2012 Dubai Tech-I Brochure

Entrepreneurs
in Action
Entrepreneurs in Action
GIST Tech-I
Competition Finals
Unleashing Entrepreneurial Potential
December 10-12, 2012 Dubai, UAE
www.gistinitiative.org
GIST Initiative is a partnership led by the U.S. Department of State and CRDF Global
GIST Tech-I Competition Finals

CRDF Global
Welcome Message
Table of Contents
Dear Colleagues and Friends,
CRDF WELCOME MESSAGE
U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT WELCOME MESSAGE
AGENDA
GIST ONE PAGER
GIST TECH-I COMPETITION FINALISTS 8

GIST TRANSFORMERS GENERATION I BIOS
18
GIST ADVISORY GROUP MEMBERS
23
SPEAKERS, MENTORS & JUDGES
24
CRDF GLOBAL GIST TEAM
25
U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT GIST TEAM
26
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
27
GIST IN THE NEWS
30
FEATURED EVENTS
32
RESOURCES
33
GIST MENTOR HIGHLIGHT
34
GIST PARTNERS
35
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Sincerely,
Ms. Cathleen Campbell

President and Chief Executive Officer
CRDF Global
U.S. State Department

Welcome Message
Agenda
Global Innovation Through Science & Technology: Unleashing Entrepreneurial Potential
Monday, December 10, 2012
Location: Room A
MORNING
GIST SESSION: CLOSED TO PUBLIC
8:45-9.00
Introductory Remarks
Ovidiu Bujorean, GIST Initiative Manager, CRDF Global
9:00-9:45
Team Building Exercise

Jim Bagnola, President, The Leadership Group International
9:45-10:30
Nuts and bolts of the executive summary and the pitch

Scott Gillespie, Founder and Managing Partner of the Jigsaw Group
10:30-11:30
Mentoring Session 1
11:30-12:30
Mentoring Session 2
12:30-1:15
Lunch
Dear Colleagues and Friends,

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raepre, ullaudit volorat urecae. Et porit omnis eaquunt occus sincidit alictotae
nobis pelesse quatiossi officius, sitatur iatur?
Bis apiendae sinverferit pos voluptaquam quunt eum faciuntiunt ma volecat aut
eium velitisimin peruptatum sit aut asi tem seditatus, eum sent voluptibusam
eveni dero esere nos vendicius es a audaest ibeariam voluptae nonsersperum
nus mos plabor sandae dolorem ent mo et essunt aut vid experitae ipsaperepedi
audandelita dolorepudae et la quidignam fugitae porporati consectus quis
veligni corporia quodi re pelit et harum que sitione dolorib eaquoditae et hit,
quia il mosam volluptae sum sit a non corepud iaeseque aboriam, comnistrum
conet dernam imendae necae excesti imaioss eritem hariore consenet essintis escipis enient voles el ilique nus, volenda vella
sendipsum ipsanime possitate saepta volo beruptatia cum ab ipsunt fugit, quam quia dolupie nditend itatestion eturi cum harum
ad moluptatur?
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officiatur sini autem quam quo velecat quodici molorrovitia vero que cum istotatur si to exerfer spiendel iuntinvel est, sapisqui
simust adis est recae dolorio rrovit ani dolupturerro velitaq uibusdaecte quo id qui cus ut et laccum eum nataes int labora pedis
porrum archiciisit lamus autatem idi dit idita ium nimus cus ipsum quias repero dita cor mo dolectotae aliae. Eprest parchic
temporu ntiusci pidus, volent doleculparum quiae idunt.
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molendam dit, ut que sita prat utessimil enissim pelique doloreperi res parum ipsam, sam nobis eatatis aceaquatio totae nullenis
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venem in re vellaceario optatia menihil mos dolupit ea cuptatem fuga.
Sincerely,
Ms. Cathleen Campbell

President and Chief Executive Officer
CRDF Global
AFTERNOON
GIST Startup Training: ENTIRE AFTERNOON IS OPEN TO PUBLIC
1:15-1:30
Ms. Cathy Campbell, President and CEO, CRDF Global
Dr. Jonathan Margolis, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Science, Space and Health in the U.S. Department of
States Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs.
Ms. Natalia Pipia, Associate Program Director, Innovation & Entrepreneurship, CRDF Global
Mr. Rashid AlBallaa, CEO N2V, GIST Global Advisory Board Member
1:30-2:15
Keynote Speech
Jeff Hoffman, Co-founder, Priceline.com; Founder, ColorJar; GIST Global Advisory Group Member
2:15-3:00
Strategic Professional Networking

Practical seminar introducing 7 key principles of how to build a professional network of top contacts using events, online tools
and peer to peer groups.
Ovidiu Bujorean, GIST Initiative Manager, CRDF Global and International Speaker, Ovibees.com
3:00-4:00
Leading is Everybodys Business

Interactive, thought provoking and fast moving workshop challenges the major myths about leading and counters with a new
mindset.
Jim Bagnola, President, The Leadership Group
4:00-4:15
Break
4:15-5:15
Raising funds for your ideas and ventures

The workshop will provide a road map on how to identify, approach and secure venture capitalists as well as other sources of
funding.
Steven Koskie, LM250 Digital
5:15-6:00
Business Models for Startups

This workshop will cover techniques on how to create, deliver and capture value while putting emphasis on how to create realistic forecasts.
Scott Gillespie, Founder and Managing Partner, the Jigsaw Group
Monday, December 10, 2012 Location: Room A

6:00-6:45
7:15-9:30
Sales Training
This workshop will cover a successful sales strategy from the hiring to acquiring leads.
Scott Gillespie, Founder and Managing Partner, the Jigsaw Group (TBC)
Agenda
GIST Reception (Open to the public)

Dr. Jonathan Margolis, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Science, Space and Health in the U.S. Department of
States Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs.
Mr. Ovidiu Bujorean, GIST Initiative Manager, CRDF Global
Keynote speaker: Patricia Dinneen, Managing Director, Siguler Guff & Company, GIST Global Advisory Group Member
Stories from GIST Entrepreneurs
Rumaisa Mohani, UAE, Founder, e-Aid
Ziad Sankari, Lebanon, CEO, Cardio Diagnostics
Perihan Abou-Zeid, Egypt, Communications Director, Qabila Media Productions
Saimum Hossain, Bangladesh, Managing Director, Greenovation Technologies
Wednesday, December 12, 2012 Location: Room A

1:00-6:30
2:15-5:00
2:15-3:15
Open Session
Tuesday, December 11, 2012 Location: Room A

GIST Mentoring & Pitching Sessions: Room A
9:30-11:00
First Set: 10 entrepreneurs pitch to a panel of at least 3 judges. Each venture has 5 minutes to pitch and 5 minutes for Q&A and
feedback. (Others attend GES-EVA sessions)
11:00-12:00
Judges deliberation
SUPPORT - Startup Youth Launch

Microsoft and U.S. Department of State, Office of Global Youth Issues speaker series on entrepreneurship: Highlighting the role of
partnerships between government and the private sector in building entrepreneurial ecosystems supporting young entrepreneurs.
Speakers: Zeenat Rahman, The Secretary of States Special Adviser for Global Youth Issues, U.S. Department of State
Akhtar Badshah, Senior Director of Global Community Affairs, Microsoft
Young Entrepreneur (TBD)
Panelists: Zeenat Rahman, the Secretary of States Special Adviser for Global Youth Issues, U.S. Department of State,
Akhtar Badshah, Senior Director of Global Community Affairs, Microsoft
Young Entrepreneur (TBD)
4:15-5:00
CONNECT EMPACT100 Networking Session

Empact100 members, a highly accomplished group of young entrepreneurs, will host an interactive Q&A on the role of networking
for young entrepreneurs and the challenges facing young entrepreneurs in building robust networks.
Moderator: Zeenat Rahman, Secretary of States Special Adviser for Global Youth Issues, U.S. Department of Stat
Panelists: Sarah Green, CEO, Empact, Rahim Fazal, Founder, Involver, Max Durovic, CEO, AArrow
All GIST entrepreneurs attend GES-EVA keynotes

GIST Mentoring & Pitching Sessions: Room A
2:30-4:00
Second Set: 10 entrepreneurs pitch to a panel of at least 3 judges. Each venture has 5 minutes to pitch and 5 minutes for Q&A
and feedback. (Others attend GES-EVA sessions)
4:00-4:30
Judges deliberation
4:30-6:00
Third Set: 10 entrepreneurs pitch to a panel of at least 3 judges. Each venture has 5 minutes to pitch and 5 minutes for Q&A and
feedback. (Others attend GES-EVA sessions)
6:00-6:45
Judges select the top 10
6:45-7:00
The top 10 are announced
5:15-6:15
Open Session
Wednesday, December 12, 2012 Location: Room A

9.00-10.30
10:45-12:45
Open Session
12:45-1:45
GIST Entrepreneurs attend keynote sessions at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit

Venture pitching sessions to select awards for the top entrepreneurs
Pitching will occur in one room, with 10 entrepreneurs in the room. There will be at least five judges in the room. Each venture has 5
minutes to pitch and 5 minutes for Q&A and feedback.
Jeff Hoffman, Co-founder and former CEO of Priceline, columnist Inc. Magazine and GIST Global Advisory Group Member
Scott Gillespie, Founder Jigsaw Group, & Partner T2VC
Faysal Sohail, Managing Partner CMEA Ventures
Chris Schroeder, Angel Investor, co-founder and former CEO Health Central, WSJ journalist
Muhammad Arrabi, Chief of Staff and Senior Investment Associate at N2V
Khalid Alkhudair, Founder of Glowork, COO of KPMG Markets for KSA, Jordan and Kuwait
Imran Sayed, MIT Sloan and SVP CTO NTT Data
Ahmed el Alfi, Chairman Sawari Ventures
Lunch. Judges meet to select the GIST Tech-I award winners.
Young Entrepreneur Forum (A Joint Program from the GIST initiative and Startup Youth)
ENGAGE - Digital Talk: Media, Startups and the Real-Time Web
New technologies and entrepreneurs continue to change the media industry landscape in the fast-paced environment of the 21st
century. At the same time, entrepreneurs and startups benefit from media exposure which provides necessary amplifier effects
to promote their ventures and encourages the entrepreneurial spirit worldwide. Panelists will discuss the new phenomenon of
covering start-ups and technology, explore the reciprocal relationship between media and entrepreneurship, talk about the influence
of mass media on national culture and participation in entrepreneurship, and identify concrete steps to promote and celebrate
entrepreneurship in the Middle East. During the panel, discussants will look at how social media changes the way people fund and
grow new companies.
Moderator: Ms. Natalia Pipia, Associate Program Director, Innovation & Entrepreneurship, CRDF Global
Panelists: Mr. Jeff Hoffman, Co-founder and former CEO of Priceline, columnist Inc. Magazine and GIST Global Advisory Group
Member, Ms. Perihan Abou Zeid, Director of Media, Qabila Production, GIST Women entrepreneurship award,
Mr. Ammar Bakkar, CEO - Yes 2 Digital (Y2D)
Mr. Ihsan Jawad, Founder and CEO at ABQ Zawya, Thompson Reuters,
Mr. Sultan Sooud Al-Qassemi, Columnist, The National, UAE
Mr. James Andrews, Founder of Social People
3:15-4:00
GES-EVA Keynotes: Main Hall

