Dave is the Managing Director of The Life Designers, a unique and professional service which provides corporate and group seminars, facilitation, entertainment, team building activities and events worldwide. In addition he is one of the freshest and highly requested trainers and motivational speakers in the market.
In the last few years he has worked in Spain, South Africa, Germany, Austria, France, Greece, Egypt, the Caribbean, Italy and Monaco. One motivational session in Greece led to one Global company recording a 49% growth in sales within their next 12 months period and they attributed much of it to his work. He is also a certified NFNLP Hypnotherapist and NLP Master Practitioner and life coach.
Dave is one of the best known names in regional radio having worked on 99.3 Radio 2FM, formerly the station manager of 104.8 Channel 4FM and Dubai 92 FM. In his spare time he works as a freelance journalist for many high profile publications and also does some freelance TV presenter and reporting work.
Participants
Majed Al Suwaidi
Director of Business Development, Dubai Internet City and Dubai Outsource Zone
Majed Al Suwaidi currently oversees business development at both clusters overseeing sales strategies, functions and activities besides streamlining operations to ensure peak performance of DIC and DOZ regional sales department. He makes sure sales functions policies and procedures are compliant enough for both organizations.
Since the time he joined DIC as Director of Sales in April 2006 he has been able to re-organise the sales structure through integration of products and services as well as efficiently segmenting the team based on regional targets.
Majed effectively aligned the Dubai Internet City's Sales strategy within TECOM Investment's Overall strategy; as he believes internal alignment and consistency in procedures and objectives is a key for success and efficiency.
Majed is also heading the FirstSteps@DIC Division which is a unique facility specifically designed for ICT companies wanting to operate from Dubai on a short term basis.
Five years of his professional career was with Emirates Airlines followed by his role in Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) as a core member of the business development team.
As an individual, Majed is known to have a strong drive for continuous growth, progress and achievement. He is a positive professional who believes that people are the most important asset as well as to respect, accept and understand others is essential.
He believes that in order to outperform, one has to fully comprehend the local and international market trends and that Strategy is not just about growth, but more about content.
Majed, a graduate with a Masters degree in Business Administration, aims for continuous development through on-going education and alignment of professional and personal goals
Arnaud Palu
Chief Operating Officer, MAF Leisure
Arnaud is now leading the Leisure division of MAF with operations all over the Middle East, from the iconic Ski Dubai to water parks and world recognized FECs. He is establishing the business as the Leisure arm for the group, developing new concepts, getting into new markets and strengthening the performance.
Prior to joining Majid Al Futtaim as Chief Operating Officer for MAF Leisure, Arnaud worked for 10 years in Disney across all operational functions. He assisted in restructuring problematic departments and rose to Director of one of the entities before leaving to join the Millennium Dome as Director of Operations in London in 2000.
Thereafter he continued his pursuit to change and streamline Six Flags Holland as consultant. In 2001, he entered the property business in the United Kingdom with X-Leisure Ltd and its leisure anchor: SNO!zone.
In 2008, he was taken on board as Chief Executive Officer to create a leisure brand of hotels & theme parks in Dubailand for the well established US animation company DreamWorks, with destinations in Dubai and India.
Claire Fenner
Co-founder of Heels & Deals
After studying Leisure Management at University, Claire moved to Dubai in 1997 and spent 6 years working in retail operations management between the UAE, UK and Hong Kong for UK high-street retailers Next and River Island then over 4 years as PR & Internal Communications Manager for home fashion brand THE One.
After becoming a parent, Claire saw an opportunity and launched 'Easy Living – The Parent's Guide to Dubai' in March 2008. It is the city's only free news and listings magazine for families as well as the most widely available resource for parent's living in the city.
With friend Georgie Hearson, Claire then co-founded 'Heels & Deals – the ultimate network for female entrepreneurs' in April 2009. Their entrepreneurial journeys and passion united them with the goal of helping other women business owners. Determined not to allow the recession to get the better of them they created a platform which enables like-minded women entrepreneurs to network not only online and offline, but locally and globally.
Claire lives in Dubai with her husband and sons aged 3 and 4.
