Archives: team-member

David Smith is the General Manager Project Finance, Syndication & Real Estate at Alinma Bank. David has achieved over 17 years of experience in the KSA and GCC markets. He is a financial executive with broad experience in all aspects of accounting, auditing, and financial management. David also has significant experience in originating and executing project/ structured finance advisory and debt negotiating mandates. Previously working for the Saudi Industrial Development Fund, a government organization responsible for the development of industrial growth/activity activity in the KSA through financial funding. His primary responsibilities included due diligence, financial appraisal, and recommendation of financial support of International joint ventures in the Kingdom in sectors covering Petrochemical, Pharmaceuticals, Steel, Recycling and consumables. David was also responsible for evaluating and developing SIDF’s core sectoral lending policies. David has an Extensive Emerging market experience through projects in Saudi Arabia, the wider GCC, and Europe and significant experience in corporate reconstructions and insolvency in Europe. He also has direct experience with financial consulting and ventures capital. David’s interest is in early-stage startups as well as companies ‘on the bubble’. His specialties and expertise include Project Finance – Structured Finance – Syndications – Real Estate – Debt Restructuring – Shariah Compliant (Islamic) Finance – Emerging Markets – MENA – GCC – Saudi Arabia. This FiNext Awards & Conference is to be held on the 26th and 27th of February at the Le Méridien Dubai Hotel & Conference Centre. This is the much-awaited conference of the year as it brings together and celebrates the excellence of companies and people in the FinTech sector. Fin-Tech industry needed space for the smartest, innovative, inventive and ambitious people to connect and create, consequently FiNext Awards and Conference were started as a dedicated platform to serve the needs of the Fin-Tech industry in terms of interaction, innovation, networking and showcasing of the talent. Two days of celebration of people who have put their lives in innovating, transforming the way how people transact through technology. FiNext Awards acknowledge people who are bringing the future of finance through their persistent efforts. The conference strives to build a platform for startups, SMEs, key decision-makers, researchers, investors and people from the media to interact and garner meaningful alliances.

About Christophe Christophe Derdeyn is the Director of Delaware Consulting Asia Pacific, partner in the Delaware International group, a global IT Services & Consulting scale-up. Since 2012 he has been involved in building Delaware in South-East Asia, focusing on back-office automation through core finance ERP implementations and Information management solutions, catering to the manufacturing, oil & gas, food, and insurance industries. Christophe started in IT consulting with a focus on infrastructure followed by IT system implementations. After a successful roll-out of a laboratory quality management system between 2003 and 2005, he became involved in the set-up and optimization of regional shared services. He also led the technical tracks for a large scale Shared Services transformation for a tier-1 FMCG company covering finance, logistics, procurement, and HR. Post the initial Shared Services setup, he has been in charge of a series of IT optimization projects, amongst which accounts-payable optimization, order-to-cash streamlining and automation and adoption of electronic invoicing platforms for direct interaction with suppliers and customers. This FiNext Awards & Conference is to be held on the 26th and 27th of February at theLe Méridien Dubai Hotel & Conference Centre. This is the much-awaited conference of the year as it brings together and celebrates the excellence of companies and people in the FinTech sector. Fin-Tech industry needed space for the smartest, innovative, inventive and ambitious people to connect and create, consequently FiNext Awards and Conference were started as a dedicated platform to serve the needs of the Fin-Tech industry in terms of interaction, innovation, networking and showcasing of the talent. Two days of celebration of people who have put their lives in innovating, transforming the way how people transact through technology. FiNext Awards acknowledge people who are bringing the future of finance through their persistent efforts. The conference strives to build a platform for startups, SMEs, key decision-makers, researchers, investors and people from the media to interact and garner meaningful alliances.