12:00-2:30
GIST entrepreneurs attend the Summit
Agenda
7:00-9:30
GIST Tech-I Award Ceremony

The dynamic ceremony is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate role models of global entrepreneurship, to award the most promising
GIST technology entrepreneurs, and to highlight practical approaches to entrepreneurial ecosystem building globally. Winners of past
GIST competitions also known as transformers will be featured in the award ceremony and will share their experiences for the past
year. The top 10 GIST Tech-i entrepreneurs from Middle East, Turkey, Africa and Asia will be announced.
Keynote: Mr. Jeff Hoffman, Co-founder & former CEO, Priceline, GIST Global Advisory Group
Introductory Remarks:
Dr. Jonathan Margolis, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Science, Space and Health in the U.S. Department of States
Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs.
Guests: Ms. Patricia Dinneen, Managing Director, Siguler Guff & Company, GIST Global Advisory Group,
H.R.H. Prince Saud Bin Khalid Al-Faisal, Deputy Governor - Saudi Arabian General Investment Authorit, GIST Global Advisory Group
MC.: Ovidiu Bujorean, Manager The GIST Initiative
GIST Reception (invitation only)
Ms. Cathy Campbell, President and CEO, CRDF Global, Dr. Jonathan Margolis, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for
Science, Space and Health in the U.S. Department of States Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific
Affairs. Ms. Natalia Pipia, Associate Program Director, Innovation & Entrepreneurship, CRDF Global, GIST Global Advisory Group
representative, GIST Transformers representative (1-2 entrepreneurs share their experiences at the summit)
Where Innovative Minds and

Entrepreneurial Spirit Merge
all of us must recognize that

education and innovation will be the
currency of the 21st century.
Submission Deadline: September 24, 2012
Barack Obama
President of the United States of
America
The Global Innovation through Science and Technology (GIST) initiative strengthens
innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystems through programs and partnerships focused
on networking, skills development and financing. GIST empowers youth across Africa, the
Middle East, and Asia to develop new technology-based products and companies that
address economic and development challenges
NETWORKING: Linking innovative ideas, people, and financial and human resources
SKILL DEVELOPMENT: Providing business training, mentorship and resources
FINANCING: Connecting innovators and their ideas with seed capital
CONNECT WITH GIST COMMUNITY

GIST Programs
Startup Boot Camps: Supporting tech startups through mentorship and
training activities led by U.S. entrepreneurs and investors
Tech-I Competition: Bringing tech ideas to the community via a YouTubebased idea pitch competition
The GIST Entrepreneurship Journey: Immersing high-potential
entrepreneurs in the American innovation ecosystem
GIST Impact Highlights

Supporting High-Growth Potential Entrepreneurs
1,000 tech startups trained and mentored by international experts
20 GIST partner organizations connected with additional entrepreneurship
education resources
Creating Innovation Ecosystems

Catalyzed the first angel investment network in West Africa in partnership
with the World Banks infoDEV program
Trained journalists in Indonesia and Malaysia
Launched a global business mentorship training program with MIT faculty
Building a Global Innovation Community

2 million youth reached globally through the Department of State
Innovation Generation Facebook page
54,000 technology developers linked to business development training,
tools, and mentorship
Join the GIST network today! facebook.com/gistinitiative

6
Together we can build an ecosystem

that allows entrepreneurs to get the
support they need, the financing they
need, the
mentoring they need, to launch a
brilliant idea into a business. Thats
the importance of the GIST mission.
Jeff Hoffman
Co-Founder and former CEO,
Priceline; GIST Advisory Group
Member
GIST is a great opportunity to

increase participation by the
academic sector in the
transfer of technology into
the marketplace through the
development of practical knowledge
and skills, as well
as to heighten understanding of the
value
of entrepreneurship and innovation
for economic growth and
sustainability.
Dr. Abdelali Haoudi
VP of Research,
Qatar Foundation
Malaysia welcomes the GIST

Initiative to support technology
development in
Muslim-majority countries to
advance key innovation areas,
especially innovation capacity,
entrepreneurship and access to seed
capital.
Dato Madinah binti Mohamad
Secretary General, Ministry of
Science, Technology and
Innovation, Malaysia
[GIST] was our shortcut towards

better connections and visibility.
Ziad Sankari
Founder of CardioDiagnostics;
GISTech-I Competition Winner
Your solution
Your world
The GIST initiative is seeking entrepreneurs and innovators to participate in this multinational
GIST Tech-I competition.
Submit Go-to-Market Plan: 2 minute Video Pitch & Executive Summary

& Win: More Than $200K in Awards
First Round
First Place: $25,000

Runner Up: $15,000
Second Place: $10,000
Third Place: $5,000
Best Female Entrepreneur Award: $5,000
5 Honorable Mentions: $2,000
iPad for applicant with most online votes for video
3 months of mentorship for 30 companies
Second Round
Up to 5 Scholarships to GIST Accelerator:

6 week immersion program in Silicon Valley
$200,000 in seed funding for best companies
Apply now at: www.gistinitiative.org

Competition Starts: July, 2012
GIST Webinars/Partner Trainings: August 13-31, 2012
Submission Deadline: September 24, 2012
Online Voting for Video: October 31, 2012 - November 9, 2012
Semi-Finalist Workshop & Award Ceremony: December 11-13, 2012
GIST Accelerator: August - September 2013
GIST Tech-I Competition Finalists
NearestNeighbour
Digital Blood Glucose Record System
http://www.nearestneighbour.co.uk http://www.youtube.com/embed/SWEht13Xtn4
http://binus.ac.id/ http://player.vimeo.com/video/52397162
Ipek is a service and interaction designer working as a sole trader for various technology and retail startup companies in the UK, Turkey and Europe. She developed the NearestNeighbour project while studying
towards an MSc in Research and Design at Goldsmiths University, Since her studies, she has worked in
DesignLondon, the Royal College of Art and Imperial College before starting on her own entrepreneurial
journey.
Handy recently graduated from BINUS University, Indonesia, majoring in Information Systems and
Management, and since graduation has been handling various mobile application projects, such as Digital
Blood Glucose Record System, Anonymous Ticket System, Smart Insurance System, etc. Christian also
graduated from BINUS, majoring in Information Systems and Management. Christians work focuses on
system analysis. Together their team has developed a number of apps which have been nominated in
several prestigious competitions.
Ipek Altunmaral, Founder
NearestNeighbour is a mobile application designed to enhance peer-to-peer community news-sharing and

