Middle East 2019 GCCM - Oman 25th and 26th November

Based at Lago di Como in Italy, VSC provides strategic advisory services in M&A, Business Development & Media for the telecommunication industry. Over the last 25 years, Erik developed extensive expertise and deep domain knowledge working at major telecom companies. His international career includes senior & executive level positions. Over the years, Erik has been a regular speaker & moderator at major international telecom conferences.

COMING SOON

Right after graduating from Sultan Qaboos University - Oman in 2005 as a Telecom Engineer with distinction, Yasser joined Oman Mobile (which was merged afterwards with Omantel) as a Radio Network Planning & Optimization Engineer. He spent four years in the technical department and evolved into a Senior Engineer in the network planning area. In 2009, Yasser made a switch to the Wholesale Business Unit. He currently holds the position of Senior Manager National Accounts & Interconnection.   

Yasser is leading a team responsible of managing the accounts of national wholesale customers such as network operators and virtual operators who are leasing network capacity and infrastructure from Omantel. Maintaining the business relation, making sales and engaging into commercial agreements are considered as key activities for the department which Yasser manages.

Yasser played an instrumental role in the introduction and evolution of MVNOs in Oman from a host network operator perspective as the MVNOs who partnered with Omantel were the first to launch in the Middle East. He also led and participated in numerous strategic projects which helped to expand the national wholesale business of Omantel by introducing new commercial models and innovative products and services.

Yasser has participated as a speaker and panelist in various local, regional and international conferences on behalf of Omantel. He will be presenting an overview of Omantel Wholesale during GCCM 2019.

With more than 14 years’ experience in the Telecom industry, Jamil’s experience includes project management, business development, sales and procurement. Jamil started working on submarine cables 10 years ago when he was with Orange. He was Management Committee and subcommittees chairman on different submarine cables and currently he is the BBG and G2A MC chairman. Jamil has been working with Omantel for 5 years and he leads the Omantel France activities in landing the AAE-1 cable in Marseille. Jamil holds a bachelor degree in Telecom Engineering, a Master in European Business and a Master in Geopolitics and International Relations.

Huda brings more than 20 years of experience in both IT and Marketing in the telecom industry.

My experience was gained with a key focus on building and maintaining highly successful business relationships as well as contributing as a vital and dynamic leader. I have been appointed in many different leadership positions starting from a team leader of the technical support team in IT when the Internet first incepted in Oman by Oman Telecommunications Company to the position of a General Manager heading the IT Division. Before becoming the head of IT, I was appointed in different managerial positions in Marketing, which is the business arm of Omantel. I am proud to say that I was the first woman in Omantel who has reached the position of a general manager in 2010. I am also a Director at Shell Marketing Company SAOG Board of Directors and a member of the Shell Oman Marketing Audit Committee since 2012.

Mr. Shabir Ali Murtaza is ICT professional with deep knowledge and expertise ICT operation frameworks development, Operational processes assessment, reengineering, digitization, data analytics and producing AI algorithms, with vast experience of 16+ years while working for the Amadeus, Du PJSC UAE, Etisalat UAE, Huawei Technologies UAE & Oman, and Ooredoo Oman.

During stay of above highlighted organization, worked on different operation roles and developed framework (including Risk Management, Quality, Audit/CSI, Process Management) , followed by supporting operational processes and digitization on self-initiative BPMN platform (called Digital Dynamics platform- DDP) resulted in uplifting the operation sigma level and efficiency. 

Currently, he is employed with Ooredoo Oman (Qtel Group Operator in Oman) for ICT governance standardization support and digitization.

He had completed his Bachelor in Information technology back in 2003 and acquired multiple industry certifications in industry standards and active member of many standards bodies.

Cengiz has over 22 years of experience in sales, marketing, business and corporate development areas in telecommunications and IT sectors; building and managing large, diverse and geographically dispersed organizations. He has held a variety of senior management roles for multinational companies such as Boeing, Intel and Turk Telekom. He holds a BSc and MSc in Mechanical Engineering from Texas A&M University and an Executive MBA from the University of Washington.

Feng Yunxian (Irene Feng) manages regional operations at TikTok. Before working in the telco industry, she was a chief correspondent and host at China Central TV Middle East and an author.

Lay Khuan has been in Telecommunications industry for over 30 years; her experience ranges from being in the back end of Operations, Network Design and Development, Product and Process Development; Market and Partner Establishment to the front end of Sales and Marketing. She drives business results through active partner engagement for market expansion, product differentiation, and service development that meet customers requirement.

Marco works as Regional Director for DE-CIX and is responsible for Middle East and South Asia. His current focus is on developing UAE-IX as the first 100 percent neutral IXP in the Middle East and help to develop DE-CIX in India.

Coming from a software development background, Marco founded HAPPYsoft, a software development company, in 1992, and HAPPYnet, one of the first ISPs in Austria, in 1995. In 2003, Marco founded i3b and from that time on he focused on the field of telecom wholesale. After driving forward i3b’s internationalization as wholesale partner for last mile and MPLS connections and finally selling IP transit, the company was sold to its biggest wholesale customer (2010) and ever since Marco worked as independent consultant in the telecom industry in the field of Internet Exchanges and Digital Hub Development.

Mundhir Al Raisi, is in Telecommunications industry since 1998 with broad experience in transmission systems (fixed and satellite). Currently heading Omantel Wholesale Service Delivery and Traffic Management department as Senior Manager. Mundhir is also an active contributor to the submarine world being a co-chair of Europe India Gateway (EIG) Assignment, Routing and Restoration subcommittee. In addition, playing a vast role in other leading submarine systems such as Bay of Bengal (BBG), Asia Africa Europe-1 (AAE-1) and many others.

