UfM Business Forum

Dr. Maher H. Al-Mahrouq
Director General
Jordan Chamber of Industry 

Maher H.Al Mahrouq holds a PhD degree in Industrial Economics/ Small Firms Policy, from Newcastle upon Tyne Business School, University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, United Kingdom. Dr. Al Mahrouq currently works as the Director General of Jordan Chamber of Industry. He has previously held several positions in government, private and academic organizations. He has worked for more than 10 years as a consultant in the fields of economics, managements, and SMEs for several national, regional and international institutions. Has also worked as a trainer assisting various institutions nationally and regionally in capacity building efforts on various topics, on top of which come SMEs development, development policies, competitiveness, gender and employment.

Mr. Vassilis Korkidis
President
Piraeus Chamber of Commerce & Industry (PCCI)

Vassilis Korkidis has been serving as President of the Piraeus Chamber of Commerce and Industry since 2013. He is the President of the newly established Regional Chamber Council of Attica. Among others, he is National Member in the Board of EuroCommerce, President of the Trade, Retail and Franchise Commission of ASCAME and Member of the Board of the Regulatory Authority for Ports. He was President of the Hellenic Confederation of Commerce and Entrepreneurship, Vice-President of the European Association of SMEs (UEAPME).In 2016 the Technical University of Piraeus, awarded him with the Honorary Doctorate in Business Administration. He is the owner of two commercial and marine enterprises. Since 2008, he is President and Managing Director of the commercial and maritime company “Korkidis S.V.E. SA.”

Mr. Ignacio Garcia Bercero
Director
DG Trade of the European Commission

Since 2012 Ignacio Garcia Bercero has been responsible for overseeing EC activities in the fields of Neighbouring Countries, US and Canada. He coordinated the work of the EU-US High Level Working Group on Growth and Jobs and was Chief Negotiator for the TTIP negotiations. Working at the European Commission since 1987, from 2005 until 2011 he worked in the areas of Sustainable Development, Bilateral Trade Relations. He was also the Chief Negotiator for the EU-Korea and EU-India Free Trade Agreements. Before that, he worked in the areas of WTO Dispute Settlement, and Trade Barriers Regulation .In the period leading, he was Chief Negotiator on Trade and Competition. He has also been posted in the EU Delegation to the United Nations in New York. He has written several papers and publications on the subjects of Trade Laws, GATT and WTO System, Safeguard Measures, Trade and Competition, DSU Reform and Dispute Settlement in European FTAs.

Ms. Latifa Elbouabdellaoui
Director of International Trade Relations
Ministry of Industry, Investment, Trade and Digital Economy
Morocco

Latifa Elbouabdellaoui is Director of International Trade Relations at the Directorate General of Commerce at the Ministry of Industry, Investment, Trade and Digital Economy, since 2013. Before being appointed to this department, she was responsible for the Mechanical and Metallurgical Industries Division and later for the Offshoring Trade Division within the same Ministry. She coordinates and leads negotiations on Trade Agreements. She has lead several national and international conferences and seminars on international trade topics. She is an engineer in industrial process engineering and holds a higher degree in Management.

Ambassador Dr. Magda Shahin
Senior Advisor to the Minister
Ministry of Trade and Industry of Egypt

Magda Shahin is currently Senior Advisor to the Minister of Trade and Industry and Chief Negotiator on various trade matters, notably on the African Continental Free Trade Area and upgrading the Association Agreement with the EU. She was previously Professor and Director of the Center for American Studies and Research, School of Global Affairs and Public Policy (GAPP) at the American University in Cairo (AUC). Ambassador Shahin has had numerous posts in diplomacy namely as Attaché in Bonn, as Counselor in New York, as Deputy Chief of Mission in Geneva, as Ambassador of Egypt to Greece, and lastly as Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs for International Economic Relations. As a Professor in the American University in Cairo her teaching interests included Political Economy, the International Trading System and the WTO, the Multilateral Financial Institutions, International Negotiations, Diplomacy and US-Middle East Policy

Mr. Ahmed El Farra
Cluster Excellence Expert,
National Program Coordinator,
Palestine / UNIDO

Ahmed ElFarra is a graduate of the Craig Business School of Fresno, California with a Masters in Business Administration and Entrepreneurship in 2003. As UNIDO’s National Program Coordinator and HoPO, he has been leading UNIDO Program’s implementation in the State of Palestine bringing stakeholders together and promoting creative cluster development as a proven tool for MSMEs development accompanied by innovation and creativity as instruments for enhanced competitiveness. He is a strong advocate and facilitator for inspiring the local economic agenda and fostering the implementation of 2030 agenda at local levels.  Ahmed ElFarra served as Senior Economic Advisor with the United Nations International Labour Organization (ILO)’s regional Office in Beirut. As founder and Chairman of PALiNVEST Corporation, a business development and private sector strategy and advocacy group, Ahmed ElFarra has played an active leadership role in various organizations of private organizations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip (PITA, PICTI, and PSCC).