outsourcing. With this app users can hire, buy, borrow, find out the latest news in their neighborhood,
advertise and promote their services and be the first to learn what happens in their community.
ICT, Turkey
Handy Lukito & Christian Warawan, Co-founders
Health, Indonesia
Mobile Augmented Reality Shop & Save
The Home Page
http://player.vimeo.com/video/52332612
http://www.thehomepage.com.eg http://www.youtube.com/embed/oE0mdhndwCI
AP calls himself a creative technologist, a person who puts customer user experience high in his design
priority and who values simplicity and creativity in the design process. He also co-founded e-Trifecta
which specializes in image recognition and Augmented Reality technology. He holds an engineering degree
from University of Arizona and an MBA from University of Aix-Marseille in France and Universiti Putra
Malaysia.
Khaled has been co-founder and CEO of The Home Page since June 2012, and previously worked with two
major Egyptian telecom companies Etisalat and Vodafone. He has eight years of experience with these
corporations in marketing, sales, project management, customer operations & online advertising.
AP Leow, Founder
ICT, Malaysia
Shop & Save is a mobile Augmented Reality (AR) app that enhances the shopping experience in malls,
serving as a shop locator using AR technology in an indoor setting and alerting users of the best deals that
are happening in real time.
Khaled Shaheen, Co-founder & CEO
ICT, Egypt
The Home Page is an online fair for furniture and designa one-stop shop for users furnishing their homes
giving them the chance to search/compare all products available in the market with different categories,
styles, and price ranges. The Home Page enables furniture producers/showrooms to showcase unlimited
number of products with detailed and updated description and hence serves as a targeted and efficient
advertising medium and sales channel.
Eco-Fuelants
MobiTrader
http://mobitrader.net http://www.youtube.com/embed/YxErUjILHAA
Hafiz Muhammad is a Chemical Engineer by profession and an entrepreneur by passion; he was previously
the Director operations of Ecofy and served as the President of AIChE-Pakistan, Event Ambassador of
Spark. After witnessing the extreme hike in fuel prices and energy crisis in Pakistan, Hafiz started thinking
about inventing an alternative fuel, and eventually decided to produce bio-diesel from waste cooking oil.
Joseph is a software developer with more than 6 years of experience in IT, not-for-profit businesses,
building new companies, startup consulting, and project management. He currently works with Googles
business development team, which has given him valuable experience for his ventures. Joseph has gained
a lot of programming, communication and leadership skills from winning and participating in several
engineering and business competitions in 17 countries.
Hafiz Muhammad Ali, Founder and CEO
Joseph Ajao, Co-founder
The Eco-Fuelants bio-diesel product is economical, environment and engine friendly. It is an alternative
fuel that has good lubricating properties and its technology is in accordance with ASTM standards.
Energy, Pakistan
8
Digital Blood Glucose Record System is a mobile app based on social media which allows people suffering
from diabetes to record their daily blood sugar via their mobile phones, so they can control and monitor
their blood sugar level anywhere and anytime.
ICT, Nigeria
MobiTrader is a web and mobile start-up dedicated to bringing better job opportunities to the informal job
sector (cooks, maids, designers, security guards, office helpers, etc.) by appropriately connecting the right
employers and job-seekers via the web, mobile apps, SMS and the mobile web.
Ujamaa
E-Park
http://mcommulticartes.com/Ujamaa http://www.youtube.com/embed/gFZLm_dYCrI
http://www.youtube.com/embed/-ZGDNVVcYEs
Gilles is the entrepreneurial mind behind Ujamaa, with a vision to create a commercial electronic platform
that would serve Africans and also the rest of the world with resources from Africa. He earned a Bachelors
degree in Computer Science from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Ghana and
is currently studying Information Technology Administration and Management at Sup Info international IT
Academy of Dakar, Senegal.
Mustain and Harry attended the same university under scholarship from the Italian government, where
they were two of a team of four Indonesian students collaborating on an idea to improve urban life
in Jakarta. Mustain is a Masters candidate in Tourism Marketing and Harry is a Masters candidate in
Information Technology at the University of Calabria. They dream of establishing a worldwide company on
the basis of this idea started from their homeland.
Ujamaa is an online market that offers products from Dakars favorite shops with ease, security, delivery
and payment systems adapted to Senegal. It is a channel to promote African culture through clothing,
jewelry, fashion accessories and gadgets.
E-Park is an innovative system that offers online reservations (by using SMS or internet) of parking
spots in specific partner buildings. Starting from their personal experience of the difficulty of parking in
downtown Jakarta, the team created a sensor-based parking system drawing on the hotel reservation
process that offers a time saving and convenient solution to vehicle users.
Gilles Ajavon, CEO
ICT, Togo/Senegal
Mustain Mahrus & Harry Sunarsa, Co-founders
ICT, Indonesia
Mallna
Etkallm
http://mallna.com http://www.youtube.com/embed/hmlDa-eltAQ
http://www.etkallm.com/ http://www.youtube.com/embed/PdCN-AoqVR8
Abedul-Azez has been the CEO of Mallna since late 2011, before which he worked as a field engineer for
Jordan Technology Access. He is a graduate of Al-Balqa Applied University with a bachelors degree in
mechatronics engineering; He has also earned his MBA degree at the German Jordan University.
Ahmed helped found Etkallm in April 2012 and works as their project director, product developer, and web
developer. He also works as an application factory developer for Microsoft in Egypt where he develops
and publishes Windows phone 7 and Windows 8 applications and represents them in start-up events.
Ahmed is a recent graduate of Cairo University with double majors in Communications and Computer
Engineering.
Abedul-Azez Kasaji, CEO
ICT, Jordan
Mallna is a social shopping app on Facebook that helps users save and discover products they like from
all over the web. With a special +POST button, users can save their favorite products from nearly every
online store in one convenient place. Users personal Mallna profile becomes a wish list of items they can
share with others. Moreover by visiting the Mallna profiles, users will discover relevant products from
people they trust.
Ahmed Saber, Co-founder
Etkallm provides a convenient micro-blogging environment for users to generate and share news. These
news items are gathered and organized with a high degree of categorization and customization.
ICT, Egypt
ma2too3a!
Centsless
Abdullah Bakhach, Director of Business Development
Jolene Sim, Marketing Director, & Joshua Ooi, Business Development Director
http://ma2too3a.com/ http://www.youtube.com/embed/uCjd0eHhJYo
http://www.gocentsless.com http://player.vimeo.com/video/52473354
ICT, Malaysia
10
Jolene and Joshua met in the Maybank MoneyTree Young Entrepreneur Startup (YES) Challenge. Jolene
co-founded a social media network called Mainstream Online Buzz (MOB) which became Centsless.
Joshua used to work in the strategy department of one of Malaysias largest conglomerates but through
the YES Challenge discovered his love for entrepreneurship. He brings a wealth of experience in building
strategic partnerships and developing businesses to Centsless.
Abdullah is passionate about everything technology, especially when it comes to how it impacts human
behavior. He co-founded a start-up before graduating from University, FOSS Factory, earning him the
IMPACT 2006 Innovator of the Year award. He went on to work with other companies, eventually joining
Larochesoft, which created the Ma2too3a! app. Ahmad is also a computer engineer with his degree from
the American University of Beirut. They believe technology is the most important tool to create long term
social and political impact.
The Centsless helps businesses grow by creating opportunities to acquire new customers and nurture
loyalty among customers both online & offline. For shoppers, Centsless strives to make the shopping
experience more fun and rewarding by allowing users to easily earn points, and redeem for attractive
rewards by simply providing their mobile number.
ma2too3a! is a crowd-sourced mobile application that offers real-time location-based news and traffic
updates for Lebanon. Once a user posts news, it gets filtered, and then shared with all users, after
automatically adding the post time and location of the user using the devices GPS capability.
ICT, Lebanon
11
E-Cash To Cash
8villages
http://www.e-cashtocash.com http://www.youtube.com/embed/8EfUKM1SSdQ
http://www.8villages.com http://www.youtube.com/embed/gANx5AIwTv4
Naama is an engineer in electronic banking and security systems, and he is currently pursuing his MBA and
Masters in Applied Mathematics in France. Naama is also employed by France Telecom R&D as a research
engineer designing and developing a mobile ticketing solution.
Sanny Gaddafi is an experienced developer and serial entrepreneur specialized in niche social networks.
He is very active in the Indonesian start-up community as an initiator of #StartupLokal and as a director of
the Founder Institute. He holds an undergraduate diploma in Informatics and Statistics and a postgraduate
diploma in Finance and Investment from the Universitas Bina Nusantara, Indonesia.
Naama Bak, Co-founder
Sanny Gaddafi, CTO
E-CashToCash is a mobile money transfer service for individuals. Simple, secure, and efficient, it allows
users to send money anywhere and at any time with just a phone and a National Identity Electronics Card
(NIEC). The service works in partnership with banks and retailers to provide easy access to funds without
any need to leave home or visit an ATM.
ICT, Morocco
Agriculture, Indonesia
Croakun
KolshiMedia
Kai Feng Chew, Founder
Lana Haddad and Montaser Al-Majali, Co-founders, KolshiMedia
http://www.croakun.com http://player.vimeo.com/video/52263934
http://www.kolshimedia.com http://www.youtube.com/embed/vOKgoA8U31M
Kai Feng is CEO of Croakun.com; prior to that he created Actuary.my and the Web-based Actuarial Mock
Exam System (WAMES) which helped more than 1,000 aspiring actuaries pass their professional exams.
He has won national and international ICT recognition and raised a half a million dollars in seed funding
in the Make the Pitch Season 2 Reality Show by MyEG. Kai Feng holds a Bachelors degree in Actuarial
Science from National University of Malaysia.
ICT, Malaysia
Croakun offers social media monitoring and analysis services for the Asian market. With unique tools in
the field of sentiment analysis and structured analysis of texts, it helps marketing professionals, business
leaders and advertising agencies monitor their brand reputation across social networks and blogs and
automatically track mentions. Croakuns technology covers multilingual content from the region.
Lana and Montaser are partners in KolshiMedia, with Lana working as General and Human Resources
manager, and Montaser serving as Marketing, Sales & Public Relations Manager. They both have relevant
experience in the entertainment industry.
ICT, Jordan
KolshiMedia is a unique portal for entertainment stars as well as those talents still on the rise, connecting
them to their admirers and leveraging their fan bases. KolshiMedia provides these entertainers with
a platform to promote themselves, achieve fame, and find the right connections for employment and
internships, so that they may progress in their chosen profession. The idea arose from an awareness of
rising unemployment in the MENA region, particularly in the entertainment sector, and a need to foster
growth in the industry.
Motion Capture Systems
Niokobok
http://www.snapperstech.com http://www.youtube.com/embed/xgesgbupgWk
http://www.niokobok.com http://player.vimeo.com/video/52482857
Khaled is a computer engineer with a strong background in the IT, animation, and motion capture
industries. Earlier in his career Khaled was a Teaching Assistant in the MET department at the GUC,
specializing in microprocessors and robotics. Later on, he joined the IT industry in one of the biggest
multinational telecommunication enterprises which helped shape his business processes & support
experience.
Prior to launching Niokobok, Laurent worked in start-ups or small divisions of large corporations, in
mature as well as emerging markets, and was a consultant with Bain & Company. He received the third
prize of the Orange African Social Venture Prize for Niokobok in November 2012. Laurent is an alumnus
of the London School of Economics and a graduate from the Institut dEtudes Politiques de Paris and from
HEC.
Motion Capture Systems aims to provide high quality and cost effective motion capture solutions for
character animation, allowing 3D artists to focus on their ideas and output rather than the complex
technicalities faced in producing character animations.
Niokobok is an online retail store that allows the estimated 650,000 Senegalese living abroad to shop for
their families back home, saving 5 to 10% on money transfers and allowing for better family budgeting.
Khaled Wagdy, Co-founder
ICT, Egypt
12
8villages is a mobile social network for farmers in emerging countries, allowing them form locationbased communities (villages) and connect through SMS and a mobile website. This is a highly scalable
platform for farmers to generate microblog posts, share brand comparisons, give feedback on products and
farming techniques, and attend trainings provided by experts. For agri-businesses, 8villages offers a data
aggregation tool to provide market intelligence on consumption behaviors, yields, and acreages.
Laurent Liautaud, Founder
ICT, Senegal
13
Mawdoo3.com
Kimola Enterprise Solutions
http://mawdoo3.com/ http://www.youtube.com/embed/JdkyvRLwe5Q
http://444.kimola.com/ http://player.vimeo.com/video/49742051
Mohammed is a serial entrepreneur interested in social entrepreneurship and volunteering; besides

Mawdoo3 he also founded Jordan Volunteers and Takaful. He studied medicine and surgery at the
Hashemite University, Jordan. Rami has founded a number of initiatives including Mawdoo3.com; he is also
on the board of the Holy Land ceramic & glass factory, vice chairman of the Jordanian Egyptian Company ,
and founder of Holy Land Gifts Centre, a series of large shopping malls for tourists to Jordan . Rami studied
economics at the University of Sussex, UK.
Mustafa now leads the core technology development of Kimolas cloud services and is responsible for the
companys future plans and strategies. Previously he studied mechanical engineering at university and
worked as a software developer and software trainer for 4 years.
Mustafa Savas, Founder
Mohammed Jaber Altawafsheh and Rami Abu Omar, Co-founders
ICT, Jordan
Mawdoo3.com is a new platform that aims to enrich the internet with unique and high quality Arabic
media content. Its core advantage is a unique keyword-analysis algorithm that allows the team to analyze
online Arabic search queries, filter them, and extract from them the top topics that attract the Arabicspeaking audience.
Kimola provides enterprise search solutions that support text enrichment and text summarization and
offers middleware search products, cloud search services and consultation. The technology analyses large
sets of text content and identifies contextually important key phrases that have a high probability of being
searched by users, automatically creating hyperlinks in the documents.
ICT, Turkey
25trends
Tiket.com
Karim Ouda, Founder