About Christoefel Christoefel Champ Chayadi is the key member of the International Expansion team of Silicon Valley-backed Circles.life, Singapore “one of the world’s first digital telcos” in the Asia Pacific region including Indonesia, Taiwan, and Australia. Christoefel is also the Managing Partner of inhandsagency.com, a digital agency that focuses on helping SMEs with their go-to-market digital strategy. Part of their recent success was leading the viral marketing campaigns that drove a coffee brand expansion to 300+ branches within 4 months across Indonesia. His most recent venture soon to be launched, invesbareng.com which is Asia’s first digital liquidity management platform that empowers people to invest together in any private company across the world with a single touch of a phone. Prior to that, he was part of the Strategy & Planning team in Alibaba-owned shopping platform Lazada where he optimized the logistics supply chain and integrated with Alibaba-owned Order Management System. Early in his career as Development Associate in Garena Online, Southeast Asia’s Largest Internet and Mobile Platform (Forbes, 2016), he was the engine behind the 20,000+ cyber cafes acquired in Indonesia and the smooth customer experience in Shopee Mobile early-stage. He was a biotech geek in training who won a research award from the Ministry of Education and Culture back in 2012. Recently, he was selected as ASEAN MENTOR by Temasek Foundation to groom young talent to be the next leaders in the ASEAN region. About FiNext Awards This FiNext Awards & Conference is to be held on the 26th and 27th of February at the Le Méridien Dubai Hotel & Conference Centre. This is the much-awaited conference of the year as it brings together and celebrates the excellence of companies and people in the FinTech sector. Fin-Tech industry needed space for the smartest, innovative, inventive and ambitious people to connect and create, consequently FiNext Awards and Conference were started as a dedicated platform to serve the needs of the Fin-Tech industry in terms of interaction, innovation, networking and showcasing of the talent. Two days of celebration of people who have put their lives in innovating, transforming the way how people transact through technology. FiNext Awards acknowledge people who are bringing the future of finance through their persistent efforts. The conference strives to build a platform for startups, SMEs, key decision-makers, researchers, investors and people from the media to interact and garner meaningful alliances

About Chirag Chirag Sampat is a Senior Executive with 20 years of experience in Financial Services serving various roles in Finance and Global Markets. Chirag is working as the Head of Global Markets and Treasury at Eradah Capital where he is a member of the founding team setting up a new Digital Bank to be licensed by the Central Bank of the UAE. Chirag is responsible for leading all global market initiatives including setup of Global Markets infrastructure, innovative retail and corporate banking products, funds management, Asset and Liability Management and managing relationships with financial institutions. Chirag is also an independent board member for the First Microfinance Bank He is a qualified Chartered Accountant from The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) and holds a bachelor’s degree in Commerce from the University of Mumbai, India. Chirag has also worked as the Director of Global Markets and before that as Head of Finance at Emirates Investment Bank where he was responsible for the entire finance function including regulatory reporting, new core banking system implementation, Basel 2 and IFRS compliance. He also served as the Head of Financial Accounting and Controls with ABN AMRO Bank in Dubai. This FiNext Awards & Conference is to be held on the 26th and 27th of February at the Le Méridien Dubai Hotel & Conference Centre. This is the much-awaited conference of the year as it brings together and celebrates the excellence of companies and people in the FinTech sector. Fin-Tech industry needed space for the smartest, innovative, inventive and ambitious people to connect and create, consequently FiNext Awards and Conference were started as a dedicated platform to serve the needs of the Fin-Tech industry in terms of interaction, innovation, networking and showcasing of the talent. Two days of celebration of people who have put their lives in innovating, transforming the way how people transact through technology. FiNext Awards acknowledge people who are bringing the future of finance through their persistent efforts.

Benjamin Choo is the Chief Executive Officer of Assetfort Capital Private Limited, an Independent Asset Management firm headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices in Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Singapore. He also holds the position of Senior VP (South East Asia) of Assetfort Holdings Limited. Assetfort provides advisory and discretionary mandates to high net worth individuals, family offices and institutions. As a Chartered Banker, Ben has over 15 years of experience in the financial services sector, specializing in Wealth Management. Ben’s last position was with Thirdrock Capital as Director, Client Advisor. He also held positions in Citibank Singapore from 2004 to 2018, most recently as Executive Director in the International Personal Bank. Ben graduated from the Nanyang Technological University with a Bachelor of Computer Engineering (Hons) and holds an International Diploma in Governance, Risk, and Compliance. He is also a member of the Singapore Management University – PAVD Round A Investor (RAIN) club. This FiNext Awards & Conference is to be held on the 26th and 27th of February at the Le Méridien Dubai Hotel & Conference Centre. This is the much-awaited conference of the year as it brings together and celebrates the excellence of companies and people in the FinTech sector. Fin-Tech industry needed space for the smartest, innovative, inventive and ambitious people to connect and create, consequently FiNext Awards and Conference were started as a dedicated platform to serve the needs of the Fin-Tech industry in terms of interaction, innovation, networking and showcasing of the talent. Two days of celebration of people who have put their lives in innovating, transforming the way how people transact through technology. FiNext Awards acknowledge people who are bringing the future of finance through their persistent efforts. The conference strives to build a platform for startups, SMEs, key decision-makers, researchers, investors and people from the media to interact and garner meaningful alliances.