Ms. Elodie Robin
Market Analyst
Trade and Market Intelligence Section
International Trade Centre (ITC)

She leads the Trade and Investment Facilitation Mechanism for Mediterranean countries, and other technical assistance projects in the area of transparency in trade and market research. Responsible of the Capacity Building portfolio for the section, she helps business actors, including SMEs, to increase their knowledge in international trade and take better-informed decisions.

Mr. Sherif Hazem
Senior International Trade Expert

Sherif Hazem holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA), from Maastricht School of Management, in 2008 and also a Master of International and Comparative Law (LL.M.), from the American University in Cairo (AUC). He works since 2017 as Senior International Trade Expert, Safe Project, United Nations Organization for Industrial Development (UNIDO). Before that, he had many experiences in the Ministry of trade and industry since he was head of Technical Office, from 2009 to February 2017 at the Central Department for WTO (CD/WTO), but also Member of the Egyptian IPR Contact Point Authority during the same period. Mohamed Ibrahim began his career in 2001 as an Economic Analyst at the Ministry of Trade and Industry. Sherif Hazem Mohamed Ibrahim holds a Bachelor of Law, from Cairo University but also a Bachelor of Arts, from the American University in Cairo (AUC).

Ms. Suja Rishikesh Mavroidis
Director
Market Access Division
World Trade Organization (WTO)

Suja Rishikesh is Director in the Market Access Division at the WTO.  She has worked almost thirty years at the GATT/WTO in different capacities.  She started in the Development Division where she dealt with issues such as tropical products and natural-resource based products. As a member of the Market Access Division she dealt with inter alia tariffs, the Customs Valuation Agreement and the Pre-shipment Inspection Agreement. Since 2001 she has been Secretary to the DDA Negotiating Group on Market Access. In February 2015, she became Director of the Market Access Division. She has a degree in business administration from the University of Geneva and a Master’s degree in International relations from the University of Cambridge, UK.

Mr. Ayhan Kiziltan
President of Mersin Chamber of Commerce and Industry
President of Inovation and ICT Commission of ASCAME

Ayhan Kiziltan was born in Mersin (Turkey) in 1957. He graduated from Tarsus- American College and Ankara State Academy in both the Engineering and Architecture Department of Mechanical Engineering. He worked as a Production, Sales and Technical Manager in SUMAS, which is a family company. Ayhan Kiziltan also established KIZILTANLAR Water Pump Production Company. He was elected as the President of Mersin CCI in 2018.

Mr. Apoorva Kumar
CEO
Jumia Egypt & Jumia Group

Apoorva Kumar was born in Kanpur, India on 30/6/1985. He holds a degree in Engineering from The B. M. S. College in Bangalore, Karnataka. He also graduated from The Indian Institute of Management, in Kolkata, West Bengal, where he studied PGDM, Strategy, Finance, Marketing & Operations. In the years 2006-2009, Apoorva co-founded Instant Pest Care, where he developed the business plan and implemented it, developed marketing strategies, negotiated deals and contracts, initiated technology changes and developed the business from scratch. He then went on to work as TAS Manager in several companies such as: TATA Steel, Titan Industries, TATA Chemicals.  Mr. Kumar joined E commerce  in 2012, becoming the Third Party logistics and vendor management Head at Myntra.com. He joined Jumia.com in 2013 as an Operations Vice President in Nigeria, and moved on to be the CEO of Jumia Services. In 2017, Mr. Kumar became the COO of Jumia, and then the Co CEO of Jumia, Egypt and SVP logistics, Jumia group.

Mr. Wasil Rezk
Founder and Managing Director
Tigarti

Wasil Rezk is an Egyptian entrepreneur living in Madrid, Spain. He is the Founder and Managing Director of an eCommerce startup called Tigarti. This company is a digital marketplace to connect Egyptian businessmen and vendors with foreign customers and businesses. Wasil has featured in several panels and talks regarding eCommerce and geopolitics worldwide. He currently studies at IE University and previously studied International Relations at Georgetown University in Washington D.C. Wasil has a diverse experience living in 9 different countries and speaking 3 languages fluently as well as conversational Hebrew and French.