http://25trends.me http://www.youtube.com/embed/duD_IqdGaLM
Natali Ardianto, Co-founder & Network Relationship Developer
Karim is an entrepreneur and software engineer at heart with 8 years of experience in IT. After spending
a portion of his life at IBM he decided to quit and start his long journey of innovation, research,
improvement, challenge and bringing more value to the world.
http://www.tiket.com http://www.youtube.com/embed/ZX9DdULW4SM
Natali is a technologist and one of the founders of the biggest startup community in Indonesia,
#StartupLokal. With 16 years of programming skill, he is often asked to co-found and become CTO of
new startups, some of which have received investments from Singapore, Japan and Indonesia. He is also a
member of the board at Project Eden, a startup accelerator. Nuniek has been recognized as a connector in
Indonesia digital industry by InfoKomputer 2011 and she is also one of the founders of #Startuplokal.
Tiket.com is an online travel & entertainment gateway based in Indonesia where you can buy flight, train,
hotel, concert events and movie tickets all in one convenient place
25trends is an Arabic Social Media Analytics service, which handles and understands Arabic conversations,
it can be considered a 24x7 market research, 25trends continuously analyzes data on social media
channels (Facebook and Twitter) and provides users sentiment, competition analyses, statistics, charts,
and insights about a business brand, product or services.
ICT, Egypt
ICT, Indonesia
Kactus
Bassam Seif and Nadi Chemali, Co-founders
COREvidence by NETpeas
http://www.kactusapp.com http://player.vimeo.com/video/52489057
Rachid Harrando, Co-founder and CEO
Bassam obtained his B.E. in Computer and Communications Engineering from the Lebanese American
University in 2011, where he distinguished himself through projects using artificial intelligence and facial
recognition. Nadi earned his B.E in Computer Engineering from the American University of Beirut, and
after that he decided to become an inventor. With one of his creations, the Movement Controlled Smart
Music Composer, he reached the semi-finals of the Stars of Science tech competition in Qatar. At Kactus,
Bassam is the absolute technical reference and Nadi is responsible for all the operations.
http://www.netpeas.com http://www.youtube.com/embed/5v95JErcw58
Rachid is the CEO of NETpeas where he is really enjoying the opportunity to start from scratch and raise
money from VCs, build a team, develop a solution and promote it worldwide. Before that he worked at
Texas Instruments for 12 years in R&D and customer support for their electronics & telecommunication
business.
COREvidence by NETpeas is a fully-automated and comprehensive evaluation of all registered
vulnerabilities to an IT ecosystem. Its threat analysis offers customers who need the highest level of
security an efficient and accurate assessment tool that can be run as frequently as is required without the
high costs and potential mistakes of human auditors.
ICT, Lebanon
Kactus reinvents the to-do list for the 21st century by making it interactive and social. As a communitygenerated collection of to-do lists, Kactus aggregates and organizes the steps needed to complete any
procedure in the simplest and most reliable way available.
ICT, Morocco
14
15
Woutique
Assly Original,
http://www.woutique.com http://www.youtube.com/embed/i_9TiyACkQM
http://www.youtube.com/embed/kI248eG3lkM
Alp Sayn, Co-founder
Tamer Ahmed, Founder, Assly

Tamer has a passion for entrepreneurship and technology with a focus on socio-economic aspects with
over 17 years of experience in the ICT field, including work for many R&D organizations, both local and
multinational organizations, and with several startups he founded in Egypt. Tamer has a track record of
successful projects related to telecommunication accessibility in rural areas and emerging countries.
Woutique is a social sharing platform focusing on fashion gamification. Users share their items and gain
points to compete with others and level up as they share more and hang out more around Woutique.
Progress in Woutique is measured in Style Points and users gain levels after acquiring a certain amount
of style points which are acquired by adding and tagging new clothes and accessories, commenting on the
style of others, and following more friends and connecting over Facebook.
ICT, Turkey
Assly Original, is a mobile service with SMS based authentication to enable the end customer at any
store to confirm that goods are original, authentic and have a valid expiration date. This solves a problem
with counterfeit products that circulate in many parts of the world.
ICT, Egypt
Mubstar
Anteeca Company
http://mubstar.com http://www.youtube.com/embed/Hue0VoQAvRw
http://www.anteeca.com http://player.vimeo.com/video/52410260
Ahmad is a student working towards his Bachelors degree in computer science from the Jordan University
of Science and Technology (JUST). Since 2010 he has been researching new methods of indexing and
information management, particularly how to extract information media such as Flash, PDF, and images.
He developed a system to pipe information to search engines and expects to launch Mubstar as a complete
search engine in 2014 as his final project at university.
Alaa has over 10 years of experience in international marketing for small to medium sized enterprises
(SMEs) in Jordan. He holds an MBA from Brighton University in the UK with a concentration in
International Marketing.
Ahmad Al-Mubiden, CEO
Alaa Qattan, Founder
Anteeca.com is a bilingual (Arabic/English) e-commerce website specialized in selling quality traditional

Arabic handicrafts and offers extensive collections of handmade jewelry, apparel and home dcor from
Arab artisans.
Mubstar is a search engine company working on developing algorithms to enhance the quality of results
and to provide a better user experience by returning direct answers to queries.
ICT, Jordan
ICT, Jordan
DS Omni
Nanocides
Zeeshan Ahmad, Co-founder
Saman Khan, Founder and CEO & Syed Irteza Ubaid
https://www.dsomni.com
http://autosanitation.blogspot.com/ http://player.vimeo.com/video/50004955
Health, Pakistan
16
Nanocides is a custom self-sanitizing surface which reduces the spread of infectious diseases by
decontaminating the surrounding environment. Self-sanitizing surfaces technology uses normal daylight
to eliminate nearly all microorganisms on medical devices and high-touch, near-patient surfaces.
Zeeshan is a young student at the National University of Computer and Emerging Science-FAST in Lahore,
Pakistan where he is studying for his Bachelors degree in Computer System Engineering.
Saman is a postgraduate student at Institute of Environmental Science and Engineering, NUST continuing
six years of collegiate study in the same subject. Simultaneously she is interning for NEMS (Nouveau
Energy Management Services) on different projects in Pakistan with a special focus on oil and gas farm-in
opportunities and gas flaring projects. Syed is a leader in the ecosystem of entrepreneurship, and he has
helped organize efforts for the Pakistanis Prime Ministerss Entrepreneurship Challenges, TEDx and
StatrtupWeekend. Syed is also Vice President of Business Development for Coeusol Inc.
DS Omni is an online shopping venture initially showcasing products related to apparel and gradually
expanding to include all other products. DS Omni will provide at least four different payment options to
facilitate customers from all walks of life.
ICT, Pakistan
17


GIST Transformers Generation I Bios
GIST Transformers Generation I Bios
Perihan Abou-Zeid, Communications Director of Qabila Media Productions
Ali Raza Randhawa, Founder & CEO of PAK-Energy Solutions
Thanks to her twin brother and a long tradition of family involvement in politics, Perihan became
interested in public affairs from a young age, but she did not realize how important it was to have a
voice until she studied abroad in Canada. She returned to Egypt with a sense of civic duty to offer an
alternative to the official government-controlled media message, founding Qabila in 2010 with 14 of her
acquaintances as a collective effort to challenge the system. Seizing the momentum of the January 25
revolution, the organization has flourished as a major source of TV programming to educate the Egyptian
public about political issues and processes, which has in turn galvanized Perihan with the realization that
she not only can, but is, in fact, changing the world.
Ali was in the first class at his university that had the opportunity to study entrepreneurship, which he
embraced wholeheartedly in his efforts to alleviate need and improve quality of life in rural Pakistan.
Despite tremendous skepticism and incredulity from outsiders, Ali channeled his deep faith, his familys
encouragement, and his sheer stubbornness into a successful environmental ventureturning agricultural
waste into domestically consumable fuel.
Qabila Media Productions is a media content creator. It uses crowd sourcing and digital media to provide
clients with cost-effective content in order to reach their target audience in the most effective way.
Ms. Abou-Zeid serves as Co-Founder and Communications Director. She also works with Google as an
Account Strategist where she builds and optimizes online advertising strategies for clients. Perihan holds
a Bachelor of Business Administration from the American University in Cairo.
Hind Hobeika, Founder, CEO and Lead Engineer of Butterfleye

Since she was a child, Hind has always been an active athlete, and she has also always been curious
about her own physical health and wellnessgoing so far as to keep track of her personal fitness data
in a spreadsheet. As a collegiate swimmer, she realized how difficult it could be to accurately determine
ones heart-rate while in the water, so she entered a pan-Arab scientific invention contest. She ended up
coming in 3rd place on a regionally televised contest, turning her heart-rate monitoring goggles from just
an idea to an actual prototype. Hind started her company in Beirut to prove that scientific development
and tech entrepreneurship are not antithetical to the Middle East, and hopes her company will go on
to manufacture other types of health monitoring as well. With Butterfleye, Hind has had the enviable
opportunity to turn her hobby of tracking personal physical fitness into her professional career!
Butterfleye is a heart rate monitor which can be mounted on any type of swimming goggles to seamlessly
measure a swimmers heart rate and give real-time visual feedback. Ms. Hobeika graduated from the
American University of Beirut with a degree in Mechanical Engineering and founded the Quantified Self
Beirut chapter.
Rumaisa Mohani, Founder, E-Aid

Rumaisa has been a Business & Accounting teacher for the IGCSE and GCEs for the last 15 years in the
UAE; she has been dedicated to teaching since she was a young girl helping her mom at her small private
school in Karachi. She is a graduate in Commerce from Karachi University and completed her MBA in 2007
at Preston University, Islamabad. As the granddaughter of Hasrat Mohani, Rumaisa is a trustee of Hasrat
Mohani Library and Hall in Karachi which provides free reading services to students and scholars.
E-Aid is a private educational service, based in Karachi, Pakistan, providing online face-to-face tutoring
lessons, mainly focused on exam preparation, for a wide variety of subjects to high school and college
students from all over the world, with the convenience of flexible timing and space.
18
PAK-Energy Solution is a portable and affordable natural gas digester for domestic use. It generates
clean gas for cooking, heating, lighting and generates fertilizer as a by-product. Mr. Raza is the Founder
& CEO and has an electrical engineer from University of Engineering & Technology, Lahore, Pakistan. He
is highly interested in renewable energy and social entrepreneurship. He has also worked with Chemical
Engineering Department at the University of Engineering & Technology Lahore for evaluating feasibility of
biogas industrial units in Pakistan.
Muhammad Saimum Hossain, Managing Director, Greenovation Technologies

Saimum is studying Finance and Investment Management at University of Dhaka with the goal of
obtaining the necessary expertise to formulate corporate level business policy and analyze investment
opportunities for his company Greenovation Technologies. Raised in different areas of his home country
Bangladesh, he came understand differences in peoples cultures, habits, and socio-economic situations at
a very early age; his international travels to the U.S., Qatar, UAE, India, and Malaysia have helped sharpen
his leadership, communication, and interpersonal skills.
Greennovation Technologies is a company based in Bangladesh that uses an innovative process to
transform the natural jute fiber and polymer resin into sophisticated corrugated sheets that produce an
affordable and sustainable housing material called Jutin.
Ziad Sankari, CEO of CardioDiagnostics

After his father died suddenly from a heart attack when he was only 17, Ziad was determined to
develop the technological capability to detect potential health problems before they happen-sparing
other families from similar tragedy. A true entrepreneurial spirit, he started a biotech firm right out of
college, and sold it after only a few years to pursue his dream of building a heart monitor in his home
country of Lebanon. Cardio Diagnostics is a health device that monitors patients heart rate 24/7, with
the purpose of detecting irregularities that can be life-saving in the event of a heart attack or other
cardio abnormalities. After Mr. Sankari completed his bachelor of engineering in Computer Engineering
with high distinction, he received a Fulbright Scholarship to study at the Ohio State University in the
U.S. where he earned two masters degrees and gained experience with health technology.
19


Speakers, Mentors & Judges

Khalid Al-Khudair, Chief Operating Officer, Markets, KPMG in Saudi, Kuwait &
Jordan
At KPMG Khalid has developed the marketing, communication, and PR departments, as well as working
with CSR, event management, and branding. He previously worked at Deutsche Gulf Finance to establish
their presence in the Saudi market. Khalid has also founded Glowork.net, a womens empowerment
initiative and was a Young Global Shaper for Saudi Arabia at the World Economic Forum. Khalid writes for
national and regional publications and authored the book Communicating Effectively in the Work Place.
He has received numerous awards in recognition of his efforts and he also sits on several advisory boards
around the world.