Mundhir holds a Bachelor of Engineering from Coventry University (UK) and is a certified member of Institute of Leadership & Management (ILM).

Mundhir was the project engineer of launching two MVNO’s, Leading and managing all related departments tasks to enable and integrate into Omantel network. Also, implemented all major content delivery network (CDN) nodes. Currently, working on upgrading AAE-1 cable system landing in France (Omantel France) PoP’s in Interxion MRS1 & MRS2 and team member of Equinix Oman data center buildup.

Ms. Gahir has worked in various capacities covering operations, relationship management, sales, business development and management.
Her accomplishments include building teams from customer service agents through to senior account managers from the ground up and guiding the strategies they have applied to a wide spectrum of customers - from SME to global entities. Throughout, she has applied the same ethos of finding the right solutions to drive performance.
The most interesting thing about her experience is the incredible people she has had the privilege of working with in an international arena - both internal and external stakeholders. Helping them solve long-term challenges with solutions designed to help their businesses' success is one of the many facets of her career that she is passionate about.
She has had the responsibility of using her 11 years' experience in the EMEA region, her skills and energy to lead a team of exceptional account managers in their mission to consistently exceed targets. They work in a relationship-driven business that yields significant revenues - their success is nothing without the trust of their customers and the ability they have to galvanise their strengths internally.
Telstra's values reflect the importance of their customers: showing they care; working better together; trusting each other to deliver; making the complex simple and finding their courage. Their customers are the foundation on which their business is built and their mission is to ensure their customers are delighted with their experience.
She thrives in an environment where she is challenged and the volatility of changing markets within the dynamic region where she works demands a constant willingness to learn, develop, initiate change and be unafraid of taking responsibility for calculated risks in order to protect the longevity of their success.

Stefania started in Teleglobe Italia and covered multiple commercial and marketing roles in various international operators. She spent 12 years in TWT as Sales Manager on the wholesale channel, transforming a local national operator into an internationally recognized actor

In WIS now Stefania covers the role of Sales Area Manager, managing a wide commercial area of PTTs and MNOs in Europe and Middle East. 

Skilled in negotiation  with telecom carriers, business development and able to strengthen business relations on the wholesale market. Expert on the legacy and new voice business with 20 years plus experience. 

Robert began his telecom career at Ericsson in 1983, as a Controller and subsequently Finance Director, in one of its Middle Eastern branches. Following his return to Sweden in 1989 he joined Ericsson’s Customer Finance Department as Finance Manager. His main responsibilities were to manage South East Asia and Latin America.

After leaving Ericsson in 1994 he was managing Customer Finance in the International Civil Engineering field for Skanska AB in Africa, Europe and Latin America up to 1997.

He returned to the Telecom market in 1997 when joining NatWest Markets (later Greenwich NatWest) in London as Associate Director TMT Structured Finance with global origination responsibilities.

In 1999 he joined Credit Lyonnais and the Structured Finance TMT department in Paris to Co-Head the Department as Senior Vice President. In 2004, with the merger between Credit Lyonnais and Credit Agricole, he assumed responsibility for the Global TMT Structured Finance activities for Calyon (Credit Agricole CIB) as Managing Director.

Robert joined ING TMT Structured Finance early 2007 and assumed the role of Managing Director and Global Head of TMT Structured Finance and a member of the Structured Finance Management Team in 2008 before leaving ING summer of 2011 to join Huawei.

In Huawei Robert’s responsibilities as an Executive Director in Customer Financing were primarily to support Sales Finance Solutions in Middle East and South Asia Pacific but also to assist in the financial management elsewhere in the Huawei Group until joining Natixis in March 2019.

Rasha Barakat joined Zain Jordan family in 2005. She held different positions throughout her career at Zain Jordan. In her last position with Zain Jordan, Rasha was Chief Innovation and Human Resources Officer, where she was responsible for building and developing an active entrepreneurship ecosystem for the purpose of endorsing the ambitions of Jordanian youth and startups in order to assist them in transforming their innovative ideas into sustainable projects in the business field, and improve startups through numerous methods of support. In addition to handling all HR related functions, programs, initiatives and plans, Rasha also led the youth team at Zain Jordan that organized various activities in the social responsibility, marketing and sales realms.

Moreover, Barakat is considered an expert in deploying latest trends, techniques and technologies when it comes to Human Resources area. She has extensive experience in the field of recruitment and employment, training and development, employee relations, conflict resolution, organization development, compensation and benefits, performance management, development and implementation of organizational development and change management programs.

Rasha joined Zain Iraq in March 2019 and is currently the Chief Human Capital Officer working on culture transformation, gender diversity and inclusion programs together with the day to day human resources operations. She holds a Master Degree in Consulting and Coaching for Change from HEC and a Master Degree in Human Resource Development from University of Manchester.

Ed McCormack has over forty years’ experience in International business, including over twenty years in the Submarine cable industry.  He was Ciena’s General Manager of Submarine Systems from 2011 to 2016 and continues to consult for them today.

Prior to Ciena, he held a variety of both board and executive positions in FLAG Telecom and Reliance Communications, and also served as an Independent Non-Executive Director at Global Crossing UK Limited.  

I am a senior Telecoms/Technology executive, currently Global Head of Sales at IX Reach, after earlier roles including VP Partners & Alliances with Gulf Bridge International, Carrier Services Director with Invitel/Pantel/Turk Telekom International.
My skills and experience encompass BD/sales leadership, staff management/development, partner relations, the creation of complex business cases, procurement and the development of sales/BD strategy.
I have exceptional interpersonal and communication skills and have successfully built strong relationships with C-level clients worldwide. I have performed significantly above target throughout my career and I have an entrepreneurial and innovative mindset. I have travelled extensively and successfully built and managed diverse multinational teams.