Regional Final
Eastern Europe, Middle East & Central Asia

Shandana Gulzar Khan is a Pakistani politician who has been a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan since August 2018. She is a member of three Standing Committees of the National Assembly including the Standing Committee on Privatization; Planning, Development and Reform; and Industries and Production. She is also a member of the National Assembly's Special Committee on Agricultural Products. Shandana is also elected as the Chairperson of the Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians, a network of women members of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association's parliament and legislatures.

Rosie Keller is currently the Global Partnerships Manager at Seedstars. Previously, she was Regional Manager for Asia, where she and her team of international, driven individuals substantially increased Seedstars’s regional footprint (all while working remotely!).

Seedstars invests in and supports tech entrepreneurs in more than 70 countries across Asia, Africa, MENA, CEE, and Latam, with the aim of impacting lives in these regions through innovative, economic development.

Favad has been affiliated with Engro group for more than 20 years and is the Head of Engro of Foundation. He joined Engro Fertilizer in 1999 as Distribution Officer in the Marketing department. After various stints at Engro Fertilizer in the Marketing and Public Affairs department Favad moved to Engro Polymer and Chemicals as Market Development Advisor. Currently as the Head of Engro Foundation Favad looks after the CSR activities for all Engro subsidiaries. He obtained his MBA degree from Institute of Business Administration in Karachi.

Birgit Lamm joined FNF in 1993 in Germany. Since then she has held various positions within the Foundation in Germany and internationally. Among others, she served as Director of the International Academy for Leadership (IAF) in Gummersbach (2006-2012) and Head of the Mexico Office (2013-2019). She holds an MA in Applied Linguistics (English/Spanish) from Mainz University, Germany, and an MPA from the Hertie School of Governance, Berlin.

With over 13 years of professional experience within the clean tech, utilities and data analytics sectors, Marco has gained a strong insight about process, project and team management in the corporate world. His core focus lies at the crossroad between analytics, operations and strategy and he currently leads the financial and strategic modelling capabilities for his team at GE Renewables.

In his experience as a mentor Marco collaborates with some international accelerators and supports start-ups at different stages of their life-cycle with his holistic and blended coaching approach encompassing also business planning & lean canvas, GTM strategies, cash flow planning, pitch coaching and strategy & execution.

He holds an executive MBA from Cass Business School, other than 2 Engineering Master’s Degrees (in Italy and Ireland) and has authored more than 20 between technical and market intelligence reports and scientific publications.

Eli David is the CEO of StartupBlink, a global startup map and research center ranking the startup ecosystem of 1,000 cities and 100 countries. StartupBlink is partnered with dozens of governments, municipalities and economic development corporations. StartupBlink also works with global organizations as the UN and the World Bank Group on topics related to global research and ecosystem development and consulting.

Danish Ejaz is CEO of Madvertising, a digital agency and publication that offers the intersection of branding, strategy, technology and culture. He has worked for companies of all sizes from startups to billion dollar brands across several countries. He's an advertising veteran who segued into digital media after stints at Ogilvy, Leo Burnett and Publicis and has worked on brands like Unilever, British American Tobacco, Philip Morris & PSO to name a few. He has conducted various training & development sessions on branding, personal growth, career counciling, team building & computing skills at IBA, KU, Engro Polymer & HBL. He has also represented Pakistan at international events related to tech and creative narrative building.

He believes in working with brands that seek to enrich lives. He is obsessed with using digital media and branding to resolving his customer's constraints to growth.

25+ years of top-level business experience in Finance and HR. Serial entrepreneur. Proud father of five.

Sophia is the Founder & CEO of Linked Things (www.linked-things.com), the only end to end IoT Solution Provider in Pakistan. Sophia has previously worked with Telenor, Deutsche Telekom and the GSMA in strategy, products and market engagement roles. Her work took her across Asia, Africa and Europe and got a chance to watch market dynamics and urban situations. Her passion to find high tech solutions for real business and social challenges led to Linked Things that focuses on solving energy, water, air quality and agri challenges in emerging markets through IoT & Big Data. Sophia has BE & MS from NED University and University of Michigan respectively.

Milan Veselinov has been professionally dealing with the circular economy in Serbia since he returned from the Netherlands with the aim of helping responsible companies in the transition to good business, while creating a positive and acceptable environment for such business. The circular economy is his choice as the most logical model to achieve higher profits with the delivery of better products and at the same time save resources, society and the environment. Therefore, it is his professional interest and his expertise.
He had worked on numerous European Union projects, regional and local research and projects. He founded the company CirEkon, which is fully committed and specialized in the transition to a responsible circular economy. He is a member of the World Club of Circular Economy Professionals, the European Group of Experts, the World Organization of Industrial Ecology Professionals, the European Network of Trainers and Coaches Dedicated to Combating Climate Change and is a Peer expert for the INTERREG EUROPE for matters on the topic of circular economy. With the creation of the Academy for Circular Economy, he wants to bring the concept closer to the business world in Serbia adn region in the best possible way.
He has obtained a master's degree in Industrial Ecology at the joint program of the Dutch Technical University Delft, the University of Leiden, and the Austrian University Carl Franzens in Graz.

Ms. Saima Qadir brings 30 years of experience in capital markets, risk management, renewable energy, and climate finance with operations experience in over 50 countries. After a career on Wall St she joined the GEF and World Bank to pioneer some of the first global renewable energy financial products, funds, and projects. She brings in interdisciplinary approach with an academic background that includes a MBA, Earth Sciences, Economics, Climate Change, and International Relations. She is currently the Private Finance Advisory Network’s (PFAN) Country Coordinator for Pakistan to facilitate financing for projects with climate impact. She received her MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College and BA from Smith College.