Since joining Tejari in 2005, Omar Hijazi has managed to take the company to the next level in terms of strategy and delivery. Presenting a wide-ranging strategic plan that the company is rapidly implementing into deliverables has put Tejari at the forefront of the e-commerce industry in the region. With more than 12 new ventures being presented as part of his vision for communities’ portals and forward-auction transactional portals, he has helped make Tejari one of the most recognised brands in the industry.
Tejari was established in June 2000 based on the directives and vision of his HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President of the UAE and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, as a strategic initiative of the Dubai Government to facilitate B2B e-commerce in the region. Tejari had succeeded to become a single point of online trade for businesses operating in the UAE and the region, providing them with innovative, reliable, and versatile e-Marketplace services to extend their reach and enhance their competitive standing in the new global economy. The name “Tejari” means Trade or Commerce in local and several regional languages.

Ronaldo Mouchawar holds a Master's degree in Digital Communications and a Bachelor degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Northeastern University in Boston, MA.  He has accumulative 15 years of experience in technology, and business management. He served as a technical and systems consultant with EDS in the US. In 2000, he spearheaded a consulting company that managed numerous, web and e-commerce projects in the Arab world. In 2005, he launched souq.com the first auction site for the Arab world.
Today Ronaldo is the CEO of souq.com which has grown to be the largest eCommerce site in the region, enabling both B2C and C2C transactions in the Arab world.  Supported by effective secured payment methods and delivery tools in order to enable the successful completion of transactions in the most efficient and optimal way, souq.com is now ready to enable regional internet users to reap the advantages of e-commerce. Backed by Maktoob.com, the largest Arab online community, Souq.com has the pedigree, power and creativity to lead the online auction market in the region.

Mr. Julfar is currently the Chief Operating Officer of Etisalat, the leading telecommunications service provider in the UAE since 1976. Prior to this, he handled the entire Dubai operations of Etisalat as the General Manager. His extensive career in the telecommunications industry spans over 22 years, and he continues to be a distinguished and highly motivated senior executive with extensive experience in management, network operations, engineering and customer services.
A bachelor’s degree holder in Civil Engineering from Washington, USA and a graduate of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Programme for Leadership Development, Mr. Julfar also continues to serve as a board member of E-Vision, the leading cable TV operator in the UAE and Etisalat Academy, a regional training and development centre.

James Roper is Chief Executive and Founder of IMRG (Interactive Media in Retail Group) - the industry body for electronic retailing via the internet, mobile, interactive TV, kiosks and other networked screens in the home, office and pocket.
The IMRG is the membership community for the e-retail industry, united in a powerful community whose common vision is to maximise the commercial potential of online shopping.  With more than 16 years experience in a rapidly-changing market that is now expanding at 40% year on year, IMRG has helped members maximise business opportunities, and stay up to date with developments in the marketplace.

Among Rehan’s professional achievements was an award on the Peat Marwick articleship, one of the most coveted awards in London.  Upon entering the floral trade in 1996, he established three major export oriented floriculture projects in India, giving birth to the Indian floriculture export industry.  Since founding Flora2000, Rehan has successfully established over 500 business processes, addressing each business task and sub task and computerising them.
Since that time, Flora2000 has created their exclusive proprietary delivery system that ensures customers receive the world's most talented florists coupled with the planet's freshest flowers at the best prices.  As a result, Flora2000 can deliver premium floral arrangements during the same day or next day to over 150 countries. 

A co-founder of Gawab, Eng. Eltarras is considered one of the region's authorities on open source technology. Eng. Eltarras holds a masters degree in Computer Engineering and is preparing his PhD jointly with Virginia Tech University. Due to his knowledge and expertise, Eng. Eltarras has participated, as a research scholar, in numerous research projects at Purdue University and Virginia Tech.
Gawab is currently the largest email service provider in the middle-east, with an aim of Gawab was to provide email service to users in the Middle East region, on both paid and free basis. Since its inception in 1999, Gawab has made strides in developing one of the biggest names in online services in the Middle East region. Over the past few years, Gawab has consistently remained within the top 3000 web-sites in the world.

After ten years in the U.S. where he attended California State University, Fullerton, coupled with obtaining his Financial Advisor Certification from the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), Omar was curious to come to Dubai and break new grounds where he and Mr. Ahmed Moussa co-founded Accelarabia.com to become the first online loan fulfillment portal operating in the UAE with plans to launch soon in Egypt, Oman, Qatar, and other GCC countries.
Accelarabia.com is the first online mortgage facilitation website in the Middle East currently serving the UAE market and expanding into other Middle Eastern countries in 2008.  The company was co-founded by Mr. Ahmed Moussa, currently the Chief Technology Officer, and Mr. Omar Soudodi in May of 2005 with the goal to create the first online destination for online financing in the region.

