The Business and VC Forum
Connecting the Finest Young Professional Business and VC minds in Israel, Morocco, the UAE, and Bahrain.
about
The business forum provides a platform for young professionals in the Middle East to bond & interact based on shared experiences and challenges. With a focus on the Middle East’s startup and technology ecosystems, attendees will have the opportunity to network with other highly skilled Entrepreneurs, VCs, and business professionals.
Connect - Initiate - Impact
While the recent normalization agreement has spurred communication and relationship building among C-level executives, there has been little to no communication channel connecting less senior and typically younger analysts, associates, and principals in their respective industries. This forum will assist in establishing relationships between younger entrepreneurs, business professionals, and VCs. By connecting future industry leaders throughout the region, we aim to accelerate relationship building that will play a crucial role in achieving mutual benefit in the future.
After listening to the panel of speakers and discussing industry-specific trends, participants will enter into break out rooms, whereby they will have the opportunity to meet other young professionals from other countries – exchanging ideas and knowledge, while discussing the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.
Speakers:
Fleur Hassan-Nahoum
Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem & Co-Founder of the UAE-ISR Business Council
Fleur Hassan-Nahoum is an Israeli politician and policymaker. She currently serves as Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem in charge of foreign relations, international economic development, and tourism. She is also the co-founder and founding member of the UAE – Israel Business Council.
Jon Medved
Founder and CEO of OurCrowd
Jon is a serial entrepreneur and according to the Washington Post“ one of Israel’s leading high-tech venture capitalists”. In the 2008 NY Times Supplement “Israel at 60” Medved was named one of the top 10 most influential Americans who have impacted Israel. Medved is the founder and CEO of OurCrowd, the leading global equity crowdfunding platform for accredited investors and angels. OurCrowd has $1.5B in commitments and has made investments in more than 240 companies, in 25 funds, and has seen 46 exits since its launch in February 2013.
Omar Al Busaidy
An author, entrepreneur and member of the US-UAE Public Affairs Committee
Omar Al Busaidy is a Fulbright Scholar currently pursuing his Master’s degree in International Affairs & Intelligence at Florida State University and is also an Intern in the Public Diplomacy & Economic Affairs department at the UAE Consulate in New York. Omar is an author, an entrepreneur as well as a member of the US-UAE Public Affairs Committee.
Omar is also a Non-Resident fellow at Trends Research & Advisory a geo-political think tank based in Abu Dhabi, UAE.
His multiple roles have allowed him to achieve several accomplishments, from publishing his self-help book ‘Just Read It’ and his upcoming book on futurism titled “Why Jobs are Robots and Life is for People’, to investing in start ups from the technology to trading industries.
A former Global Shaper at the World Economic Forum, Omar has been invited to mentor students on entrepreneurship, communication and leadership at several universities and conferences across the UAE and around the world.
Nicole Priel
Partner & Managing Director at Ibex Investors LLC
Nicole is a Partner with Ibex Investors where she leads their early-stage Israel VC strategy. Founded in 2003, Ibex Investors is a US-based multi-strategy investment firm targeting outsized returns through differentiated global strategies. Previously, Nicole worked at Ion Asset Management, ExxonMobil, Flybridge Capital Partners, BlackRock, and the New York Mercantile Exchange. She serves as a mentor in several accelerators and is an active member of the startup ecosystem in Israel.
Organizations
ByondNetwork
With a focus on analysts, associates, and principals, ByondNetwork is the first communication and knowledge-sharing platform connecting the future leaders of our venture capital ecosystems. ByondNetwork provides a space for creating connections and interpersonal experiences between young professional VC’s from Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain.
The UAE-Israel Business Council
The UAE-Israel Business Council (UIBC) is an association of over 3000 businesses, entrepreneurs, professionals, and public sector leaders from the United Arab Emirates and Israel, that fosters trade, innovation, and cooperation between the two countries. The UIBC was founded in June 2020 by Dorian Barak, an Israeli-American investor, and entrepreneur who had been working in the Gulf for the past decade, and Fleur Hassan-Nahoum, the Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem and scion of the Gibraltarian-Moroccan-British Hassan family.
The Leaders Of Tomorrow
is a mutual initiative by “ISRAEL-is and “UAE-is” youth NGO’s, offers topic-related forums that bring together leaders from different backgrounds and shared interests such as innovation, business, culture, Middle East community, cuisine, and more. Participants are called forth to develop ventures, collaborations and share knowledge between one and another. By the end of the program, each participant develops tools and connections that enable meaningful engagements that serve as a launching pad for future endeavors.
OurCrowd
As major growth investment opportunities shift from public to private markets, OurCrowd enables accredited investors to join top VCs, angel investors, and strategic partners in accessing fully vetted deals—on the same terms, with due diligence, flexible portfolio structure, and low entry costs.
line up
*(20:30 UAE time, 18:30 ISR, 19:30 Bahrain, 17:30 Morocco)
- 20:30-20:35 Opening remarks
- 20:35-20:45 Greetings – Fleur Hassan-Nahoum, Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem & CO-founder of the UAE-ISR business council
- 20:40-20:50 Breakout Rooms session #1
- 20:50-21:05 Jon Medved, Founder & CEO of OurCrowd
- 21:05-21:15 Breakoutrooms session #2
- 21:15-21:30 Venture Capital in the UAE
- 21:30-21:40 Nicole Priel, Partner & Managing Director at Ibex Investors LLC
- 21:40-21:55 Breakoutrooms session #3
- 21:55-21:00 Summary remarks