Arabnet Arabnet

Historically, well-known for being a male dominant industry, the tech industry has witnessed a massive entrance of women entrepreneurs and industry experts these past few years. It is safe to say that the diversity pendulum is finally starting to swing.

This transformation will be evident at the upcoming Arabnet Beirut 2019 taking place on June 12 to 13 at the Seaside Arena. Under the theme of “Celebrating 10 Years of Tech and Innovation,” thousands of corporate executives, government leaders, and entrepreneurs will gather under one roof. The massive gathering will feature different forums, initiatives, and competitions from all over the world.

Here are just some of the outstanding women to look out for at the event:

Ambareen Musa - Ambareen is the Founder of Souqalmal. Prior to that, Ambareen was the consulting arm of MasterCard Middle East and Africa. Previously, she had instrumental roles  including marketing, financial literacy, customer advocacy and e- commerce in various companies such as GE’s financial arm (GE Money), Moneybasics.co.uk., and Bain & Company Middle East.

Kinda Ibrahim - Kinda has over 12 years of international experience in digital media, marketing and analytics. She joined Twitter from Microsoft as the Editor-in-Chief responsible for English MSN Arabia before becoming the Director of Media Partnerships. Prior to that, she led the media operations division at Yahoo Maktoob. Previously, Kinda played an integral role in shaping the digital and data strategy at companies such as EMAP Middle East, the Yellow Pages group and the National Bank of Canada.

Najwa Sahmarani - Najwa is the co-founder and Vice President of Tripoli Entrepreneurs Club where she manages programs aimed at enabling youth to start their own entrepreneurial journey. Najwa has also founded Alkindy, a collaborative learning space and incubator as well as CardioDiagnostics, a high-tech biomedical venture based in Lebanon. Najwa is a ‘She Entrepreneurs’ Fellow and a Global Shaper at TripoliLB Hub – an initiative by the World Economic Forum.

Youmna Naufal - Youmna is the founder and host of Y Chats, the first Lebanese social dialogue program. With experience in law, business, and politics, Youmna has presented and hosted a series of shows such as Inspirational Women Series, Summer Insights and Entrepreneurial Minds with a focus mainly the youth’s potential.

Viola Llewellyn - She is the Co-founder and President of award winning FinTech company, Ovamba Solutions. Llewellyn has held positions with companies such as Unisys, IBM, KPMG, BearingPoint and Rothschild’s. She has been recognized yearly on Innovate Finance’s “Women in FinTech Power List”, as well as “The Innov8tiv’s Top 50 Visionary Women in Tech to Watch in 2017”. She is also an Ambassador and Global Technology Pioneer to the World Economic Forum.

Urszula Bieganska - Urszula is responsible for LEGO marketing in Middle East and Africa from their newly opened LEGO regional office in Dubai. She is dedicated to bringing to the region LEGO play experiences which excite and educate kids. With over 10 years of working experience within LEGO and P&G, she is passionate, insight-based marketer and a strong advocate of diversity – in the workplace and beyond.

Michelle Katics - Co-Founder and CEO of PortfolioQuest and BankersLab, Michelle is a thought leader in the FinTech revolution, championing talent transformation and innovation. With experience at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, International Monetary Fund (IMF), Fair Isaac (FICO) and Standard Chartered Bank, she has worked with financial institutions in over 30 countries.