Biographies of speakers - Women Business Forum 2023

Helena Dalli is the first EU Commissioner for Equality since December 2019. Her role is to deliver on the Union of Equality chapter within the Political Guidelines of President von der Leyen, by strengthening Europe’s commitment to equality and inclusion in all of its senses.

Prior to taking her role as Commissioner, Dalli held various political roles in Malta including Member of Parliament (1996 to 2019), Minister for European Affairs and Equality (2017 to 2019), and Minister for Social Dialogue, Consumer Affairs and Civil Liberties (2013-2017). She was also opposition Shadow Minister for public administration, equality, public broadcasting and national investments (1998-2013) and Junior Minister for Women’s Rights in the Office of Prime Minister (1996-1998).

Fatou Haidara, Deputy to the Director General and Managing Director of the Directorate of Global Partnerships and External Relations, and Director General’s Special Representative for Africa at the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), has had an extensive career as a strategic partnerships and policy envoy.

Prior to joining UNIDO, she served the Government of Mali for eight years in several ministerial positions, including as Minister of Employment and Vocational Training and Minister of Industry, Trade and Private Sector Development. At UNIDO, she led and coordinated UNIDO’s contribution in a number of multi-lateral negotiations culminating in resolutions that have set the foundation for inclusive and sustainable industrial development (ISID); notably, the Istanbul Plan of Action for LDCs and the Lima Declaration. She has promoted and contributed to UNIDO’s programmes in Africa, cooperation with Least Developed Countries, expanding South-South Cooperation as well as initiating and leading programmes for Human Security, Youth Employment and the Economic Empowerment of Women.

Amel Moussa is a writer, poet and lecturer at Manouba University. She holds a doctorate in sociology (2012), post-graduate diplomas in sociology and cultural sociology and a master’s degree in journalism and information science (1994).
Until her appointment as Minister, she was a member of the national sectoral sociology commission in Tunis. She is also a lecturer at IPSI and an elected member of its scientific council since 2017. An Alecso expert between March 2014 and March 2015, she has taken part in several international conferences. She was a cultural journalist from 1996 to 2007 and has published several books and collections of poetry. In 2006, she won the first prize for the best Arab production on women as well as the “Lerici Pea” poetry prize in 2014 and the Zoubeida Bechir literary prize in 2018.

John Paul Grech is the Deputy Secretary General of the Union for the Mediterranean in charge of Social and Civil Affairs since September 2021.

His diplomatic career spans over 30 years of service during which he has served as Head of Mission in both bilateral and multilateral missions overseas.  In addition, he also held various positions within the Ministry of Foreign & European Affairs of the Republic of Malta, including that of Permanent Secretary. He has served as ambassador of Malta to Germany, Poland and Belarus.  He also served as Permanent Representative of Malta to the United Nations Specialized Agencies in Geneva and Deputy Permanent Representative of Malta to the OSCE and UN Agencies in Vienna. Besides, he has been assigned duties as Special Envoy on behalf of the Government of Malta on a number of assignments.

Mr Elloumi is a graduate of the Ecole Polytechnique de Paris (X73) and the Ecole Supérieure de l’Electricité de Paris (1977).

He joined the family group (Groupe Elloumi) in 1977 and has held a number of senior positions in the group’s various business lines (industry, distribution and electricity companies).
From 1992 to the present day, he has been Chairman of the COFICAB group, which has become a world leader in the design and manufacture of electrical cables for the automotive industry. COFICAB is an international automotive supplier present on 4 continents and in 13 countries. Since January 2013, he has been Vice-Chairman of UTICA (the Tunisian employers’ association).
He is a holder of the Tunisian Order of the Republic. In 2015, he was decorated by the President of Portugal as Grand Officer of the Order of Industrial Merit. Mr Hichem Elloumi is also Chairman of the Tunisian-Moroccan and Tunisian-Portuguese Business Councils and of the UTICA France Committee and he is a founding member of ABLC (African Business Leaders Coalition), a UN global compact initiative.

A multicultural professional with a background in project finance, Elena is a Senior Innovation and Entrepreneurship Manager within social enterprise Bridge for Billions whose aim is to democratise access to support for entrepreneurs around the world. Based in Dakar, Elena is responsible for building partnerships with stakeholders of the entrepreneurship ecosystem in French speaking Africa.

Zohra Slim is InstaDeep’s Chief Web Officer. Daughter of a diplomat, she is a polyglot and has lived in 4 countries before she was 18, which gives her unique insight on people and cultures.

She is completely self-taught with in-depth knowledge of software and system integrations. In addition, she possesses a unique drive which, combined with her second-to-none people management skills, ensures projects are delivered to excellence and on time. After leading a team of developers in India, Zohra co-founded InstaDeep in 2014 with Karim Beguir.

Amel Saidane is an entrepreneur, ecosystem builder and digital transformation expert. She is the president of TunisianStartups and co-founded BetaCube, a venture builder in Fintech and mobility solutions. She also co-founded Digital2Value, an SME digital transformation platform.

Lilia Hachem Naas has 25 years of experience at the UN. As Chief of the Office for Middle East and North Africa at the ITC Geneva, she bolstered ITC’s regional standing through diversified projects, deeper collaboration with key Institutions, and activating new partnerships. She focused on improving the business environment, enhancing capacity, and strengthening the competitiveness of MSMEs with a focus on women and youth.

Previously, she was the Director of the Sub-Regional Office for North Africa at UNECA Morocco and Manager of the Local Development Programme of UNITAR. Before joining the UN, she worked with Hewlett Packard Company and the Tunisian Export Promotion Centre in Tunisia. She holds a bachelor’s degree from IHEC Carthage in Tunisia, a MBA in International Business Management and a MSc in Management Information Systems from the University of Maryland College Park.