Aside from serving as the current President of ce+X22rtifida, Robert is also President of e-Trust International Association, Chairman of SNV INB Committee (Swiss Association for Standardisation), and a former Vice President of FEDMA (Federation of European Direct and Interactive Marketing.  Robert P. Hilty hails from Crans-Montana, Switzerland and speaks Swiss, German, French, English, Italian, Spanish and Swedish.  He has a post graduate in direct marketing and formerly served as election supervisor in the United Nations, and has widely been known for his engaging lectures at various high schools, universities and international conventions.
cf-certifida is the first Public Private Partnership in the area of consumer affairs in Switzerland (even in Europe).  certifida certified Trust Marks fulfill a higher qualification for recognition on a voluntary basis and therefore raise consumer confidence.

Hamdan Mohamed Al Marshudi, who has more than 10 years in business experience in the Middle East, is the CEO & Managing director of Save.ae, an enterprise which focuses on internet solutions.  He is the founder of Save.ae, a leading online store in the region, and serves as the CEO for Knowledge Shape MENA.
Save.ae is UAE’s premier online shopping market providing a wide range of products for sale to individual and corporate consumers within the UAE and globally.  Officially launched in September 2006 as a grocery online provider, Save.ae has already established a strong consumer base and has attracted more than 1 million hits during the month of January 2007 and projecting a 25% increase on a monthly basis.

In 1998, mazika.com as founded by AbdelRahman Mehilba who served as its Chairman. Mazika is the Arabic slang word for Music. The site was established to create an Arabic Music Network, where users can find everything they want about Arabic Music, from Songs, Singers' official websites and all relative entertainment materials .In less than a year Mazika turned to be not only the biggest Arabic Music website, but a top Arabian website where most of the Online Arab users visit.
Mazika.com is the first and the largest Arabic music portal in the Middle East. The portal is targeted to everyone who is interested in Arabic Music in general.  It provides all Arabic music in licensed WMA format.  The company targets internet users worldwide, 50 % of the registered users are located in Egypt and the rest are from the Middle East, Canada, Australia, the USA etc. where most Egyptians and Arab citizens abroad are located.

Deepak Bansal, one of the world’s leading Internet Marketing Consultant started his career at very young age of 18. His researches in the field of Internet Marketing and Search Engine Optimization have led him to lead from the front and take any challenge in the domain. Deepak’s mandate is to dramatically increase the scale of operations and to seize the opportunity in the increasingly converging environment. He is responsible for all company operations including sales, marketing & strategic alliances network. Deepak believes in atomizing the web processes and hopes he will be able to make internet a better place for everyone from biggest to smallest unit of the society. Mr. Bansal himself is a B. Tech (Computer Engineer) from a reputed college of Engineering in India. His career started when he was in his college. Deepak showed a great momentum, an extra ordinary student and an internet researcher. Deepak Bansal, CEO and Founder of Clearpath Technology, one of world’s largest Internet Marketing Company, has today made a prestigious reputation mainly in USA, Australia, Great Britain, middle Europe, South Africa and at across the globe. Clearpath Technology with staff of over 145 search engine optimizers, designers and developer is worldwide leader in the field of search engine optimization, internet marketing, web design and e-commerce development. Clearpath Technology is presently working on more than 1200 websites.
Mr. Deepak Bansal was interviewed on National Television, India, for his excellence and achievements at the very young age of 23. His Interview was ideal for new entrepreneurs and people who are still to start a career and need a platform. Deepak has been known as a noted speaker in many of the conferences in India and across the Globe. Deepak is a strong team builder and team player, his spirits of creativeness pervades throughout the organization. When not working, he is likely to be caught amidst an interesting conversation with family and friends.

Toufic has 20 years of experience in the hospitality sales and marketing across the GCC.  His career started with Hilton International in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain before moving to Rotana Hotels & Resorts to head the Corporate Marketing department.  In 2002 Toufic moved to Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts and was promoted to the position of Vice President Sales & Marketing Middle East in 2005.  He is currently responsible for the structuring of the regional sales departments, launching of new hotels and strengthening the position of existing hotels.
Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts is an international Swiss premium hotel chain active in the 4- and 5-star resort hotel and business/airport hotel markets. With 80 hotels existing or under construction represented in 23 countries, it serves over 5 million guests per year. Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts employs more than 12'000 employees with a geographic focus on Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

Dr. Salam Abdallah is known as an IS&T academic and practitioner both in Western Australia and the Middle East.  Salam is an advocate of open source concepts and he is an active participant on the Global Text Project and Education Foundation of Europe. He has a PhD in Information Systems from Curtin University of Technology, Australia, and Masters Degree in Industrial Engineering, specialising in Computer Application from Cranfield Institute of Technology, United Kingdom. 
The Abu Dhabi University offers a range of undergraduate and postgraduate degrees based upon the American model of higher education; in addition, several professional diploma and postgraduate diploma programs, utilising the British system of postsecondary education, are available.