Balkrishna is a result-oriented finance professional having over 10+ years of experience in core accounts and finance domains spread across varied sectors such as Retail, FMCG, Trading & distributions, BPO, Manufacturing, and Shared Services. He has handled mid to senior-level positions circled around  Finance Business Partnering, Financial Planning & Analysis and Financial Controllership. He positions himself as a data-driven decision-maker with a doable approach that has yielded his various accolades and recognition. He has led several million-dollar projects related to advanced ERP and BI tools implementations and has been instrumental in change management programs targeted to achieve strategic goals. He has a keen interest in learning and implementing advanced technologies such as RPA, AI, Big Data analytics and mobile apps development. Recently, he developed three  mobile apps that are live and  being used in MNCs. This FiNext Awards & Conference is to be held on the 26th and 27th of February at the Le Méridien Dubai Hotel & Conference Centre. This is the much-awaited conference of the year as it brings together and celebrates the excellence of companies and people in the FinTech sector. Fin-Tech industry needed space for the smartest, innovative, inventive and ambitious people to connect and create, consequently FiNext Awards and Conference were started as a dedicated platform to serve the needs of the Fin-Tech industry in terms of interaction, innovation, networking and showcasing of the talent. Two days of celebration of people who have put their lives in innovating, transforming the way how people transact through technology. FiNext Awards acknowledge people who are bringing the future of finance through their persistent efforts.

Balaji Ramaswami is the Managing Director of EMPO Technologies DMCC, a Dubai-based Tax Technology company and a Co-Founder of Emtax, GCC’s first home-grown SAAS solution for VAT Automation. As Co-Founder of Emtax, he has been focusing on building a pioneering cloud-based software platform that provides an end-to-end suite of tax compliance solutions for the MSME segments. With over 3 decades of work experience across multiple global and regional corporates in India and the GCC region, he is an experienced Finance Professional with expertise in fin-tech solutions to address operational challenges in regulatory compliance. Before embarking upon his entrepreneurial journey, he served in senior positions in various financial services organizations across India and Oman with a focus on Risk Management and Remediation. He is also a Council Member of Gerson Lehrman Group (GLG) Councils, a network of industry practitioners and other professionals worldwide. Balaji is qualified in Risk Management from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, India with a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Madras and is an Associate Member of the Institute of Cost and Works Accountants of India. EMTAX, (www.emtaxtech.com) is a scalable and efficient SaaS solution for effective VAT compliance in the GCC region. It’s innovative, out-of-the-box features enable businesses to fulfill their tax compliance obligations in a timely and correct manner using the power of technology. This FiNext Awards & Conference is to be held on the 26th and 27th of February at the Le Méridien Dubai Hotel & Conference Centre. This is the much-awaited conference of the year as it brings together and celebrates the excellence of companies and people in the FinTech sector. Fin-Tech industry needed space for the smartest, innovative, inventive and ambitious people to connect and create, consequently FiNext Awards and Conference were started as a dedicated platform to serve the needs of the Fin-Tech industry in terms of interaction, innovation, networking and showcasing of the talent. Two days of celebration of people who have put their lives in innovating, transforming the way how people transact through technology. FiNext Awards acknowledge people who are bringing the future of finance through their persistent efforts. The conference strives to build a platform for startups, SMEs, key decision-makers, researchers, investors and people from the media to interact and garner meaningful alliances.

Ayman Al Banani is the Co-Founder and COO of Banani Inc. Banani Inc is a PropTech company that provides a platform to list property for leasing, managing the property , affiliating tenants and for users to view the property online. The platform helps bridge the gap between tenant and landlord.It does so by means of powerful features and modules whose primary intent is to increase the value and ROI of existing and new properties for their respective owners and decrease operating costs. Ayman began his career in sales and marketing in Real-estate at ‘Orientals for Urban Development’, Cairo – Egypt. Later he moved to Banking , where he started as a Loan Officer at a branch – retail department and scaled up to Assistant General Manager-Corporate Banking Group at Gulf Bank – Kuwait. With 17 years of great banking success and experience, he developed an application that regulated the local real-estate market, the only one stop platform that bridges the gap between a Landlord and a tenant & assists in managing the real-estate portfolio. This FiNext Awards & Conference is to be held on the 26th and 27th of February at the Le Méridien Dubai Hotel & Conference Centre. This is the much-awaited conference of the year as it brings together and celebrates the excellence of companies and people in the FinTech sector. Fin-Tech industry needed space for the smartest, innovative, inventive and ambitious people to connect and create, consequently FiNext Awards and Conference were started as a dedicated platform to serve the needs of the Fin-Tech industry in terms of interaction, innovation, networking and showcasing of the talent. Two days of celebration of people who have put their lives in innovating, transforming the way how people transact through technology. FiNext Awards acknowledge people who are bringing the future of finance through their persistent efforts. The conference strives to build a platform for startups, SMEs, key decision-makers, researchers, investors and people from the media to interact and garner meaningful alliances

