SHAPE THE FUTURE OF THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY

Hisham Akhtar

Hisham is an ecosystem builder and business consultant with extensive experience in the entrepreneurship sphere as part of top-tier startup incubators and accelerators. He has advised founders across the venture life cycle on how to build, fund, launch and grow startups in different business verticals, along with advising corporates on how to increase their innovation capabilities.

His current role at Plug and Play entails the strategic leadership, growth and execution of the Industry 4.0 open-innovation platform. This includes understanding and enhancing corporates’ innovation requirements through advisory services and connections with world-class startups. He further supports the regional innovation ecosystem through mentorship of founders and startups, including sourcing investment opportunities for Plug and Play’s venture capital arm.

Prior to this, Hisham launched the region’s first government supported venture studio at the Sharjah Entrepreneurship Center. Additionally, he conceptualized and led 10 accelerator programs, advising and supporting 100+ founders through this journey. He started his career at Rocket Internet, one of the largest venture studios globally, leading and advising multiple ventures in the GCC region and managing 500+ partners. Hisham has continued to enhance his business consulting and entrepreneurial skill set by successfully completing the Stanford Innovation and Entrepreneurship Program and has successfully earned an MBA from the prestigious London Business School.

Imad Itani

Imad Itani is the Innovation manager for ALEC, one of the leading construction firms in the Gulf region. Imad is an experienced construction professional having background in delivering high profile projects including airports, theme parks, hotels and high-rise towers. He is known for utilizing experience, proactive project management skills and different innovation tools to transform practices in the construction industry.

Imad is highly motivated with a genuine eagerness to learn and develop thus keeping pace of new procedures, strategies, and technologies to stay abreast of developments across different fields.

Passionate about people and utilizing interpersonal skills to increase collaboration between all parties hence adding value across the whole construction ecosystem. Imad has also completed multiple certifications including PMP, EMBA from INSEAD in addition to many other certifications and trainings including innovation.

Imad has been leading the innovation drive across ALEC since early 2017; working with many staff across the organization and promoting the innovation culture. Since inception, many new initiatives were driven from simple ideas into successful projects that generates value to the organization. Continuous improvement is a prime focus and have been utilizing technologies including Data, Analytics, Technology & automation in addition to 3D printing, where it adds value, in increasing efficiency and process improvements. Imad has been featured in many articles explaining construction innovation and have also presented in multiple forums.

Mohamad Sabouneh

Mohamad has 10 years of experience in digital and tech startups from the investor, founder, and accelerator sides. His functional areas range from initial concept validation, venture building, business model design, financial modeling, fundraising, and transaction structuring.
His latest roles include cofounder of Moodfit, MD of Dubai Fintech Accelerator, Venture Lead at Rainmaking, and currently Principal Venture Architect at Injazat/G42 venture builder.
Mohamad holds a Masters in Mechanical Engineering from the Lebanese University and an MBA from the American University of Beirut (AUB).

Anwer Pirani

Abe Seksek

Ibrahim “Abe” Seksek is the current COO and Head of Talent of MENA, Africa and Russia of Startupbootcamp, a Rainmaking company.  Before joining Startupbootcamp he Co-Founded a couple of companies such as ZenHR Solutions, which addresses the entire HR cycle, and Crystel, Jordan’s first business process outsourcing (BPO) provider. Ibrahim also worked as Head of Global Operations Support for Naspers, the parent company of dubizzle and OLX, which oversaw the operations in 70 countries.

Hercu Viljoen

Hercu completed his schooling in South Africa in 1980 and then spent two years in the South African defense force as a commissioned officer in the Engineering Corps.
Hercu was granted a scholarship from Grinaker to study Civil Engineering at University of Pretoria and after graduation worked at Grinaker for the next 20 years. He started as a site engineer in 1987 and finished as the Managing Director of Building Inland in 2006, taking responsibility for building projects in Southern Africa as well as being involved in the formation of ALEC, a new construction company in the UAE.
Hercu joined ALEC (Dubai) in 2006 as a Project Director. In 2008 he also became responsible for the Abu Dhabi projects. In 2010 he was involved with expanding ALEC into Qatar and Oman, established offices there and secured the first projects in those regions.
In 2012 ALEC restructured the business and Hercu became the Managing Director responsible to diversify the ALEC income stream through a portfolio of related businesses. Hercu directed the Related Businesses as his main responsibility and assisted the greater business with vision, future planning, innovation, integrity, and alignment.
In 2020 Hercu retired from the main ALEC business to join and establish APIO, a joint venture business between ALEC and CNM in the UK. He is currently officially retired and involved with a few start-up businesses as angel investor and advisor.

John Priestland

John Priestland is the former Global Strategy Director at a large engineering consultancy and is a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers.  He currently leads a specialist consultancy supporting clients with digital transformation and construction technology.  He is the founder of the C-Tech Club, which is a community of more than 300 construction-tech founders and CEOs and works extensively with start-ups.

Said Al Assaad

Said Al Assaad has been part of the investment team at Wamda for four years. His role involves staying up to date with the latest market and industry trends, formulating investment theses, networking with startups and entrepreneurs, and working on the deal process which involves initial screening, market analysis, financial modeling & due diligence. Said holds a degree in Business Administration with a Finance concentration from the American University of Beirut.

Mauricio Weiss