Specialized in product marketing and GTM plans execution in di erent markets heading all marketing activities, planning and budgeting as well as a rich experience building the country marketing business strategy from scratch and drive execution strategies on a country localized level.

Rami Alajrami

Regional Director MENA - SOTI Inc.

 (http://www.soti.net) Rami is the Regional Director of SOTI in the Middle East and North Africa,SOTI INC. is a leader in Enterprise Mobility Solutions, Rami helped growing the team of SOTI Globally from 80 to +400 employees, and established SOTI Dubai branch to manage MENA sales and marketing operations, during the last 4 years SOTI operations in MENA expanded to reach local presence in Morocco, Egypt, UAE, and Istanbul.Rami is introducing SOTI as an incubator of B2B Startups and working actively with many government\private entities, OEMs, and Operators to bring to life a library of localized B2B apps that supports various industries such as education, healthcare, retail and hospitality. To help our community adopt most advanced and innovative technologies applied globally.Using those localized B2B Apps,

our community adopt most advanced and innovative technologies applied globally.Using those localized B2B Apps, He aims to have a digitalized databases and contents that can re ect more of a realistic re ection of our current applied systems and help improving the level of provided services in di erent sectors supporting di erent verticals. Rami holds master’s degree in computer engineering and worked as a teacher assistant in the Near East University in Cyprus.

Walied Albasheer

Founder & CEO, Stationery Inc.

 (www.stationery.ae) Walied is an Intrapreneur turned entrepreneur after years of experience in E-business innovation, corporate strategy & startup management . He has signi cant exposure in Product Development, E-Business, Digital Media, Enterprise Architecture, Technology Transformation, Project Management, Enterprise Performance Management, Management Information System & Customer Relationship Management. Walied have worked in UAE, GCC, Middle East, Europe & Far east, with industries such as government, tourism, hospitality, real estate, sports, events, nance, aviation, marketing agency .

EVENT SPONSORS, AND PARTNERS The Startup Weekend Dubai 2015 team is grateful for the support of local community partners without whom this event would not be possible. Learn how to become a sponsor here. (mailto:[email protected]? subject=I%20would%20like%20to%20sponsor%20your%20event.%20Please%20tell%20me%20more!)

Gold

(www.twobirds.com)

(http://www.snappcard.com/)

(http://astrolabs.com/)

(https://www.uber.com/cities/dubai)

Platinum

(www.soti.net)

Silver

(http://www.dotshabaka.com/)

(http://stationery.ae/)

(http://womena.co/)

(http://www. at6labs.com/)

(http://sustainabilityplatform.org/)

(http://www.venture n.com/)

(https://www.vaniday.ae/)

ORGANIZING TEAM Startup Weekend Dubai is 100% led by volunteer community leaders. Learn how to get involved here (http://startupweekend.org/organizer/)

Giorgio Lut

 (https://twitter.com/GiorgioLutfi)  (http://www.markavip.com)

 (https://linkedin.com/in/giorgiolutfi)

Aya Sadder

 (https://twitter.com/asadder)

Abdul Wahid

 (https://linkedin.com/in/ayasadder)

Abdul Wahid

 (https://twitter.com/color2life)

 (http://www.color2life.com)

Omar Kishk

 (https://twitter.com/Okishk)

 (https://linkedin.com/in/omarkishk)

Rami Baassiri

 (https://linkedin.com/ramibaassiri/)

Emanuele Corso

 (https://twitter.com/EmanueleCorso)

 (https://linkedin.com/in/ecorso/)

Ahmad Kishk

 (https://linkedin.com/in/ahmedkishk)

FACILITATORS

Tina Yazdi

 (https://twitter.com/tinad0t)  (https://linkedin.com/in/tinayazdi) Tina’s been in Dubai for a year. She’s a strategist with a communications background and has worked with two startups. She’s also obsessed with the “cult” of Cross t and is ready to dial up the heat on Dubai’s tech scene!

EVENT BLOG SEE FULL BLOG (/COMMUNITIES/UNITED-ARAB-EMIRATES/DUBAI/BLOG)

Bootcamp recap: No More Reasons Not to Start Aya Sadder

(/communities/united-arab-emirates/dubai/blog/2015/11/02/bootcamp-recap-reasons-start)

We’re back! SW Dubai 2015 Aya Sadder

(/communities/united-arab-emirates/dubai/blog/2015/09/15/back-sw-dubai-2015) READ POSTS FROM OTHER EVENTS IN DUBAI (/COMMUNITIES/UNITED-ARAB-EMIRATES/DUBAI/BLOG)

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