Arsen is the Advisor to CEO, RAO Mars CJSC/Sirtonics Armenia. He is an affiliate member of the Institute of Consulting, UK. Arsen carried out various projects, which are mostly related to different Business Consultancy assignments and investment plans development for the international industry and commercial sector. During the past 10 years, he is acting as a Business Advisor (Financial Markets & Foreign Investment procurement) contracted for more than 7 local and foreign Companies/Individuals, serving as a Consultant. He has the experience of 12+ years of executive management in the area of business education and training. He has taken part in or coordinated more than 30 local and international projects. Amongst many noteworthy roles, Arsen has also served as the Counselor, Advisor to C.E.O., RAO Mars CJSC/Sirtonics Armenia, acting C.O.O. of first Armenian Free Economic Zone “Alliance”, Deputy Director & Senior Expert at Arlian Consulting & Training LLC and Acting Provost, Director, Technologies & Business Development in Russian-Armenian (Slavonic) University. “FinTech is more than a regular award to add another plate on the wall, it’s a source of real pride and honor out of being part of it.”, said Arsen. Arsen was honored at the FiNext Awards and Conference award ceremony at Le Meridien Dubai Hotel & Conference Centre. This was the Fourth Edition of FiNext Awards & Conference, held on the 26th and 27th of February at the Le Meridien Dubai Hotel & Conference Centre. This much-awaited conference of the year brought together and celebrated the excellence of companies and people in the FinTech sector. Fin-Tech industry needed space for the smartest, innovative, inventive and ambitious people to connect and create, consequently FiNext Awards and Conference were started as a dedicated platform to serve the needs of the Fin-Tech industry in terms of interaction, innovation, networking and showcasing of the talent. Two days of celebration of people who have put their lives in innovating, transforming the way how people transact through technology. FiNext Awards acknowledge people who are bringing the future of finance through their persistent efforts. The conference strives to build a platform for startups, SMEs, key decision-makers, researchers, investors and people from the media to interact and garner meaningful alliances

About Angela Angela Shi is the Chief Financial Officer of Plus500AU Pty Ltd. She has a degree of Master of Professional Accounting and Master of Commerce majoring in Marketing from The University of Sydney. Plus500 is a leading provider of Contracts for Difference (CFD’s), delivering trading facilities on cryptocurrencies, shares, forex, commodities, ETFs, options and indices, alongside innovative trading technology. It is listed on the main board of the London Stock Exchange. Plus500AU is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Plus500 located in Sydney, Australia. As an experienced Financial Executive with a demonstrated history of working in the financial services industry, she has strong skills in FX hedging, Excel models, internal controls, financial reporting, and financial modeling. Her current responsibilities cover planning, implementation, managing and running of all the finance activities of a company, including financial audit, budgeting, forecasting, and regulatory reporting. Angela has held various positions and roles in the company. She used to be the Financial Controller and China Business Adviser before being promoted as CFO. Angela is an advocate for women in leadership, she supports gender equality in the workplace and promotes the initiatives that reduce the gender imbalance and gap. She is also actively involved in the research of Blockchain and AI technology and she believes these will be the key forces that drive the fintech revolution and change the fintech ecosystem. This FiNext Awards & Conference is to be held on the 26th and 27th of February at the Le Méridien Dubai Hotel & Conference Centre. This is the much-awaited conference of the year as it brings together and celebrates the excellence of companies and people in the FinTech sector. Fin-Tech industry needed space for the smartest, innovative, inventive and ambitious people to connect and create, consequently FiNext Awards and Conference were started as a dedicated platform to serve the needs of the Fin-Tech industry in terms of interaction, innovation, networking and showcasing of the talent. Two days of celebration of people who have put their lives in innovating, transforming the way how people transact through technology. FiNext Awards acknowledge people who are bringing the future of finance through their persistent efforts. The conference strives to build a platform for startups, SMEs, key decision-makers, researchers, investors and people from the media to interact and garner meaningful alliances.