Muhammad R. Arrabi, Chief of Staff and Senior Investment Associate, N2V
Muhammad is Chief of Staff and Senior Investment Associate at N2V, an Internet Holding Group with
offices in the Middle East and the U.S. Prior to that, Muhammad worked 6 years at Microsoft - both as
Program Manager in the U.S. and Technology Evangelist in Jordan. Muhammad worked with startups
in the Silicon Valley in California for 5 years as Senior Developer - focusing on Electronic Design
Automation and Online Marketing fields.
Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi, Columnist, The National (UAE)
Jason Best, Co-founder and Principal, Crowdfund Capital Advisors
Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi is a UAE based journalist whose columns have appeared in publications in the
Gulf and around the world including The Gulf News, The National, The Financial Times, The Guardian,
The Huffington Post, The New York Times, Foreign Policy, Open Democracy, The Globe and Mail amongst
others. Sultan Al Qassemi is also non-resident Fellow at the Dubai School of Government, and an active
presence on Twitter at @SultanAlQassemi.
Jason is very active in US crowdfunding initiatives; he helped lead the U.S. fight to legalize equity-based
crowdfunding, speaks globally on early stage finance and crowdfund investing, and authored Crowdfund
Investing for Dummies. Within CCA, Jason works with clients from governments and NGOs to angel
groups and PE/VC investment firms. He co-founded the Crowdfunding Professional Association and
CrowdFunding Intermediary Regulatory Advocates, as well as the UC Berkeley Program for Innovation in
Entrepreneurial and Social Finance and also serves as an Entrepreneur in Residence at the UC Berkeley
Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology.
Walid Aradi, CEO, Tahseen Consulting
Adam Chilcote, Vice President of Strategy and Business Development, Mobile

Doctors
Walid co-founded Tahseen Consulting, a research-driven consulting company in the Arab World that
focuses on providing clients in the public, private and social sectors with strategic advisory on issues
related to entrepreneurship, education and labor force development. Previously he was an economic
and social policy advisor to the UAE Ministry of Cabinet Affairs and Director of the strategy and legal
functions of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation. Walid helped create several online
Arabic content platforms including an Arabic library and a pan-Arab hub for researchers and he also
devised the development strategy for the Arab Incubator Network.
20
Adam brings over fifteen years of experience cultivating business opportunities by aligning business
needs with leading technology, workflow and financial solutions. His background includes creation of
business development and delivery programs, along with setting sales, delivery and post-implementation
standards. Adam specializes in creating value by connecting stakeholders in new ways. His award
winning model of ecosystem selling, built on solving tangible business and financial issues across
multiple market segments simultaneously, enables any organization Adam serves to accelerate growth
and market penetration.
21


Rony El-Nashar, Founder & Managing Partner, SeedStartup
Yousef Hamza, Associate, Envestors MENA
Rony is the Founder & Managing Partner of SeedStartup, an international startup accelerator and seedstage venture capital fund that invests in web and mobile startups. Prior to launching SeedStartup, he
headed the direct investments function at Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development where he provided
funding for over 300 early-stage startups with a total portfolio value of over USD 117m. Rony has also
launched a U.S. based internet startup which was acquired in 2007, after 5 years of growth and worked
with Citrix Systems and later Shomiti Systems, a VC funded tech startup based in Silicon Valley.
Yousef is currently with Envestors, one of the few Business Angel Networks in the Middle East and part of
a larger UK network. He has screened over 1,500 SMEs and has advised dozens of high-impact companies
as a result. He is a member of several mentor networks and company boards, and a frequently requested
speaker on entrepreneurship. He has also built strategic relationships with investors, organizing several
fundraising events for entrepreneurs.
Prashant K. (PK) Gulati, Founder, The Smart Start Fund; Trustee, The Indus
Entrepreneurs Global (TiE)
Kamal Hassan, President and Chief Excitement Officer, Innovation 360
PK is a serial entrepreneur, angel investor, mentor, idea accelerator, and writer with interests in
innovation, startups, entrepreneurship, technology, mobility, wireless, intelligent buildings, online media
and more. He considers himself an international citizen, living in Dubai and traveling often to India, the
Middle East, the US, and other countries. PK has served in numerous leadership capacities including as
CEO of Optimistix Ventures, Dubai, Chairman of GulfCom Group, UAE-India, Chairman of ProKraft Group,
India, and Board Member of Fame Eduserve Pvt. Ltd.
Scott Gillespie, Commercialization Partner, Technology to VC (T2VC)

Scott is currently the Founder and Managing Partner of the Jigsaw Group, an early stage investment and
advisory group as well as the Commercialization Partner for T2VC, a team that manages a technology
venture fund and architects innovation ecosystems in emerging markets. Scott shares his insights and
experiences at conferences, seminars, networking events, angel groups, universities and non-profits where
he lectures on innovation & entrepreneurship, strategic marketing and management, risk management
and environment management. Scott also supports Yacht Aid Global (YAG), a nonprofit that transports
education and medical supplies to regions struck by disaster using mega yachts.
22
Kamal is a serial entrepreneur and a 20-year veteran of the business world with expertise in corporate
strategy, innovation management, performance excellence and business development and growth.
Kamal leverages his real-world experience to advise Innovation 360s enterprise-level and government
clients on business and innovation transformation, innovation strategy to execution, and sustaining
innovation gains. He is also an active supporter of regional SMEs and startups, helping them become
more competitive using business model innovation, and contributing time and financial support to local
educational and entrepreneurship programs.
B. Berrak Kutsoy, Advisor to the Chairman, Pegasus Airlines; Young Entrepreneurs

Board Coordinator, TOBB (Union of Chambers and the Commodity Exchanges of
Turkey)
Berrak started her career as Foreign Operations Assistant in 1999 at BNP-AK-Dresdner Bank of Turkey.
After earning her MBA in London, she returned to Turkey in late 2002 and served in a number of positions
including project manager at Denizbank A.S., export manager at UNSA Packaging, and export manager at
Mitterteich Porcelain. Since May 2009 she has been advisor to the chairman of Pegasus Airlines as well
as Young Entrepreneurs Board Coordinator of TOBB, a large Turkish NGO with 6,500 members from 81
provinces.
23



Evangelos Lianos, Vice President of Operations, Etisalat Telecom Group UAE
Evangelos has partnered with numerous companies throughout the years, advising them on investment
opportunities. He has extensive executive-level experience working for companies in the TMT/ICT,
Energy, Pharma, and Commodities sectors and serves on several advisory groups and boards. His passion
is to support and mentor entrepreneurs, starts-ups and companies in growth-mode with special interest
in new and very advanced technologies (internet and applications), in economics of technologies in
different areas/sectors, also in advanced fossil & alternative energy ecosystem, water/food & basic
resources production.
Dr. Jonathan Margolis, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Science, Space
and Health in the Department of States Bureau of Oceans and International
Environmental and Scientific Affairs
Dr. Margolis currently oversees policies and programs in the areas of international science &
technology cooperation, space & advanced technologies, and international health and biodefense at
the Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs (OES), the latest position
of his distinguished career within the State Department working in a number of divisions including:
the Bureau of International Information Programs, the Office of the Director of Foreign Assistance,
and the Office of Science and Technology Cooperation. He has also conducted courses at American
University and the Foreign Service Institute on environmental policy, negotiations, and international
organizations.
24

Eswar Mani, Investment Manager, Masdar Capital
Eswar has been a part of the finance industry for over ten years with a specialization in M&A, corporate
finance, equity-linked structuring and private equity with deal experience in Europe, Middle East and Asia.
He is currently an Investment Manager in Masdar Capital tasked with analyzing investment opportunities
globally in a wide variety of industries related to clean technologies, in addition to raising funds from
Japanese investors. Previously, Eswar consulted for the World Health Organization and was
a Senior Associate in the equity-linked origination team at Credit Suisse.
Klaus Miserra, Managing Director, KM Transformations

Klaus has over 25 years of experience in Consulting, Leadership, Coaching and Training throughout
Europe, US, Far East, Africa and in the GCC region with a vast range of clients in every business sector.
His industry experience includes IT, Airlines and Financial Services. Using experiences gained as an IBM
Business Transformation Consultant, as Sales and Business Development Manager in the IT Industry and
as Executive in the Financial Service industry, Klaus brings a depth of knowledge and experience when
working with teams to align business strategy with business performance.
Christos Mastoras - Director of Business Development, Yahoo! Middle East
Dr. Christiane Schloderer, Co-Founder, MindTalk
Christos is the Director of Business Development at Yahoo! Maktoob, where he leads strategic
partnerships, M&A and corporate ventures for the company across the MENA region. Prior to joining
Yahoo!, Christos was an Engagement Manager in the Communications, Media & Technology practice of
Booz & Company in Dubai. Previously, he held operating and managerial roles in high-tech ventures in
the US and Europe, as the Commercial Director of Upstream and govWorks. Christos is very active in
developing the digital media ecosystem in the region and is the co-founder of Mobile Mondays Dubai.
Christiane has ten years of experience in multinational corporations, in Europe and in the Middle
East. She was a member of a Middle East leadership team, worked in corporate finance, and as a
turnaround manager to bring projects back to profitability. Christiane mentors, coaches and advises
small businesses and start-up companies during the formation and growth phase. Christiane is also
a co-founder of MindTalk (www.mindtalk.ae), an Emirati led initiative to provide virtual events and
conferencing solutions for Emirati and later MENA women.
25