A licensed professional engineer, Girish also has an MBA from the University of North Carolina, USA. He has more than 10 years of experience with reputed multinationals such as Dell, IBM and 3M. Relocated from the USA to Middle East 2 years ago, Girish is presently heading the e-business operations of the Al-Futtaim Group.
Rapid development throughout the 1940s and 50s was seen by the Al-Futtaim Group which has been established regionally as an integrated commercial, industrial and services organisation.  The Group’s scope of operations includes Automotive, Electronics, Retail, Travel, Logistics, Insurance, and Real Estate & Property Development.

Dr. Fadi Aloul’s research and industrial interests are in computer and network security. Dr. Aloul holds a B.S. degree in electrical engineering summa cum laude from Lawrence Technological University (LTU), and an M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in computer science and engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, respectively. He has 50+ publications in international journals, conferences, and workshops.
The American University of Sharjah (AUS) was founded in 1997 by His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan Bin Mohammed Al Qassimi, Member of the Supreme Council of the UAE and Ruler of Sharjah, who envisioned the university as a leading educational institution in the Gulf region. Although consciously based on upon American institutions of higher education, the AUS is also expected to be thoroughly grounded in Arab culture and to be part of a larger process of the revitalisation of intellectual life in the Middle East.

During his professional life within the Internet industry, Mohammed was exposed to nearly all areas of the Internet Industry – web application development, user experience design, web usability and web accessibility, e-commerce and online shopping, information security, online marketing and SEO, electronic B2B and B2C, IT Quality engineering, IT process design and control, IT project management, etc.  Mohammed has a B.SC in Computer engineering and digital systems from AL-Balqa’a Applied University in Amman, Jordan.
Interstandards is a pioneering Arab Initiative launched with the mission of accelerating the development of the Internet industry by developing a set of websites quality standards which were developed in association with the British Standards Institution (BSI).  Those standards cover the following areas: website advertising, website design, website content, website security and website engineering. Those standards are structured via a Quality Certification Program aimed at awarding the participating websites Interstandards Internet Quality Certificates (IQC).

Jonathan currently serves as the GM for Books Division of Motivate Publishing, the region’s largest and most established publishing media group. He has previously held the post of Director of Product Development Scholastic Inc. New York, and was responsible for developing online and CD-Rom based software programmes for the US education market.  He was also the Managing Editor for Times Publishing Singapore, where he was responsible for travel and culture titles and worldwide co-edition management.
Booksarabia.com is the online bookshop of Motivate Publishing, the Gulf's leading publisher of magazines and books.  Motivate was founded in 1979 with the launch of What's On, the first magazine in the Gulf. The company's portfolio has since grown to include more than 25 magazines and over 200 book titles.  The company's mission is 'to deliver excellence in communication.'  As such, Motivate Publishing continues to lead the way in setting magazine and book publishing standards in the Middle East.

Mr. Moustafa has been instrumental in attracting and maintaining a talented team of developers, and in bringing global business leaders and security experts to Diversinet's Board of Directors and Advisory Board. Previous to Diversinet, Mr. Moustafa was the founder of CIT Inc., a global software firm focused on solutions for corporate clients; he also held senior executive positions with Rogers Communications and IBM. 
As a premier technology enabler in the Middle East, CompuMe offers virtually the complete galaxy of innovative IT products and services.  The company currently meets the demands of consumers and corporate clients in the UAE.  Nagy has also founded Diversinet in late 1997, on his vision of providing simplicity, security and added value to over a billion mobile phone users in the world today-a vision that has made Diversinet a leading innovator in the authentication security and mobility space.

J.C. Butler was born in Boston, Massachusetts, grew up in Santa Fe, New Mexico and Southern California, and in 2004 received a degree in International Economics from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).  After graduation, J.C. spent a year working as a business journalist on projects in Belgium, Germany and Kuwait.  In 2005, J.C. Butler and Sim Whatley founded Dubizzle.com.  Since its foundation, J.C. has worked as a Managing Partner of the website, and has helped it grow into a highly trafficked staple in Dubai’s web world.
Started in August of 2005, Dubizzle has quickly become an indispensable online service for all Dubai residents.  The site is an online listing in which nearly all of the content is provided for users by users.  The listings range from all categories of classifieds and properties, to jobs and event calendars.  As the site and business plan have evolved, dubizzle continues to venture further into the realm of Web 2.0, redefining the community portal and the idea of hyper-localisation.  Today Dubizzle is one of the largest English websites in Dubai, and continues to grow at an accelerated rate.