Dr. Nagwa ElShenawi
Undersecretary for Information & Decision Support
Ministry of Communication and Information Technology
Egypt

Nagwa ElShenawi is leading the Program Management Unit of the ecommerce Strategy in Egypt and managing the ICT for women initiative at the Ministry of Communication & Information Technology. She was the advisor to the Minister of International Cooperation for Western Europe, EU and European Investments banks during the years 2014 and 2015. She has 20 years’ experience in conducting studies, setting strategies and policies related to the ICT sector in Egypt, Arab and African Countries. She participated in developing several methodologies and measurements to evaluate and assess the performance of the ICT sector. She is active member in digital economy & ICT experts groups formed by international organizations. She held successful negotiations with European partners in several areas of interest to the Egyptian Government. She is one of the early founders of the Council of Ministers Cabinet Information and Decision Support Center (IDSC) where she has occupied various senior positions including Deputy Director of Decision Support Sector and Deputy Director of International Cooperation Sector. Dr ElShenawi holds a Doctorate of Business Administration from Maastricht School of Management in Netherlands.

H.E. Ambassador Tõnis Nirk
Ambassador-at-Large for Digital Affairs, MFA
Estonia

Tõnis Nirk was born on December 10, 1968 and graduated from the Faculty of Economics of the University of Tartu. During 1991-1992, he joined the Estonian School of Diplomacy, and got a degree in Foreign Relations. He joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1992. Among other things, he worked as an Economic Counsellor at the Estonian Embassy in London from 1997 to 2000. During the years 2004-2009, he was the Ambassador of the Permanent Representation to the UN in Geneva. Tõnis Nirk also served as the Director General of the European Union Department, MFA and then Director General of the Department of Europe and Transatlantic Cooperation, MFA. Before assuming the position of the Ambassador to Latvia from 2014 to 2018, he worked as the director general of the Department of Europe and Transatlantic Cooperation.

Eng. Hala El Gohary
Acting President
Egyptian IT Industry Development Agency (ITIDA)

Hala El Gohary has nearly 25 years of deep industry and technical expertise in IT operations, client management fields with professional experience in business integration, innovation management, and global delivery centers’ growth and expansion. She began her career in 1995 as a senior software developer for Citymax;. El Gohary worked for IBM for over 20 years since 1998 where she moved up the ranks to be leading MEA Client Innovation Centers, before joining ITIDA. During her tenure at IBM and since 2006, Hala has led the groundwork of the Embedded Systems Practices within IBM Egypt. She established the Embedded Systems Center of Excellence (COE) across eight centers of IBM. In addition, she holds the position of the Deputy Minister for Human and Institutional Capacity Development. In 2015, Hala received her Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree with merit from the University of Warwick in England.

Mr. Abdel-Hamid Mamdouh
Senior Counsel
King & Spalding

Hamid Mamdouh is Senior Counsel with King & Spalding LLP and a visiting professor at the Queen Mary, University of London. He is an international trade lawyer and former Director of the Trade in Services and Investment Division of the WTO. Prior to that he was a Senior Counsellor in the Services Division and was Secretary of the WTO Council for Trade in Services since the establishment of the WTO in 1995.  During that time, he was also responsible for legal affairs in the area of Trade in Services.  During the Uruguay Round negotiations his responsibilities included legal matters relating to the negotiation and the drafting of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). His previous positions in the GATT include: Assistant to the Deputy Director-General of the GATT and legal advisor on GATT dispute settlement.  Prior to joining the GATT Secretariat in 1990, he was a member of Egypt’s trade diplomatic service.

Mr. James Howe
Senior Advisor
International Marketing and Branding
International Trade Centre (ITC)

James Howe leads advisory work on international marketing, branding and e-commerce in the Sector and Enterprise Competitiveness section of ITC. Project work involves working with institutional partners and groups of SMEs in developing and least developed countries, helping them to acquire the capabilities for export marketing activation. James is programme manager for ITC’s “E Solutions”, which enables small enterprises from developing countries to better access international e-commerce.

Mr. Fakhry Alhazaimeh
Executive President
Agadir Technical Unit (ATU)

Fakhry Alhazaimeh has an extensive experience in international trade, FTAs and multilateral trading system. He represented Jordan in the WTO negotiations in a wide range of Multilateral Trade subjects, including its accession to the WTO. Indeed he was the representative of Jordan to the WTO as a Director of the Economic Bureau at the Mission of Jordan in Geneva. As a senior trade and economic negotiator, Fakhry Alhazaimeh followed closely the Doha development round and had the chance to write many articles about the development aspect of the Agenda of Doha round and its impact on the Arab Countries. He chaired many economic trade and trade related committees at all levels, local, regional and international, including some of thorough technical nature. Fakhry Alhazaimeh had a long professional career working as a Senior Advisor on the multilateral trading and FTAs issues.