26
Christopher M. Schroeder, Advisor & Angel Investor, Polaris Venture Partners
Jim Bagnola, President, The Leadership Group USA
Christopher is an internet entrepreneur and early stage investor. He co-founded and served as CEO
of HealthCentral, a leading health and wellness interactive platform; previously he was the CEO of
washingtonpost.newsweek interactive. Christopher supports start-ups in the U.S. and emerging markets,
particularly in the Middle East, advising and investing in numerous ventures and sitting on the boards of
the American University of Cairo School of Business, the Jordanian incubator Oasis500, and Middle East
online entrepreneur network Wamda. His book on Arab start-ups titled, Upstarts: The Entrepreneurial
Revolution Thats Remaking the Middle East, due out September 2013.
Jim Bagnola is an international speaker, an executive coach and a corporate educator with expertise in
the fields of leadership and body-mind management, focusing on how thinking patterns affect health,
happiness, success, and the capacity to lead; his personal mission has been the coaching of young
entrepreneurs and students on six continents for the past 20 years as chair of the board of Leaders
Romania and traveling globally with AIESEC, the largest student organization in the world. Bagnola
practiced numerous professions before becoming a Certified Speaking Professional in 2002.
Faysal Sohail, Venture Capitalist, CMEA Capital
Cathleen Campbell, President & CEO, CRDF Global
Faysal Sohail has over a decade of senior executive experience in engineering, marketing, business
development and building startups, helping to secure venture capital funding for several key startups
in both the energy and technology sectors. Before joining CMEA, Mr. Sohail helped to build three
companies all of which became successful through IPO, merger or acquisition. Sohail is a member on
the board of American Pakistan Foundation, an organization that engages the diaspora and the private
sector and by building partnerships with key stakeholders in the U.S. and Pakistan.
Cathy Campbell joined CRDF Global in 2002 as vice president for programs, and has served as president
since 2006, bringing three decades of international science and technology policy and program
management experience including work and travel in Eurasia, the Middle East, East Asia and Latin
America. Prior to CRDF, Campbell held a number of distinguished positions at the Department of
Commerce, the U.S.-Israel Science and Technology Commission, the White House Office of Science and
Technology Policy (OSTP), and the US State Department. Campbell is a member of a number of advisory
groups and boards associated with international science and technology collaboration.
Novel Tjahyadi - Managing Partner, Gulfware
Scott Gillespie, Commercialization Partner, Technology to VC (T2VC)
Novel considers himself a global citizen thanks to his 15+ years of multi-disciplinary management
experiences in Oil & Gas and IT, having lived and worked in 7. A certified project manager, Novel is
experienced in technology system development and corporate strategy execution. He is currently
the Managing Partner of Gulfware, an IT venture based in Dubai which offers home-grown solutions
including G*Trust, a hardware-based SMS Encryption solution, and Textello.com, an Audience Response
System via SMS and Twitter. He is part of The Mentors Inc., an accelerator program for startups.
Scott is currently the Founder and Managing Partner of the Jigsaw Group, an early stage investment and
advisory group as well as the Commercialization Partner for T2VC, a team that manages a technology
venture fund and architects innovation ecosystems in emerging markets. Scott shares his insights
and experiences at conferences, seminars, networking events, angel groups, universities and nonprofits where he lectures on innovation & entrepreneurship, strategic marketing and management, risk
management and environment management. Scott also supports Yacht Aid Global (YAG), a nonprofit that
transports education and medical supplies to regions struck by disaster using mega yachts.
27


Steve Koskie, Managing Partner, LM250 Digital

Steve Koskie has been a serial entrepreneur and senior executive for the past 20 years, having founded,
grown, and achieved meaningful exits for technology companies throughout United States, Canada,
Europe and Asia, most recently Dipdive with the Black Eyed Peas band and prior to that iLoop Mobile and
OceanLake Commerce. He is a sought after speaker around the world for his expertise in the mobile and
entertainment industries, and he has raised over $150 million for start-up firms through his connections
with leading venture capitalists.
28
29


GIST Advisory Group Members

Rashid Al Ballaa, CEO, National Net Ventures (N2V)
Rashid Al Ballaa is the founder of National Net Ventures (N2V), one of the largest internet holding companies in the MENA region
which invests capital in web ventures and offers essential infrastructure services to help accelerate their growth; he is also a board
member of National Technology Group (NTG), the regions largest ICT conglomerate and key provider of Financial Technology and
Services. Before N2V, Al Ballaa spearheaded regional business development efforts of Mubasher, the first e-trading solution in the
MENA region and founded Direct Broker for Financial Services (DBFS), the UAEs first STP e-brokerage company.
CRDF Global GIST Team

Natalia Pipia, Associate Program Director, Innovation & Entrepreneurship, CRDF Global
Natalia Pipia develops and oversees all Innovation Programs at CRDF Global, and she is responsible for developing outreach
strategies to external partners and funders. She manages programs that promote strategic partnerships between technology
entrepreneurs and businesses, build innovation ecosystems in countries where programs are being implemented, and facilitate U.S.
market access. Pipia has 10 years of experience working in economic development and executed various initiatives in coordination
with numerous associations, companies, technology transfer groups, governmental, and non-governmental organizations in Eurasia,
Middle East, Africa, Central and Southeast Asia.
www.linkedin.com/in/nataliapipia
H.R.H. Prince Saud Bin Khalid Al-Faisal, Deputy Governor for Investment Affairs
Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority HRH Prince Saud K Al-Faisal heads the Investment Affairs department, which is
responsible for managing the investment environment and competitiveness agenda of Saudi Arabia; he has been the President of the
National Competitiveness Center since 2010 and he is on the board of: Saudi Industrial Property Authority (MODON), King Faisal
Foundation, the Global Federation of Competitive Councils, and several other government commissions and regional investment
councils. Previously he worked as a financial analyst with Saudi Aramco in the treasury, internal auditing, new business development,
and related financial departments.
Dr. Pat Dinneen, Managing Director, Siguler Guff & Company

Dr. Pat Dinneen has focused on emerging markets for most of her 36-year career with responsibilities in due diligence, selection and
monitoring of funds and co-investments, performance benchmarking, research, and client advisory work. Before beginning her current
position at Siguler Guff & Company in 2004, managing their $2 billion BRIC private equity investments, she worked with Cambridge
Associates, British Telecommunications (BT), and Hughes Communication to expand their business ventures into emerging European
and Asian markets.
Jeff Hoffman, Co-Founder & Former CEO, Priceline.com, Founder, ColorJar & GIST Advisory Group Member
Jeff Hoffman is an accomplished entrepreneur and innovator in the fields of Internet, e-commerce, and entertainment; since launching
his first software company while still in university, Hoffman has founded, grown, and exited a series of successful startup companies
throughout his career, including Enable Holdings, Black Sky Entertainment, and Priceline. Hoffman dedicates significant time to
mentoring other entrepreneurs and is an accomplished professional and motivational speaker; he has presented in over 40 countries
worldwide and can be seen on Fox News, CNN, NBC, and other major media outlets.
Ali smail Sabanc, Chairman and Director, Pegasus Airlines

Ali . Sabanc has built his successful career in international finance, joining Esas Holding Corporation in 2004, the same year advancing
to his current position at Pegasus Airlines when it was purchased by Esas; he is also on the board of Esass partner companies Izair
Corporation and Air Berlin as well as being a member of TYD, TSIAD, ISO and TAIK. Since 2009, Sabanc has also been a director of
Air Berlin PLC & Co. Luftverkehrs KG and Air Berlin Plc, and of AFM Uluslararasi Film Produksiyon A..
Ovidiu Bujorean, Manager, The GIST Initiative, Vice chairman MIT Enterprise Forum of Washington DC &
Baltimore
Ovidiu manages and directs the GIST Initiative, an exciting initiative that is a partnership led by the State Department and CRDF
Global that is building a unique entrepreneurial ecosystem in 44 countries across the Middle East, Central and South East Asia,
and Africa.Previously, Mr. Bujorean was the Senior Associate at Rudyard Partners, a private equity firm focused on investing in
consumer technologies. Mr. Bujorean serves as Chairman of the Board of Advisors of AIESEC DC. Mr. Bujorean founded LEADERS,
an organization that impacted the lives of approximately 10000 young leaders and entrepreneurs in Romania and Southern-Eastern
Europe and is a graduate of the MIT Sloan School of Management (MBA) and Harvards Kennedy School (MPA).
www.linkedin.com/in/bujorean
Yuritzi Acosta, Associate Program Manager, GIST Initiative

Since April 2011, Yuritzi Acosta has worked for the GIST initiative on projects that empower entrepreneurs to commercialize
their innovative ideas through the coordination of skill development activities and facilitation of access to relevant information.
She boasts significant experience in the fields of education and advocacy, having coordinated a number of programs funded by
NeighborWorks USA, USAID, the Florida Department of Education, and the Department of State and her personal experiences
living in countries across Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Europe give her a uniquely global vantage and adaptability.
www.linkedin.com/in/yuritziacosta
Fidan Karimova, Associate Program Manager, GIST Initiative

Fidan Karimova joined GIST in October 2012 with her focus on media messaging and communications, but she has been on staff
at CRDF Global for three years already, working on client relationship management, website development, and promotional
materials. Fidan has traveled extensively including time spent living abroad in China, Italy, and Spain and working for a summer at
the UN in Azerbaijan; she also brings her entrepreneurial spirit to GIST, having started her own painting business and dabbled in
environmental fashion design in college.
www.linkedin.com/pub/fidan-karimova/27/7a6/648
Amanda Gant, Associate Program Manager, GIST Initiative

Dr. Roger Wyse, Managing Director & General Partner, Burrill & Company
Dr. Roger Wyse has led the development of agriculture, nutraceuticals, health & wellness, and industrial biotechnology projects at
Burrill & Company, a leading life sciences company managing $1 billion in venture capital. Dr. Wyse chairs or serves on the boards of
11 private companies and has over 30 years of experience as an internationally recognized scientist and dean at two major research
universities; he speaks globally about biotechnology applications and policy in food, agricultural and bio-cleantech and the use of
venture capital as a component of an open innovation strategy for emerging economies.
30
Amanda Gant joined GIST in March 2012 where she works with international partners to organize startup boot camps and virtual
mentorship programs. Amanda has long had the entrepreneurship bug, selling bracelets on the beach of her hometown since middle
school, and it was this experience which inspired her to study international development, hoping to empower others to realize
their dreams by starting their own businesses. Amanda supports her local community by organizing the annual Glover Park Day
showcasing local area businesses and non-profits; she also leads service-oriented ecotourism trips to Nicaragua to promote travel
and cultural exchange.
www.linkedin.com/in/amandalynngant
31
US State Department GIST Team

Dr. Jeffrey Margolis, Foreign Affairs Officer, U.S. Department of State
Dr. Jeffrey Margolis, Science, Technology & Innovation Program Manager, U.S. Department of State In the Office of Science
and Technology Cooperation, Jeffrey Margolis serves at the U.S. Department of States lead for a number of technology
commercialization programs that promote economic development through innovation and entrepreneurship, including the GIST
Initiative. Dr. Margolis is an infectious disease specialist by training earning his Ph.D. from Stanford University, and has worked
at Baxter Healthcare, Pfizer, and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory before joining the Department of State in 2010. As
founding VP of Development, he also helped start CollegeSpring an education NGO that provides support for underserved
communities in California.
Kathryn Pharr, Foreign Affairs Officer, U.S. Department of State

Kathryn Pharr works at the U.S. Department of States Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs
(OES) in the Office of Science and Technology Cooperation where she supports programs that use science and technology to
develop solutions to global and local challenges, including the GIST initiative. Pharrs previous experience includes providing onthe-ground support to USAIDs international development efforts in Egypt, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Indonesia, and using
her chemistry background to help a startup sustainable natural care company obtain a worldwide exclusive patent from the U.S.
Department of Agriculture.
Dr. Anna Quider, Foreign Affairs Officer, U.S. Department of State

Dr. Anna Quider is currently working on the GIST Initiative in the Office of Science and Technology Cooperation through an AAAS
Fellowship; her interest in the intersection of science and business emerged while she was a 2011 APS/AAAS Congressional Fellow
in the Office of Rep. Russ Carnahan where she covered issues including education, science, telecommunications, and innovation.
She completed her Ph.D. in Astronomy at the University of Cambridge as a Marshall Scholar and a National Science Foundation
Graduate Research Fellow.
Cole Donovan, STEP, U.S. Department of State

