The MENA region is home to a growing financial services centre and a burgeoning financial technology market. These awards were developed to celebrate this incredible community, and the achievements and successes of its best and brightest providers and people.
The categories are designed to cover the full spectrum of fintech, and submissions are judged by an independent panel of experts.
All the dates you need for FinTech Awards MENA 2023
Jil Ebanoidze is a fintech leader, NLP coach, and creative entrepreneur with a passion for bringing neuroscience and technology together. She is an advocate of equality, empathy, sustainability and inclusion. With extensive experience in managing global finance digital transformations, Jil helps companies scale in a regulated environment. She has worked with eBay, Naspers Group and Booking.com, where she served as an interim payments director.Jil is dedicated to promoting inclusive and sustainable finance and has worked in developing countries to help scale SMEs by bringing emerging technologies and democratising fintech education. As the managing director of a global fintech think tank, she collaborates closely with 500 C-level members to make an impact.
Jil is also an advisor at one of the biggest African venture builders, helping startups navigate through their ideas and define scaling strategies. Additionally, Jil serves as a board member of a fintech startup working on financial inclusion.
With over 10 years of experience in the financial services industry, Koba is a passionate and visionary leader who strives to create innovative and customer-centric solutions for online payments, wallets, and e-commerce platforms. Koba has founded and led several successful ventures, including UniPAY.com, PMLT USA, East-West Digital, UniCOIN, and E-Commerce Georgia.
Nir Netzer is the chairman of FinTech-Aviv, the Israeli FinTech Association.
Netzer is a fintech venture capitalist, fintech innovation strategist, digital transformation adviser, tech scouter, investor and a keen leader of the Israeli fintech ecosystem. He drives its growth by curating and hosting fintech conferences as well as lecturing in academic courses.
Noha Shaker is the founder and secretary general of the Egyptian Fintech Association and the co-founder and elected vice president of the Africa FinTech Network. Both are non-profit organisations that serve financial inclusion and equitable, sustainable economic growth across Africa, using fintech, climate tech and entrepreneurship as a means to democratise finance. Over the past 10 years, both organisations have worked on mobilising the financial industry’s key players to engage the fintech ecosystem around the continent.
Noha is also the managing director of the International Climate Finance Center. The center works mainly on supporting the Paris agreement and NDCs implementation in collaboration with UNFCCC and the EU Commission. Delivering solutions to facilitate technology transfer between the global north and global south, build public and private sector capacity and mobilise climate finance.
Noha advises the UK Aid in Africa on climate finance and digital innovation projects as a senior climate finance and innovation advisor, engaging FSD Africa—a UK Aid funded non-profit that focuses on building market capacities from regulatory, policy and infrastructure perspective. Designing and leading the implementation of projects like carbon and biodiversity credits, green financial instruments and climate tech venture builders, serving banking, insurance, capital markets and green finance sectors across key African markets.
Noha is also a Gobi Partner, running the impact and ecosystem building segment. Gobi Partners is the most interconnected Pan-Asian venture capital firm with US$ 2b in assets under management. It has operated for 20 years across North Asia, South Asia and ASEAN. And soon, Africa.
She also served as a board member at Arab Academy for management and banking that’s part of the Arab League Organization–driving banking and fintech education in the Arab world. And is a non-executive board member at the Egyptian Company for consumer finance, amongst others.
Noha is also an angel investor, part of the AUC angel investor network, supporting many successful startups.
She has collaborated on key initiatives with various trilateral agencies to enable the fintech echo system in Egypt, including IFC, GIZ, USAID and British Department for International Development, Trésor and FSD Africa.
She has worked with the CBE on both the financial inclusion strategy and fintech strategy for Egypt. Collaborated with FRA to develop the framework for fintech regulation. And is currently supporting the development of multiple climate finance policies to accelerate mobilising climate finance into the country as a certified NDCs financing expert.
A keynote speaker and a thought leader, she was selected by Innovate Finance, a UK innovation agency, to be on the power list of fintech global leaders shaping the future of the financial industry twice so far.
Sahana is the managing director of Amarante Consulting, an international boutique consulting firm, headquartered in Dubai, focused on digital, financial and inclusion projects for social impact. With more than 16 years of experience in the space, Sahana is passionate about achieving the triple bottom line: social impact, profitability and positive actions for the planet. She has worked with a wide range of stakeholders. From private sector players like telecom operators, financial institutions and social impact investors. To public actors like governments and international donor organisations in order to assist them with their digital, financial and impact projects.
Sahana believes digital transformation and digital financial services drive necessary change, at scale, to create aggregate growth in developing economies.
She is an ardent advocate for women-in-business and her work has covered a number of countries in Africa, Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Asia.
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