Dr. Manoj Nakra
COO, MBRE
Manoj, since 2005, is the Chief Operating Officer of Mohammed Bin Rashid Establishment for SME development, an initiative of the Government of Dubai focused upon developing entrepreneurship, incubating and funding innovative business start ups.
He has 31 years of experience, of which over 15 years at helm of organisations as CEO / COO. His managerial expertise encompasses conceptualising and starting innovative businesses, organisational capability development, building global inter organisational alliances, raising capital, and strategy execution with bottom line orientation.
Manoj acquired a doctorate in management from Case Western Reserve University, USA, in 2004. Manoj's academic credentials include an under graduate degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi, India, and an MBA from Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Bangalore, India.
In 2004 Manoj started SmartGlobal, a retail strategy consulting and executive education company in the Knowledge Village, Dubai. Prior to the doctorate, Manoj was Deputy CEO of Jashanmal National Company in Dubai where he honed his retail experience running Jashanmal Department stores, Books Gallery, and international franchises like Clarks, Burberry, Carlton Cards, and Calvin Klein, and the distribution business that included brand names like Cross, Delsey, Hoover, and Kenwood kitchen appliances.
Rahul Dhadphale
Regional Director, London Business School in the Middle East
Rahul Dhadphale is the recently appointed Regional Director of the London Business School in the Middle East.
Since his appointment, The London and Dubai streams of London Business School's Executive MBA (EMBA) programme have joined together for the first time to deliver a truly international programme experience.
Before his permanent move to the Middle East, Rahul was an Account Director with the Centre for Management Development at London Business School. His region of focus for the School was the Gulf and broader Middle East and he was responsible for client relationship development and management in the region.
Prior to London Business School he was a Director at Strategic Response Consulting Ltd - a niche consulting practice specialising in the area of implementing customer/ market focused strategy.
Rahul also spent several years as a Project Manager and later as a Senior Consultant with StratX an international consulting firm based in Paris. His expertise included strategic marketing consulting and design and delivery of executive learning and development programmes in Western and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
His broad experience has allowed him to work internationally with a number of world-class global businesses in the Financial Services, Industrial Business-to-Business (including Specialty Chemical and Oil & Gas), Automobile and Technology industries.
Furthermore, Rahul has delivered and managed large Strategic Change Programmes in the UK and abroad to include client partners such as the European Union (TACIS), General Motors Europe and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
Rahul was awarded his MBA from Bradford Management Centre, where he specialised in International Business Strategy. He is also a Member of the Charted Institute of Marketing and the Institute of Directors.
Murali Subramanian
Head of Transaction Banking
Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank
Murali Subramanian is the head of Transaction Banking at Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank. Transaction Banking is a division of the Wholesale Banking Group, offering industry leading Cash Management and Trade solutions to over 15,000 multinationals, domestic corporations, Government entities, SMEs and financial institutions throughout the UAE.
Murali has been in this role since August 2009, when he joined ADCB. Prior to this, he was the Head of GTS at Citibank N.A. for the MENA region based in Dubai, and has held various management roles in GTS in the the North African, CIS, and Western European business. Murali has worked with Citi since May 1986, with two 2-year breaks, the first to do an MBA, and the second to spend a 2-year stint with ABN Amro Bank in the newly set up branch in Almaty, Kazakstan.
Murali holds an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, and a B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, both prestigious and globally renowned institutions.
Abdulmuttalib Talib Al Hashimi
Managing Director, Next Level Management Consultancy
Abdulmuttalib Talib Al Hashimi is an Emirati entrepreneur, Emiratisation expert, co-founder and Managing Director of Next Level Management Consultancy, an Emiratisation consultancy firm. Al Hashimi holds over 12 years of private sector experience, both as an employee and employer. He is also a member of the advisory board of AIESEC, the international youth empowerment and leadership platform, and is a regular participant in their events where he has been actively coaching young graduates.