With over 12 years of industry experience spanning banking technology, E-Commerce and mobile payments, Amol is among the few in the region who are well poised to address the developing mobile commerce and mobile banking business.
Amol leads the mobile commerce & electronic payments business for Etisalat, working at the juncture of mobile communications, retail banking and E-Commerce.  He has gathered considerable know-how and experience in the areas of mobile payments (both remote & proximity) and electronic payments, and is a certified Prince 2 Practitioner, a project management framework from the Office of Government Commerce, UK.

Started with an entry level post as a junior programmer in the NCB IT division in 1996, Zaher climbed the corporate ladder swiftly, tackling all the technical and business challenges with a matchless attitude and dedication, and by the year 2000 Zaher and his team successfully introduced the first electronic channel AlAhliOnline – The Winner of multiple e-Banking awards in the region.  With over 12 years of business and technical experience in the National Commercial Bank, Zaher Hejazi is best described as the driving innovative force behind the successful introduction of the Alternative Banking Delivery Channels.
Founded 50 years ago, NCB was the first Saudi-owned bank to be established in the Kingdom. Today, it is the largest bank in the Middle East in terms of capital and has a heritage of trust which has been won by meeting customer expectations with a comprehensive range of superior banking and investment products and services, developed on the basis of an indigenous understanding of the unique cultural and social traditions of Saudi Arabia.

Tehmton Cooper has nearly three decades of experience in the airline and related industries. As e-Commerce Manager at the Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways, Tehmton is currently in charge of planning and implementing the whole gamut of the young airline’s ambitious online initiatives. Having handled various responsibilities such as global sales, direct marketing, MIDT, online booking and e-commerce in the South Asian, Far East and Middle East markets, Tehmton has a keen understanding of customer behaviour vis-à-vis different sales and marketing approaches in a multicultural context.
Etihad Airways, the National Airline of the United Arab Emirates, has won various awards including the World’s Leading New Airline (13th World Travel Awards, 2006); World’s Leading Flatbed Seat (13th World Travel Awards, 2006); World’s Leading New Airline (12th World Travel Awards, 2005); and World’s Leading New Airline (11th World Travel Awards, 2004).

Rashed has played a leading role in setting the strategies and developing the roadmap for eCommerce and mCommerce services for Etisalat.  Among the significant advancements that have been achieved by Rashed’s team for the mobile commerce projects are the Mobile Payment, Mobile Money Remittance and Mobile NFC Payment pilot.
With over 15 years of experience in Information Technology Security field, Rashed takes Etisalat to a new level with his international experiences include assessing and establishing partnerships and alliances for enriching products, enhancing service delivery, increasing business value, and reducing cost of production. Rashed has obtained his undergrad education from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California, and holds a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science with Software Development emphasis. He is also a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) which is a prestigious professional certification in the field of information security.

Ahmed is a seasoned marketing and business development strategist with over 18 years of practical experience in the info-tech / communication industry.  He has proven ability in managing independent profit center, starting from initiation of the business to supervising & managing the complete business functions. Ahmed has an in-depth understanding of a diverse range of business management functions including market analysis, sales and marketing, team building and management, MIS systems and quality assurance, accounts, cash flow management and the management of legal and administrative aspects of the business entity. 
Techsouq.com is the online shop of Blaze Computers which is a one stop solution for all the imaging and printing products, from multiple vendors under one umbrella, to offer the most viable solutions technically and commercially, both to the distribution channel as well as the corporate end user.  The company carries an innovative, cost efficient distribution channel for IPG products, to offer complete technical, techno-commercial and solution specific model between the vendors and the smaller resellers in the U.A.E. & G.C.C. market. 

In her role, Kristie has responsibility for the Group’s online sales and communication strategy, business innovation framework, and the operation of a centre for applied research and consumer insights’.  Kristie holds a First Class Bachelor of Arts Honours degree in Leisure and Tourism Management from the University of North London and is a former Executive Officer on the HEDNA Board of Directors. Born in Holland and raised in the UK, Kristie now resides in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Jumeirah properties are regarded as among the most luxurious and innovative in the world and have won numerous international travel and tourism awards. The company was founded in 1997 with the aim to become a hospitality industry leader through establishing a world class portfolio of luxury hotels and resorts. To date, the Jumeirah portfolio includes luxury hotels and resorts in Dubai, London and New York.

Yasser Hatami is the founder and Managing Director of GulfTalent.com, the Middle East's leading online recruitment portal for experienced professionals. He was previously Vice President of Investments at Abraaj Capital, a Dubai-based private equity and investment group.  Prior to this, Yasser was a consultant with McKinsey & Company in London, where he advised senior management of multinational companies on key issues of strategy and organisation. He holds an MBA from INSEAD, France and a Masters degree in Electrical Engineering from Imperial College, London, UK.
GulfTalent.com is the Middle East’s leading online recruitment portal for experienced professionals, covering Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. Headquartered in Dubai and used by leading employers and recruiters in the region, GulfTalent.com specializes in matching top candidates with attractive career opportunities through its internet site.