Chiraz Bensemmane is Algerian-French, graduated from EM Strasbourg and Georgetown University. She has worked and lived in 10 different countries. In 2015, she founded Pitch World Fast, a business development and project management company. Through this company she has been handling export projects for her clients as well as projects for the Ministry of Health of Algeria with regards to healthcare through round tables.

She is also the founder of Coach Tribe, a platform for online coaching, launched in December 2019. She is a facilitator of the Hive Women Leadership Program in Algeria since April 2019. She speaks fluently Arabic, French, English, Spanish.

Guadaluna Chaer is a young tech entrepreneur who is revolutionizing weed removal in farming through lasers and AI. She is the co-founder and CEO of LUXEED Robotics, an early-stage agtech startup aiming to disrupt the herbicides industry.

With her mechanical engineering background and project management expertise, Guadaluna drives the company’s vision and strategy, securing funding for R&D and market development. She is also a mentor to other startups and an active advocate for women in tech. Her accomplishments have been recognized by the She WinsArabia Initiative, which named her as the youngest female entrepreneur among 100 others participating in the 2023 program.

Nada Lachaal has been the Managing Director of Industrial and Technological Infrastructure at the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Mines in Tunisia since 2020.

She has over 20 years of experience in industrial development, technology transfer, innovation, development of value chains and clusters, and cooperation projects. Moreover, she is the project leader for the development of the industrial and innovation strategy for Horizon 2035. In 2019, she became the Managing Director of the Packtec Technical centre, where she manages and coordinates the 4.0 initiative in Tunisia.

Imen Ayari is the Head of Innovation Factory of the R&BD department of Talan Tunisia.

She is an engineer and executive MBA with more than 20 years of international experience. Moreover, she led the pioneering project “Hannibal” for the central Bank of Tunisia, which is a decentralized platform for AML (Regtech).

Neila Amara holds a Ph.D. in economics from Paris Dauphine University (France). She first embraced an academic career before devoting herself full-time to her work as a Technical Assistance & Program Development Specialist with a specific focus on women and youth economic empowerment and private sector development.

She is currently working as an International Project Management Expert at the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), coordinating inter alia the implementation of phase II of the project “Promoting Women’s Empowerment for Inclusive and Sustainable Industrial Development in the Middle-East and North-Africa region” labelled by The Union for the Mediterranean. In this framework, she has piloted a series of studies on women entrepreneurship in Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, State of Palestine and Tunisia, leading to a deep knowledge of their situation and of their situation and challenges across the region, particularly in the manufacturing sector.

Omar Bouzouada is a General Engineer and the Director General of the Agency for the Promotion of Industry and Innovation (APII) since March 2019. He graduated from the Ecole Nationale des Ingénieurs de Tunis (ENIT) in 1991.

He began his professional career as Head of Department in a private company, after which he joined the Ministry of the Economy in 1994, where he gradually advanced in his career until 2011, when he took up the post of Managing Director of the National Centre for Leather and Footwear (CNCC), in 2015 he was appointed DG of the Technical Centre for the Wood and Furniture Industry (CETIBA). At the same time, he was Managing Director of the Technical Centre for Ceramics for Construction Materials and Crystal (CTMCCV). He has been pivotal in crafting regulatory texts and implementing policies globally, actively advancing international economic cooperation in technical committees. He has also driven sector strategies, entrepreneurship, incubator management, innovation, and international projects, holding key roles as secretary general and president in technical organizations.

Zied Kilani is Business & Investment Specialist for the “Industry 4.0 to promote youth employment in Tunisia and Ivory Coast” project, implemented by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). He has 33 years of experience in the field of new technologies and has provided expertise in technical assistance for industrial development within international organisations.

He holds a Diplôme d’Etudes Approfondies (DEA) in computer systems from the University of Paris 6 and a diploma in computer systems engineering from the Tunis Faculty of Science. During his career he has worked in several prestigious companies such as Dassault Systèmes, Siemens and Chemonics as Senior Business Advisor. As a speaker, he will share insights on aiding companies in digital transition, assessing Industry 4.0’s effects on female entrepreneurs and employees, outlining mechanisms for enhancing women’s leadership in this era, and advocating best practices for boosting women’s role in industrial innovation.

Leila Belkhiria Jaber is the current President of the National Chamber of Women in Business (CNFCE), a member of the Board of Directors of the Federation of National Associations of Businesswomen for the Common Market of Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), and President of the Women in Business Network “WiB”.

With a background in marketing, international trade law, and communication & leadership, she is also the CEO and co-founder of the STELFAIR TUNISIA group, which operates in the ICT sector. She has been actively involved in the promotion of gender equality, the development of female entrepreneurship, and the establishment of organisations, such as the Academy of Women in Business and the Tunisian Women Onboard Observatory for women’s access to decision-making positions in the private sector. She has received awards like ICT Woman Entrepreneur of the Year and was honored as “Commander of the Republic” in 2019 by the Tunisian President.

Hajer Derouiche is the founder of Actifs Precieux,  an innovative start-up in Africa, adopting the circular economy to maximise the use of resources and minimise waste. Exploiting the continent’s botanical resources, Actifs Précieux develops and produces eco-friendly active ingredients for the nutraceuticals and cosmetics industries, while having a positive impact on local communities.

As Programme Manager on Gender Equality at the Secretariat of the Union for the Mediterranean, Anna Dorangricchia works more specifically on women economic empowerment, female entrepreneurship, and gender-lens investments.

She has a long-lasting experience as Senior expert in programming, monitoring, and the evaluation in the area of economic inclusion of women and youth under the framework of European Neighbourhood Instrument. Her professional career has been focused on supporting the cooperation among EU and non-EU national and regional authorities, NGOs, universities and the private sector in the area of inclusive development.