Besides that, he judges for the quarterly Dubai Women's College Business Plan and Entrepreneurship competition. Al Hashimi was also a speaker in the 2009 GCC Nationalisation summit. In 2009, he was selected as one of 40 young Arab entrepreneurs for the Silatech project and summit. Silatech is an innovative initiative by H.H Sheikha Moza Al Misnad of Qatar to tackle issues of unemployment and enterprise creation in the Arab world. Al Hashimi is also an Assessor with the Dubai Quality Awards (DQA).
Prashant K. Gulati
President, TiE Dubai
Mr. Prashant K. Gulati, President of TiE Dubai, is a serial entrepreneur, international
business executive and mentor. With more than a decade of responsible management
experience in several companies of international repute, Prashant has extreme in depth
knowledge as a senior Telecommunications, Media and IT professional. He has been a
consultant, designer and promoter of various ventures in the Middle East and India with
some of the major state of the art projects of the region.
A post Graduate in Computer Science and Management, Mr. Gulati is the promoter and CEO of Optimistix
Ventures, a venture catalysis and consulting company based in Dubai Internet City, Dubai, U.A.E. The
company has successfully promoted ventures in the field of Web Services, Outsourcing, Vending, Hospitality,
Medicare, Media, Logistics and ICT.
He is an active Angel and Early Stage Investor in startups and younger companies and innovative ideas. With
an active portfolio of ventures in India, Middle East and US, he is actively involved in providing mentorship,
guidance and advice to such companies at various levels.
Prashant has been associated with media from a very young age, having worked in Radio and Television. He is
part of the team that put together the large number of television studios in India which were the catalysts for
the explosive growth of television in India. He has produced, edited and written for more than two hundred
documentaries of Doordarshan and spent many hours on live radio.
Prashant is a founder of the TiE Chapter in Dubai and has been a part of the managing team of the Chapter
since its inception. The Chapter has carved a niche for itself in the TiE Global ecosystem and Prashant has
been personally enriched by the association and, in turn, has been a true convert to the ethos of TiE. A real
believer in giving back to society, he has dedicated substantial time and effort to TiE and its growth and
development.
Besides TiE, he is an active member of the Indian community in Dubai and the region and is the Secretary
General and the youngest elected Governor of the Indian Business & Professional Council, Dubai, which is the
only recognized organization of the Indian Business and Professionals in Dubai. He has been instrumental in
facilitating contacts both at Government and Private Level building a closer association between India and
the countries of the region.
Prashant serves in advisory and leadership roles for a variety of startups, NGOs and commercial organizations
in the Middle East, India.
Prashant enjoys travelling around the world and is very proud to carry his Indian Passport. Some of his keen
interests are reading, listening to classical music, gadgets, culture and cars. His professional interests lie in
newer technologies in the area of webservices, outsourcing, social media, optical networking, biometrics,
wireless access technologies, VOD, video streaming and intelligent buildings.
Richard Jones
Managing Director, Coffee Planet LLC
Richard Jones is the Managing Director of Coffee Planet LLC. He is responsible for providing the strategic platform and direction for the company, for the continuing development of the brand, and for providing leadership to the Management Team ensuring Coffee Planet meets it growth aspirations and the aspirations of its shareholders and customers.
Richard has worked in some of the world's leading companies and has a wealth of knowledge and experience gained from his 15 years of financial, marketing and commercial corporate roles.
Prior to setting up Coffee Planet LLC, Richard worked for Danone Group, the world's 4th largest food company, based in their London Head Office and was responsible for managing the strategic relationship and financial performance with their biggest international customers including Tesco and WalMart.
For the ten years previous to this, Richard worked in various roles for the Mars Corporation, the worlds leading branded food company, as a European Brand Leader working on global brands as diverse as Mars, Snickers, Pedigree, Whiskas and Uncle Bens; and as Business Unit Manager for major global customers such as Tesco and Asda/WalMart.
His career began with Price Waterhouse in the UK as a chartered accountant before moving to more commercial and marketing lead roles.
Mr Jones is an Economics graduate from Kingston University, London and he is a member of the UK Institute of Directors and a number of marketing and business advisory groups and is a regular contributor to the media in the UK on topics including marketing, economics and politics and property.