Cole Donovan joined the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs in May
2012 working in the fields of global engagement and science policy while he pursues his masters degree at St. Johns College in
Annapolis. Donovan previously worked as a creative at Apple, as a press intern for Maryland Governor Martin OMalley and some of
his past projects include work on the communication satellite PCSAT-1 at the U.S. Naval Academy and social science research at the
University of Maryland.
32
Calendar of Events
EVENT
DATE
LOCATION
WEBSITE
January 15-16,
2012
Marrakesh, Morocco
http://bitly.com/PGPz2y
March 18-19, 2012
Abu Dhabi, UAE
http://bit.ly/RvoAnt
March 28-30,
2012
Istanbul, Turkey
http://bit.ly/Q6bOyO
GIST Startup Boot Camp Indonesia
April 17-19, 2012
Jakarta, Indonesia
http://bitly.com/Q6bNLt
GIST Startup Boot Camp Malaysia
April 23-25, 2012
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
http://bitly.com/IluZ1J
BPC Round III Award Ceremony
June 27-28, 2012
Dubai, UAE
http://bit.ly/M4NNoJ
GIST Startup Boot Camp Maghreb

BPC* Entrepreneurship Workshop in UAE
GIST Startup Boot Camp Turkey (jointly with MIT Global
Startup Workshop)
GIST Startup Boot Camp West Africa
July 10-11, 2012
Dakar, Senegal
http://bit.ly/LEC2Gl
GIST Startup Boot Camp Algeria
July 14-15, 2012
Algiers, Algeria
http://bitly.com/YmZtqa
GIST Tech Connect Pakistan
October 2, 2012
Washington, DC and 27
viewing sites around
Pakistan
http://bit.ly/RTKkNl
GIST Transformers Journey
November 4-18,
2012
Washington DC, Boston,

San Francisco
http://bitly.com/QU7m37
Global Entrepreneurship Summit, GIST Tech-I Award

Ceremony
December 11-13
2012
Dubai
2013
Washinton DC and viewing

sites throughout Middle East
GIST Tech Connect - Pan Arab (TBC)

Start of GIST Tech I Competition 2013 (TBC)
2013
Online
GIST Startup Boot Camp Tunisia (TBC)
2013
TBD
GIST Startup Boot Camp Jordan (TBC)
2013
Amman, Jordan
GIST Startup Boot Camp Three (TBC)
2013
TBD
GIST Startup Boot Camp Four (TBC)
2013
TBD
GIST Tech I 2013 Award Ceremony and Global

Entrepreneurship Summit (TBC)
2013
TBD
33
BUILDING ENTREPRENEURIAL ECOSYSTEMS

BUILDING
InnovationENTREPRENEURIAL
and EntrepreneurshipECOSYSTEMS
Programs
Innovation and Entrepreneurship Programs
Core Program Beliefs
Entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurs transform innovation
into enterprises that generate value and create jobs. Our

programs are designed with the individual in mind, as the
nucleus and sole purpose of our mission.
Strategic partnerships. We partner with like-minded local

and regional organizations and corporations to leverage our
resources and capabilities to build capacity for greater impact
and avoid redundancy.
Innovation Ecosystem Development
Startup Support
CRDF Global believes in the bottom-up approach in building

the local ecosystems and supports local entrepreneurship
initiatives by identifying leaders, existing programs and the
gaps in the system.
Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are the backbone of all

economies and the source of growth and dynamism. CRDF
Global offers a comprehensive suite of programs designed to
nurture these early-stage companies.
Assisting with the formation of new technology

commercialization offices and incubators
Identifying promising business opportunities, funders,

partners and resources
Strategic planning
Designing and executing acceleration programs
Management training and educational outreach
Comprehensive skill development training
Comprehensive programs designed to enhance

entrepreneurship culture
Access to sources of funding
Assisting with investment capital infrastructure

development
In the search for entrepreneurs with innovative technology

ideas that can address a problem affecting their country
or region, the Global Innovation through Science and
Technology (GIST) Initiative has implemented theGIST
GISTech-I
Tech-I
Competition, attracting close to 200 teams from the Middle
East, Africa, and Central and South East Asia. Among them
was CardioDiagnostics, a Lebanese startup founded by Ziad
Sankari. Ziad lost his father at the age of 17 to a heart attack,
which inspired him to create a medical device that monitors
cardiac patients outside the hospital around the clock. This
idea earned him a top prize of the competition awarded at
the Second Global Entrepreneurship Summit on December
3-5, 2011 in Istanbul, Turkey. CardioDiagnostics has been
given a strong start for a global success with $20,000 in seed
funding, hands-on training with serial entrepreneurs and
business mentors, global media exposure by MSNBC and
Wired Magazine, an upcoming trip to Silicon Valley and
participation in the MIT Global Startup Workshop.
CRDF Global promotes business growth by supporting

students, researchers and technology developers who believe
that their product or service is viable commercially. Programs
guide them through the process of commercialization by
honing their skills and helping them to grow and realize their
market potential.
Hands-on training in technology transfer and intellectual

property rights
Online technology commercialization courses
Technology valuation and market assessment
1530 Wilson Blvd, 3rd Fl | Arlington, VA 22209 | www.crdfglobal.org
Transforming Technology Transfer in Russia

CRDF Global has trained more than 300 technology transfer
managers and assisted eight leading research universities with
establishing technology transfer offices, which significantly
contributed to the establishment of the local innovation
ecosystem. The Programs include professional skills
development seminars, workshops, academia and industry
international conferences, and site visits to the United States
for technology transfer professionals. Similar activities have
strengthened the technology commercialization capabilities
of more than 20 research universities of the Russian
Federation.
Accessing U.S. Markets

Since 2005, CRDF Global has implemented more than 20
U.S. travel programs for close to 90 participants representing
dozens of universities, research institutes and technology
companies from Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan and
collaborated with such prominent U.S. organizations as MIT,
Babson College, Garage Technology Ventures, Plug & Play
Incubator, CleanTech Open and others. Based on the scalable
and highly customizable format of the Innovation U.S. travel
programs and existing cache of experience, best practices
and partners, CRDF Global is able to design and implement
results-oriented and cost-effective programs that perfectly
fit the objectives and needs of a diverse range of partner
organizations in emerging markets.
Building Institutional Capacity
Technology Acceleration
Identifying intellectual property with commercial

potential in universities and corporations
34
CRDF Globals Impact
Increasing Opportunities for Early-Stage

Entrepreneurs
CRDF Global is a private, nongovernmental organization

committed to promoting peace and prosperity through
science and technology. Its innovation and entrepreneurshipfocused programs develop technology commercialization
capabilities and sustaining networks abroad. Domestically,
CRDF Global helps to create more viable investment,
partnership and collaborative opportunities for American
businesses and scientists who gain access to top international
research and expertise.
Innovation. We believe strongly in the power of technology

and innovation as drivers for sustainable growth.
CRDF GLOBALS IMPACT
Ziad Sankari, CardioDiagnostics
Providing Access to Capital

The ecoFridge, a revolutionary refrigeration system used
to transport perishable products, was developed by a team
of Ukrainian scientists with a U.S. business partner who
participated in a CRDF Global research and development
grant competition. CRDF Global provided training and
mentorship to the team to prepare them to effectively pitch
the ecoFridge at a venture forum in Los Angeles, CA. As a
result, the team obtained $2.2 million of follow-on capital
investment to develop their business, and EcoFridge is
now being adopted by companies around the world who
appreciate its environmental benefits and cost efficiency.
Since 2005, CRDF Global has partnered with the Enterprise

Incubator Foundation (EIF), one of the most successful
IT-focused technology business incubators and consulting
companies in the Caucasus region, to implement its Science
and Technology Entrepreneurship Program (STEP). With
co-funding from the Ministry of Economy of the Republic
of Armenia, EIF implemented more than 15 STEP activities
including the Business Partnership Grant (BPG) program,
Innovation Forums, cluster seminars, business trainings for
scientific community, legal and accounting seminars and
matchmaking events. Through its partnership with CRDF
Global, EIF strengthened communication channels between
science and private sectors, gained broader access to the U.S.
business network and scaled up its outreach and programs to
non-IT sectorsbecoming one of the focal entrepreneurshipsupport organizations in Armenia and in the region.
35
GIST In the News

GIST In the News
GIST Entrepreneurs Inspire Female Small Business Owner in

Washington, DC
Mehrunisa Qayyum writes in her Small Business blog post Small Business Tips to Fight Holiday Stress,
that she was encouraged by the GIST Transformers she met at a leadership seminar held at the World Bank in Washington, DC during the US
Entrepreneurship Journey. Confronted by holiday pressures as the founder of a new Middle East affairs consultancy, she related to the insights
of GIST speaker Jim Bagnola and GIST entrepreneurs in seeking innovative ways to successfully promote and build their start-ups in the crowded
marketplace.
Building an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem: Ideas for Indonesia and

Beyond
Startup Boot Camp Indonesia is a program run by the GIST (Global Innovation through Science and Technology) Initiative. GIST was established
in 2010, with funding from the U.S. Department of State, to spur economic advancement through science- and technology-based innovation in
countries across the Middle East, North Africa, and Asia. The idea behind GIST is that economically empowered people (aka entrepreneurs) provide
the basis for political stability and economic growth.
Read more at tiny.cc/GISTinX
Read more here: http://tiny.cc/duelow

Heart Attack Monitor Wins US Startup Contest for Middle East
Young entrepreneurs from NUST have made the nation proud.
Pakistans Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani extended his congratulations to entrepreneurs from Pakistans National University of Science
Most Middle East entrepreneurs can only dream of a startup oasis such as Californias Silicon Valley that is filled
and Technology. He commended the Sahara and Saltech teams for making it to the victory stand at an international business plan competition,
with angel investors and venture capitalists. But a few entrepreneurs have begun receiving funding from a more
titled Global Innovation through Science & Technology (GIST) -- Battle of Ideas World Cup 2011.
unlikely source - the U.S. government. One of those entrepreneurs, Ziad Sankari, was just 17 when he lost his father
Read more at tiny.cc/NUST
to a heart attack. Today, the Lebanese engineer is building a startup based on a medical device that can monitor
cardiac patients outside the hospital around the clock. His startup idea won a first place prize of $20,000 in the final rounds of the U.S.-sponsored
GIST Tech-I Competition held in Istanbul last December. That funding from the U.S. State Department may help Sankari and his colleague, Najwa
Sahmarani, develop a business plan for their Cardio Diagnostics startup. The competition also provided business mentoring by flying in experts
Meet the Coolest Next-Generation Science Entrepreneurs in MENA
from MIT and Silicon Valley. GISTech was our shortcut towards better connections and visibility and provided us, indeed, with some cash and
At the second Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Istanbul recently, we at Wamda were tremendously inspired by the contestants in the Global
unmatchable opportunities to visit Silicon Valley and possibly find a collaborator there, Sankari said.
Innovation through Science & Technology (GIST) Competition, who came from all over the Middle East and North Africa to showcase their
Read more at tiny.cc/msnGIST
carefully-honed scientific ideas that could transform our societies.

