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CEO and founder of Predixa UAE, designed for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion as well as Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment, enabling organizations to become more effective and empowered.

Paula draws on a wealth of experience from over 30 years in large blue-chip firms, SMEs, and as an entrepreneur. An innovative thinker and experienced speaker, with an excellent ability to lead and inspire at all levels, Paula brings wide-ranging skills, complemented by deep knowledge in design, retail, manufacturing, and supply chain management.

Paula believes creativity and originality are the cornerstones to bringing prosperity to any business. She brings her considerable business transformation experience, natural leadership, and a passionate belief that diverse and inclusive cultures drive innovative thinking with tangible business benefits, resulting in people-centered change creating a successful organization.

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Mrs. Iva Hamel is the World Bank’s Resident Representative in UAE and leads the World Bank’s country engagement strategy in UAE. Prior to this post, she was a Senior Private Sector Specialist, leading business environment reform programs in the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and South Asia.

She was also the global lead for the Women’s Economic Empowerment Advisory Program.  Prior to joining the World Bank, she worked as a management consultant in Cambridge, MA, USA. She holds an MA in International Finance and Economics from Johns Hopkins University, and a BA in Economics from Colby College, USA.

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Carina is Head of the Digital Future Society Think Tank at Mobile World Capital Barcelona. DFS convenes leading global experts from the public and private sector, academia, and civil society to explore and propose actionable recommendations within four verticals: the future of work, digital divides, data governance, and tech and the climate emergency. Previously, she worked as d-LAB Program Manager, responsible for its strategy and supporting the going to the market of disruptive tech solutions for social impact.

Specialized in public and tech innovation and over a decade of international experience, Carina has worked with local governments, international institutions, and social tech entrepreneurs on the growth of tech solutions and the development of public policy for a more equitable, inclusive, and sustainable society. At City Mart (2012-15) she led innovation projects with Barcelona, Moscow, and Athens, local government teams in the US, South Africa, Japan, and Brazil, and with the initiative 100 Resilient Cities (Rockefeller Foundation). She has also supported the Committee of Culture Agenda 21 from the largest world association of cities and local governments (UCLG) on cultural, urban governance, and economic development issues.

She holds a Ph.D. in Cultural Studies (2016) from the Goldsmiths College, University of London and she is a member of the Advisory Board of the Observatory for Ethics in Artificial Intelligence of Catalonia and of The Billion Seconds Institute.

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Irena Bednarich is Vice President of International Government Relations at Hewlett Packard Enterprise. In this role, she is responsible for HPE’s government relations and public policy strategies across Europe, Middle East, Africa (EMEA), and Asia Pacific (APJ) and is supporting strategic public sector pursuits in this region.

Irena has over 15-year experience in the technology industry where she holds several leadership roles. She enjoys wide-ranging experience in representing the entire tech sector at the European level and has served two terms on the Board of DIGITALEUROPE, the EU-wide representation body for the tech sector and digitally transforming industries. She is a frequent speaker at international conferences about innovation and its related impacts on society and upcoming regulatory frameworks for new technologies.

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Charlotte Aschim is the CEO & Founder of Total CTRL, a top global food waste prevention software company that helps consumer-facing businesses optimize their operations, cut costs and prevent food waste. Since late 2017, Charlotte has managed to get Total CTRL on rankings alongside Amazon and Walmart, be one of Europe’s most inspiring food waste changemakers, a Norwegian Food Mentor, ranked among the top 10 best leaders within sustainability in Norway for 2020, among the top 80 Norwegian leaders under 35 in 2019, one of the amazing Fair force 100 Environmental Data Entrepreneurs, and a European Green Capital Ambassador.

Background/education: Charlotte holds a master’s degree in land management (chief engineer). She started her first job at the age of 12 (while studying and playing soccer) and has primarily worked within the construction industry and food industry. She is a self-taught coder (learned coding via YouTube) and is acknowledged as an expert within her field by both researchers, the business sector, and royalty.

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Katerina is the Commercial and Business Development Director of Clean Planet Energy, a UK-based company with a mission to remove over 1M tons of waste plastic every year from the environment working towards Clean Air and Clean Oceans.

Her continuous personal development journey has enabled her to advance her career rapidly and complete successfully two career transitions. The first transition was within the Upstream sector of the Oil & Gas industry while working for the Chinese National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC International), from solely technical roles to commercial and business leadership positions.

The second and most recent career transition was achieved by shifting sectors while still within the Energy industry from Oil & Gas to Renewables and Green Technology. She is strongly committed to delivering strategic partnerships, creating a motivating culture with a vision and passion for sustainability, innovation, and success.

Katerina holds a Ph.D. in Geology from the University of Aberdeen and an MBA from London Business School focusing on Business Strategy & Entrepreneurship.