SPEAKERS AT HALALVERSE DUBAI

Marwan Alzarouni is the CEO of Dubai Blockchain Center. He is one of the Middle East’s crypto pioneers, founding OTC Supply, the United Arab Emirates’ first over-the-counter exchange, and setting up Dubai’s first Bitcoin ATM. He is recognized internationally as an advocate of blockchain technology, a strategic advisor and a keynote speaker. 

Frontier Technology and social impact thought leader, recognised in Forbes Magazine (2018) as Blockchain’s Leading Social Development Evangelist, and The Introducer (2019) as a Blockchain woman leader. Awarded Top 10 Digital Frontier Women and UN Decade Of Women Quantum Impact Champion.

Talal Tabbaa is the CEO and Co-Founder of CoinMENA, a regulated crypto-currency exchange under the Central Bank of Bahrain. He also serves on the Board of Middle East Payment Services (MEPS) in Amman, Jordan and on the advisory board of the Dubai Chamber of Digital Economy .He also co-founded Jibrel Network, a blockchain development company based in Zug, Switzerland. Prior to crypto,Talal worked in financial and supply chain consulting services at PwC as well as managing a private investment fund in Saudi Arabia. He holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Industrial Engineering (Economics Minor) from Purdue University, IN, USA.

Pranav is a seasoned professional with over fifteen years of experience who firmly believes that for enterprises to build successful and financially sustainable businesses, financial well-being and wellness rests at the core. He has benefitted from being both educated and having worked in multicultural and multifunctional environments. He is a graduate of the Vishwakarma Institute of Technology (Pune University), where he studied mechanical engineering, as well as the Asian Institute of Management (Philippines) and HEC (Paris), where he earned his MBA. Pranav’s professional expertise is instrumental in guiding him towards his current role as the Founding Partner of Woodstock Fund (www.woodstockfund.com). In addition to his role at Woodstock, Pranav is also an Advisor to Alliance Block, Orion Protocol and ZeroSwap Labs. During his professional journey, Pranav has taken on leadership roles covering functions and verticals such as business development, sales and distribution, asset management, private equity and insurance. During his initial years, he gained experience in the manufacturing and renewable energy space both as an engineer and a marketing professional. Following that, he held several strategic roles in the financial services sector, which ultimately led to him becoming the Pan-India Head of SME business at Aditya Birla Group. Currently, at Woodstock, he is responsible for devising and executing strategies encompassing fund structure, people, deal flow, fundraising, investment management, governance, compliance, and risk management.

After 10 years in the corporate world, he decided to retire from the politics of multinational companies to sail around the seven seas. Traveling out of the beaten track, discovering new cultures and having a positive impact on our planets has always been his real passion. So he created the Changing Oceans Expedition under the patronage of UNESCO and IUCN. The aim was to map the cumulative impact of mankind on the oceans and to raise awareness on the urgent need to act now. He also co-founded a number of other NGOs actives in the field of nature conservation, one of which is the Alpine Eagle Foundation, which raises awareness on the loss of biodiversity and climate change with the help of its ambassador, the cameraman eagle who records it's flight from the world’s most iconic landmarks and creates viral videos watched more than a billion times across the planet.

Miroslav Polzer is founder and CEO of the International Association for the Advancement of Innovative Approaches to Global Challenges www.glocha.info, a United Nations (ECOSOC, UNFCCC, GCF) accredited civil society organization based in Klagenfurt am Wörthersee (Austria) and chairperson of IAAI's sister organization in the US, the GloCha Global Challenges Foundation New York Inc.

Miroslav is also the strategic director of the Climate Chain Coalition, the leading multistakeholder network of experts in the field of blockchain for climate action. Miroslav Polzer also works as an independent management consultant, advising companies and public authorities on implementation of sustainable development goals on local level through multistakeholder partnerships and social entrepreneurship business models.

Salman has been named among the "Top 100 Blockchain Leaders in World”. As a Founder and Chief Mate of InvoiceMate he is co-creating future of invoice processing with blockchain enabled trusted process and enhanced efficiency. He is attempting to solve real world business issue's of inefficient invoice processing, aiming to save professionals lots of effort, time and resources. As Head of BSV Blockchain Hub for MENA & South Asia regions, he is expanding Enterprise Blockchain Technology for different use cases in government entities, international bodies & large-scale enterprises.