Read more at tiny.cc/WAMDA
Indonesian Minister: We need four million entrepreneurs

They hosted a recent conference and business plan competition to inspire, educate and cajole young
Tech Startups in Africa
people into taking the plunge. Theres a real craving for this kind of knowledge here, according to
Ovidiu Bujorean, program manager for Global Innovation through Science and Technology, the US-based agency that ran the event. Energy, drive,
Scott Hartley describes his great experience lecturing, mentoring, and judging startups in Senegal
optimism the people Ive seen here are the ones who can take the Indonesian economy into the new global economy of knowledge, ideas and
and Algeria as a participant in two of the U.S. State Departments Global Innovation in Science and
prosperity. [Disclosure: I spoke, judged and put together a panel discussion at this event, implemented by CRDF Global and funded by the US State
Technology (GIST)Initiative startup boot camps. Over four days, hundreds of West and North African technologists assembled, tweeted, pitched
Department.]
products, and exchanged LinkedIn invites, encouraging Hartley about the new emerging entrepreneurs from this regionhe hopes that the
Read more at tiny.cc/GISTinFORBES
question what have you built, will become more important than where are you from?
Read more at http://onforb.es/Qkcz4m
Road Trip! Founders Of YouTube, LinkedIn and Others

Tackle Brain Drain in Malaysia
Malaysia has a very young population, 65% of which is under 35, as well as the need to create jobs quickly. Hwang says entrepreneurship can
create alternatives to other activities. In many cases the government is responding to demand by the people, she says, like in Indonesia, where
a grassroots movement began. The government recognized entrepreneurship to be a good cause to engage young talent and create alternatives
to other activities.She observes that the U.S. government has been promoting entrepreneurship in Muslim-dominated countries with this goal.
The GIST initiative is a partner of StartupMalaysia.org
Read more at tiny.cc/BRAINDRAIN
36
37
Featured Events
GIST TECH CONNECT PAKISTAN
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
CoNX at the U.S. Department of State, Washington DC
GIST TECH-I COMPETITION FINALE - TURKEY

December 3-6, 2012
Istanbul - TURKEY
During The Global
Entrepreneurship Summit
hosted by
Turkish Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip ERDOGAN
GIST Tech-I Competition Finale

The Battle of Ideas
Entrepreneurship, Values and Development: A Global Agenda

December 3-6, 2011 Istanbul / Turkey
GIST Tech-I Competition Finale

The Battle of Ideas
GIST Tech Connect

PAKISTAN
Entrepreneurship, Values and Development: A Global Agenda

December 3-6, 2011 Istanbul / Turkey
Connecting Technology Entrepreneurs,

Mentors & Investors Across Geographies
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
CoNX at the U.S. Department of State, Washington DC

from 9-10:30 EST / 18:00-19:30 Pakistan time
RSVP & More information: www.gistinitiative.org
Resources
Entrepreneur and Business News
Entrepreneur www.entrepreneur.com
News and resources for business, finance, technology, marketing, startups, etc.
Inc.com www.inc.com
News resource for business, finance, technology, leadership & management, sales, start-ups, etc.
Red Herring www.redherring.com
Technology news resources
VentureBeat www.venturebeat.com
News resource for technology and finances
Afriqueitnews - www.afriqueitnews.com
The leading West African website for tech startup news
Non-Government Programs
http://gist.crdfglobal.org/about-gist/events/2012/08/31/gist-tech-connect-pakistan
implemented by CRDF Global
GIST TRANSFORMERS
COME TO AMERICA
GIST STARTUP BOOT CAMP - WEST AFRICA

July 10-11, 2012
Dakar - SENEGAL
Entrepreneur Week - http://www.entrepreneurweek.net/

Entrepreneur Meetup - http://entrepreneur.meetup.com/
Global Community for Advancing Studies on Entrepreneurship - http://www.gcase.org/
10,000 Women Initiative - http://www.goldmansachs.com/citizenship/10000women/about-the-program/index.htmlv
Global Entrepreneurship Leadership Symposium - http://entrepreneurship.intel.com/community/gels-community
Global Entrepreneurship Week - http://www.unleashingideas.org/
Microsoft BizSpark - http://www.mitef.org/
OPEC Fund for International Development - http://www.ofid.org/
Global Student Entrepreneur Awards - http://www.gsea.org/
YoungEntrepreneur.com - http://www.youngentrepreneur.com/about-us/
Us Government Programs
GIST Startup
Boot Camp - West Africa
July 10-11, 2012 Dakar - SENEGAL
REGIONAL
EVENT
Implemented by CRDF Global
38
A New Beginning: Entrepreneurship & Business Innovation http://anewbeginning.eonetwork.org/

Youth Livelihoods Alliance - http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2012/10/198490.htm
TechGirls - http://exchanges.state.gov/youth/programs/techgirls.html
TechWomen - http://www.techwomen.org/
The Global Entrepreneurship Program - http://www.state.gov/e/eb/cba/entrepreneurship/gep/index.htm
Partners for a New Beginning - http://www.aspeninstitute.org/policy-work/new-beginning
Global Womens Mentorship Program - http://exchanges.state.gov/citizens/professionals/fortunepartnership.html
Center for Entrepreneurship and Executive Development - http://www.ceed-global.org/web/default.aspx
The Entrepreneurship Toolkit - http://egateg.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/USAID_State%20Entrepreneurship%20Toolkit_0.pdf
Funded by the U.S. Department of State
39

GIST Mentor Highlight

Scott Hartley traveled to the GIST Boot Camps in Turkey, Senegal and Algeria
Name: Scott Hartley
Company Name: Mohr Davidow Ventures
Short description: Mohr Davidow Ventures (MDV) is an early stage technology venture capital firm based on Sand Hill
Road. Founded in 1983, MDV is investing out of its ninth fund, a $700 million USD fund. We are focused on partnering
with brilliant entrepreneurs pursuing disruptive innovation in web, mobile, and digital health.
Hometown: Palo Alto, California
Website: www.forbes.com/sites/scotthartley
Favorite hobbies/past-times: Running, triathlons, soccer, reading, traveling
Languages you speak: Spanish, and a bit of Italian, French, and Hindi
GIST Partners
Building local entrepreneurial

ecosystems together
REGIONAL
JORDAN
TURKEY
What inspired you to become an Investor?

As someone who grew up surrounded by startup companies and innovation, I wanted to be in a position where I could
work closely with entrepreneurs solving the biggest problems. I saw venture capital and investing as a way to partner with some of the best entrepreneurs
and problem solvers in the world, and help them create.
How did you get involved with mentorship?
I have always mentored startups, for friends, classmates, portfolio companies, and for GIST. After working with 70 entrepreneurs in Africa for Google.org,
and subsequently with entrepreneurs in Latin America as a graduate student, I became involved in mentorship with GIST, working in Africa and the Middle
East.
What is the best part about being a mentor?
The best part about mentoring is seeing ideas from a high level, and working hands-on with an entrepreneur. As someone in venture capital, you get to
see hundreds of ideas and learn what some of the best practices are for the highest probability of success, whether in business model, roll-out, or other
strategies. Being able to add this value by working with entrepreneurs is personally rewarding, and hopefully helpful to the founder.
INDONESIA
SENEGAL
MALAYSIA
BANGLADESH
How are the entrepreneurs that you have met at the GIST events different from the entrepreneurs in the US?
One of my theses, and the topic about which I write for Forbes is that they are not different. Entrepreneurship and problem solving are global, not local
phenomena. There are local inputs and relevancies that matter and add nuance, but at the core entrepreneurship is not an American phenomenon, it is a
globally available method of problem solving that flourishes under certain circumstances, rules, freedoms, and incentives.
What lessons do you believe entrepreneurs can get from GIST Startup Boot Camps?
You can be an entrepreneur. People are willing to listen to your ideas, and give you feedback. If you listen to feedback and attempt to iteratively build a
product that solves a large problem, you can create value.
PAKISTAN
EGYPT
TUNISIA
ALGERIA
When youre not working on your business, what do you do to enjoy your life?
I love to meet new people, travel, and counter stereotypes. I like to do athletics, and love playing beach soccer.
Do you have any advice for young entrepreneurs?
Dont be afraid to try. Trying something is better than waiting for perfection. But be open to input, feedback, advice, and to pivoting in new directions to
solve the problems that people have. If people tell you something isnt a problem, dont invent a problem to fit your solution. Adapt to solve a problem that
exists.
NIGERIA
What is the best part of being an entrepreneur?

You get to be creative and solve big problems that help people and are accretive to society. Thats a net positive for the world, and likely has windfalls in the
form of greater connectivity, empathy, and ultimately peace.
40
41
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42
Notes

Notes
44
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Arlington, VA 22209
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2012 Dubai Tech-I Brochure

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Entrepreneurs

GIST Tech-I Competition Finals

December 10-12, 2012 Dubai, UAE

Dear Colleagues and Friends,

CRDF WELCOME MESSAGE

U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT WELCOME MESSAGE

GIST ONE PAGER

GIST TECH-I COMPETITION FINALISTS 8

GIST ADVISORY GROUP MEMBERS

SPEAKERS, MENTORS & JUDGES

CRDF GLOBAL GIST TEAM

U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT GIST TEAM

GIST IN THE NEWS

GIST MENTOR HIGHLIGHT

Ms. Cathleen Campbell

GIST Tech-I Competition Finals

GIST Tech-I Competition Finals

Unleashing Entrepreneurial Potential

Unleashing Entrepreneurial Potential

December 10-12, 2012 Dubai, UAE

December 10-12, 2012 Dubai, UAE

U.S. State Department

GIST SESSION: CLOSED TO PUBLIC

Team Building Exercise

Nuts and bolts of the executive summary and the pitch

Dear Colleagues and Friends,

Ms. Cathleen Campbell

GIST Startup Training: ENTIRE AFTERNOON IS OPEN TO PUBLIC

Strategic Professional Networking

Leading is Everybodys Business

Raising funds for your ideas and ventures

Business Models for Startups

GIST Tech-I Competition Finals

GIST Tech-I Competition Finals

Unleashing Entrepreneurial Potential

Unleashing Entrepreneurial Potential

December 10-12, 2012 Dubai, UAE

Monday, December 10, 2012 Location: Room A

December 10-12, 2012 Dubai, UAE

GIST Reception (Open to the public)

Wednesday, December 12, 2012 Location: Room A

Tuesday, December 11, 2012 Location: Room A

SUPPORT - Startup Youth Launch

CONNECT EMPACT100 Networking Session

All GIST entrepreneurs attend GES-EVA keynotes

Judges select the top 10

The top 10 are announced

Wednesday, December 12, 2012 Location: Room A

GIST Entrepreneurs attend keynote sessions at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit

GES-EVA Keynotes: Main Hall

GIST entrepreneurs attend the Summit

GIST Tech-I Award Ceremony

Where Innovative Minds and

all of us must recognize that

Submission Deadline: September 24, 2012

CONNECT WITH GIST COMMUNITY

GIST Impact Highlights

Creating Innovation Ecosystems

Building a Global Innovation Community

Join the GIST network today! facebook.com/gistinitiative

Together we can build an ecosystem

GIST is a great opportunity to

Malaysia welcomes the GIST

[GIST] was our shortcut towards