United Arab Emirates

Hans Henrik Christensen, Director of the Dubai Technology Entrepreneur Centre, a department of the Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority, has been appointed as High Commissioner for the United Arab Emirates. High Commissioner Christensen represents the United Arab Emirates in the Global Startup Committee of the Grand Assembly of the World Business Angels Investment Forum.

Hans.Henrik.Christensen@wbaforum.org
As the Director of DTEC, Hans Henrik Christensen leads a team that, with him, has built the largest and most economically impactful tech ecosystem in MENA, hosting more than 800 start-ups from 70 nationalities. The objective of DTEC is to create a sustainable, impactful entrepreneurial ecosystem of tech companies that drives innovation in the UAE. Apart from partnering with international partners such as IBM, Microsoft, SAP, du, Volkswagen, Thomson Reuters, Visa, Smart Dubai and many more, DTEC hosts the aviation and travel-tech Intelak incubator run by Emirates Airlines together with GE and Etisalat, the Intel IOT ignition lab, and the Dubai Smart City Accelerator, powered by Startupbootcamp. DTEC also acts as a start-up investor, currently with an active portfolio of 21 successful well-known start-ups: Yalla Compare, Shortpoint, Wrappup, STEP, etc. Hans has decades of business experience, building departments in MNCs and start-ups around the world. In his several positions as founder and CEO of start-ups, he attracted millions of dollars from both private and venture capital investors. He built up the first Siemens ICN nCubator in 2000, a captive incubator and one of the first incubators in Europe at the time. Its most successful venture (Garderos) was successfully spun-off   in 2001 under Hans’ leadership and attracted VC funds from SAP, Siemens Ventures, and Wellington Partner. Hans held international positions with Macquarie Technology Investments and Deutsche Leasing AG and joined DSOA in 2012. DTEC has won several awards: Arabian Business Startup Awards, 2015 Special recognition for entrepreneurial support, 2017 Best Start-up Program, 2017 Best Accelerator, Entrepreneur Agility Award, 2017 Best Start-up Hub, Islamic Economy, 2017 Best SME Supporter. He serves on the board of 11 start-ups and is a board advisor to RIT and AUE Dubai. He holds a BA in Ec/ Fi from Bentley University and an MBA from the Hult Business School. He is a sought- after speaker on entrepreneurship, corporate innovation, smart city, and blockchain AI technology and frequently assists corporations, universities and event organisers as a judge and mentor for business plan competitions.

United Arab Emirates

Lucy Chow, Director, Women’s Angel Investor Network (WAIN), has been appointed as Senator to the Grand Assembly of the World Business Angels Investment Forum. Senator Chow represents UAE in the Global Startup Committee of the Grand Assembly.

Lucy.Chow@wbaforum.org
Lucy is focused on the innovation space, both in terms of supporting founders and as an investor. She is a Director of WAIN (Women’s Angel Investor Network) and sits on the Advisory Board of Mindshift Capital. WAIN has won several awards: Arabian Business Startup Awards 2018, Funding Initiative of the Year and FinX 2018 Award for Fintech Investor of The Year. She is also an investor with NextWave Ventures and the Founder Institute, both based out of the US. Recently Lucy was honored to be a Judge for the GEMS Global Innovation Challenge (student entrepreneurs), the MIT Enterprise Forum Pan Arab & Challenge 22 Prize (an innovation award that promotes creativity in the Arab world), Gulf Customer Experience Awards and the Annual SpeakFluence Cup. During her 12 years in Dubai, Lucy has garnered a strong reputation for originating business focused events that target captains of industry, as well as trendsetters in the UAE through her firm, The Elements Group. She is Chairman of the Steering Committee with The Capital Club (a prestigious private business and social club located in the Dubai International Financial Centre), and founded the Dubai Chapter of Room to Read. Previously, she sat on the UAE committee for Acumen, was Non Executive Director for Educate Girls Globally and was a Co-Chapter Chair for Techfugees (UAE) and Ellevate. Lucy was featured in the photography book, Women of the UAE and was one of Ahlan!’s Hot100 in 2012 , under the Entrepreneur category. Lucy contributes regularly to entrepreneurship, corporate innovation, and investor events and forums as a speaker, moderator and judge. She is also passionate about developing entrepreneurial skills in students. Lucy has degrees from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management Northwestern University and HK University of Science &Technology and the University of British Columbia.

United Arab Emirates

Tahir Mahmood, Head of the Business Development Department of Nasdaq Dubai, has been appointed as Senator to the Grand Assembly of the World Business Angels Investment Forum. Senator Mahmood represents the United Arab Emirates in the Global Startup Committee of the Grand Assembly.

Tahir.Mahmood@wbaforum.org
With over 15 years of experience in the financial industry, Tahir Mahmood heads the Business Development department of Nasdaq Dubai, overseeing  the  development and growth of products including equities, futures, Sukuk, bonds and Murabaha. His role revolves around creating new relationships with key stakeholders such as issuers, regulators, lawyers and bankers, to help the exchange grow. Tahir works with the team to bring new listings to the exchange, as well as offer new products to the market, and has been instrumental in making Dubai the leading Sukuk listing venue globally. Playing a key role in the regional capital markets, Tahir engages with various organisations looking to raise funds. Whether it is through an IPO, private equity or debt financing, the network he has built expands globally. Through his roles at a number of start-ups and companies in their early stage, Tahir has gone through the process of growing a business to achieve success and profit. His interest in angel investing comes from his experience in capital markets and working with start-ups looking to grow their business.

United Arab Emirates

Varis Sayed, Chief Executive Officer of the Fincasa Capital, United Arab Emirates

Varis.Sayed@wbaforum.org
Founder & Group CEO at Fincasa capital, Medley Capital & Key investments. Varis Sayed is an Entrepreneur, Investor, co- founder & Mentor for various companies globally from startups to private equity. He promote Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and Foreign Institutional Investor (FII) for various countries in North America, Caribbean, Europe and Middle East. He specialize in cross border international business and investment.
He is currently on Board with Fincasa Capital, Medley Capital, Finco, FidetiaX, Bluechip Capital, Seguro, Arlo Associates & key investments.