Prior to her work in blockchain, she worked for the United Nations, USAID, and other international NGOs as a content producer and marketing strategist.

Her previous work has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Time Magazine, Gizmodo, TechCrunch, Mashable, The Times of India, and many other international news sources. Her digital strategy has raised over $2 million in crowdfunding for various tech and business ventures, as well as millions in views for numerous online campaigns.

Khalid is a recognised thought leader in Credit, Risk, Ratings, Structured and Sukuk Finance and Fintech. His candid views and opinions are highly regarded by all market stakeholders with extensive coverage in the media.

More recently through his company, Acreditus, Khalid and his partners have invested in numerous startups (biotech, fintech, crypto, islamic). He also functions as a CEO advisor and Board Member.

Fiona is an Islamic banker specialising in Islamic fintech solutions, trainings on leadership and entrepreneurship and provides her clients with a global outlook on their business decisions. 

Fiona is the chairperson for Muslim Women Tech, an NGO focused on developing tech skills for women in Malaysia and sits on several advisory boards; Datacultr, which is an AI driven risk management technology platform and two charity foundations, Stara Rescue Center that looks after over 500 children in Kenya and SOMO Africa an NGO supporting social impact entrepreneurs in East Africa. Fiona is listed in the Women in FinTech Powerlist 2017/18. Fiona is the co-founder of an emotional intelligence business called Emoraise which uses a biometric assessment tool to meaure patterns in your voice and brain frequencies. She is the business lead for a digital private bank Kristal.AI that offers democratised private market investment opportunities. 

Elizabeth Ivwurie is a Blockchain Strategist and Lawyer with Masters degrees in Finance, Oil&Gas, and Intellectual Property law at a Doctoral Level.  With blockchain industry experience and certifications from the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School and ConsenSys, Elizabeth has a deep appreciation for the scale of investment in blockchain technology and the diversity and significance of the ecosystem.

Elizabeth has worked with solutions architects and organisations in deploying blockchain in their business models and in publicised and non publicised use cases.

Jesse (aka gldnXross) is among the earliest visionaries pioneering NFT product design. Prior to launching Aavegotchi, Jesse co-founded Ethereum’s first NFT minting platform Mintable and also created Bullionix, the first NFTs to be staked directly with ERC20 tokens.

Now Jesse is focused on The Gotchiverse, Pixelcraft Studios’ ambitious flagship experience. Launched in March of 2022, this DeFi RPG delivers a number of innovative use cases that only a web3 based game can. Introducing an on-chain sharing economy, The Gotchiverse is poised to be crypto’s first mass adopted metaverse; all built on top of the Aavegotchi protocol.

Jesse is dedicated to leveraging blockchain technology to create products that empower the individual.

Islamic Financial Engineering, Development of Islamic Products, Training & Research, Structuring of Islamic Financial Products for poverty Alleviation, Design and implement the poverty reduction strategies, Islamic Micro Financial Engineering, Development of Islamic Microfinance Products, Training & Research, Islamic Banking and Finance Trainings, Publication of Banking & Islamic Finance, Transformation of Conventional Microfinance into Islamic, Shari’ah Auditing & Accounting, , Design Research Base Workshops for Islamic Financial Industry, Running Islamic Financial Web Portals and Blogs

A seasoned CEO, CTO, CISO, Advisor and International speaker, with experience in Blockchain, DeFi, NFT, Asset Tokenization, Cyber Security, AI, IoT, 5G, Digital Twin (Meta Verse) Cloud, Disaster Recovery, Bigdata, & Managed Services. Jorge is professional advisor in several innovative start-ups using disruptive technologies with focus on generating business value and enabling sustainability, scalability and impact. He created the powerful framework A6 of security: Assess, Assess, Apply, Administer, Awareness & Agility. Jorge is a regular speaker at international conferences. Author of Book “La Face Cachée du Crédit” Editions QuebecOr Jorge is action and results oriented with passion to deliver a results… “Cyber Security is a continuous skilled process which requires thought…”

Paula Tavangar is a serial entrepreneur and renowned leader within the Fintech, Blockchain, and Quantitative Finance space. Recently, Paula joined forces with Swissborg Ventures, where she occupies a senior-level role utilizing her expertise in blockchain technologies and venture capital to lead the investment process and promote deal sourcing. 

Chada is a Sr. Product Manager for Emission Management software at BakerHughes, and the co-founder & managing director of ENTROGX Startup incubator. With over 13 years of youth activism & community engagement, 6 years of professional experience at energy multinational companies, and over 5 years of experience with startups, Chada works hard to empower and enable the communities around her by mentoring young entrepreneurs, women in STEM, and aspiring tech enthusiasts around the Arab world. She has recently been named amongst the 100 Arab Female Heroes in Volunteering by BBC, named as a Distinguished Alumni of the year in the Arab world by MEPI (Middle East- US Partnership Initiative ), and also the most influential young personality in Algeria for 2020 by Supernova Magazine.

Dynamic, hardworking Chartered Accountant with 24 years of experience at different levels with different organizations covering almost all major aspects of Audit & Assurance, Consultancy, Financial & Cost Management & Accounting. Having good knowledge & experience of the computerized accounting system (ERPs) and Management Information System (MIS) Development, Implementation, Fintech, Blockchain & associated technology. I am Certified Information System Auditor (CISA) and approved Lead Auditor ISO 27001.

Aruna Narayanan is a sustainability enthusiast and strategic thought leader with a passion for driving prosperity through people empowerment and planet protection. She is a highly accomplished results-driven professional with two decades of corporate experience. She focuses on sustainability, ESG, impacts investing, innovative waste management and recycling, marketing communications and corporate social responsibility. With previous leadership positions at organisations including Purecog Holdings, Dulsco, Accenture and Ocwen Financial Corporation, she is adept at supporting companies and their clients on sustainability journeys with lasting positive impact across multiple stakeholders.

Jelena is a managing director of a sustainability advisory - Sustainability Trends and a founder of a crowd-sourcing platform for promoting and growing sustainable practices- GreenFootpprint.ae. Supported by the UAE government, this unique and innovative platform brings together key stakeholders (government, industries, and consumers) to close the loop by solving production, consumption, and waste issues. 

Shenna is an environmental solutions expert with over 15 years of experience and a passionate climate and social activist. As a conservation officer in Belize, she served as a liaison between co-management entities and the Ministry of Fisheries. In that role, she worked for the protection of the second largest coral reef in the world, the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef. During this period she conducted research on marine protected areas in Curacao, Belize, and Hawaii.  

Mitchell Board is an experienced director, founder and builder across energy, renewables and commodities. Alongside his cofounder, Alex Cohen, Mitchell is building the future of climate-positive action leveraging web3 technology. Katalyst.earth has developed a new carbon-backed non-fungible token (NFT) to facilitate project finance access for carbon developers. 

Mohamed is a multi-faceted information technology professional with more than 25 years of extensive experience in different industries and business segments, financial services, conglomerate, real estate , consulting/advisory services and software services. Mohamed has 15 years experience as a Chief Information Officer (CIO) and he has been a CXO advisor in leading organizations.

Dr Farrukh Habib is the Co-Founder of Alif Technologies (Dubai) and Shariah Experts (London). He is an expert in Shariah (Islamic law), finance and fintech. He is an advisor, trainer, and product developer by profession with a strong educational background and vast global experience of more than 9 years. He is involved in the Islamic fintech and halal digital economy, focusing on crowdfunding, micro-investments, tokenization, decentralized economy, halal supply chain management and Shariah compliance. 

Georgia has been involved in innovation since 2016. After graduating from the prestigious Swiss boarding school “Institute Le Rosey” she joined the Blockchain company Block.one - which infamously raised $4.2 billion USD within a year.

After appearing on the popular reality television show “Married at First Sight Australia” in 2020. She is now dedicating herself to educating her followers about blockchain. Creating educational content personally, and in collaboration with projects in the space including a new NFT project - Crypto Arabs.

VESA has been a digital art pioneer for 14 years after he innovated his own process. He has been full-time in the crypto art and NFT space since 2017. In 2013, his digital art project with actress Veena Malik reached around 300M people, with critical acclaim. The latest venture artcar.io, is seen around events in Dubai. VESA is an art ambassador for Superworld, Sheesha Finance, Metahistory: Museum of War & Oceans & US. 

His art has been collected by hedge funds, exchanges, CEOs, and influencers. Among them are Charles Hoskinson, Charlie Lee, Dr Marwan Al Zarouni, Saeed Al Darmaki, Tone Vays, Willy Woo, and many others.

High-caliber acknowledged expert in Islamic Law, Islamic Banking and Finance and Shariah Compliance with a unique blend of academic and professional practice experience in international organizations and Universities with proven competence in driving excellence in Islamic financial institutions in developing products, services, policies, procedures and standards assuring comprehensive Shariah compliance, well versed with the Shariah governance of banking and Takaful institution as well as structuring Sukuk, investment, retail and corporate products, syndication etc in strict compliance with the established Shariah rules and principles.

Ayesha is Managing Partner & CEO of Vim Meraki, a management consultancy which supports the growth of disruptive technology, sustainability and empowerment businesses. She is also co-founder of Kaza Dao, a Web 3 solution creating transparency and trust in the ‘giving back’ process, by providing proof of human impact.

Ayesha has 17 years of experience in multiple technology environments on the business side, being the bridge between technology and commercial activities. Ranging from legal, IP, innovation, marketing, strategic partnership development and business development. She has worked internationally in Edtech, Medtech, Fintech, Sustainability and in an advertising agency. Both in startup environments and large corporate matrix organizations

Mufti Ismail Ebrahim Desai is a reputed Shari’a scholar and Islamic finance expert who has advised on deals including trade finance, M&A, corporate restructuring, Sukuk structuring, capital placement and deal advisory. Mufti Ismail has also structured an asset management firm. He has approved and certified scores of firms, institutions and banks for Shariah Compliance. He has also successfully advised on several major capital raisings for firms and companies.

Nadeem is a polyglot Senior Full Stack Developer/ Blockchain Architect living in Melbourne. Nadeem has been into enterprise software development for about 10 years.

Digital savvy professional with diverse successes in launching, leading global businesses, driving P&L, market expansion, digital transformation, and change efforts in multiple countries. Ability to achieve goals while working with different stakeholders through decisive leadership, day-to-day management, financial accountability, and maximizing brand value. Hallmark of success: i) assembling, leading productive teams (large/lean) ii) focus on culture, organizational renewal, innovation, cutting edge solutions iii) entrepreneurial mindset-customer-centric, out-of-the-box, revenue-generating initiatives.

​Gordon Einstein is a hybrid Crypto-Attorney, Technologist, and Enterprise Strategist. Gordon received his undergraduate degree in Politics in 1991 from Brandeis University in Boston and then received his JD in 1995 from the USC Gould School of Law in Los Angeles. Gordon is also a proud Eagle Scout, having served in Boy Scout Troop 223.

Ali Askar is a Senior Quant Market Making Developer at one of the leading cryptocurrency exchanges. Being able to research and think out of the box, he learned the ins and outs of computer communication security at a very young age. His passion for computer technology had led him to join the Communication and Electronics Engineering program at Beirut Arab University in which he graduated from, Ali had helped many organizations and governmental agencies as a technical consultant before joining several companies such as Giv Capital, Zero & One, and Net360. moreover, he holds the AWS Solution Architect and IBM Hyperledger Blockchain Developer and Architect badges and currently pursuing the Certificate in Quantitative Finance CQF badge.

Kokila is the Founder of KARM Legal Consultants and has 17 years of experience as a Corporate/Commercial and technology lawyer in UAE. She has a significant experience in investments, incorporations, joint ventures, project finance & private equity transactions. She has actively advised on acquisition finance, project finance transaction, corporate restructuring, real estate finance and asset finance transactions. At KARM, she has provided legal advice to clients providing highly specialized technology offering including Blockchain, Open Banking, MedTech and Insure-Tech focused entities. Additionally, she has also advised clients on Security Token Offerings, Artificial Intelligence, Crypto-currency exchanges, Digital Wallets and deployment of FinTech services globally.

Zahid has over a decade of experience in conducting corporate trainings and curating high level conferences globally. He conceptualized the first ever Blockchain for Islamic Banking and Finance in 2018 and World Islamic Fintech Summit in 2019. 

Currently, Zahid and his team at Halalverse are pioneering the Halal Web 3.0 community.