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A New Economy for Middle East and North Africa Countries: Youth, Technology and Finance

March 26-27, 2018

The Centre International de Conférences Abdelatif Rahal (CIC) BP 67-16098 Club des Pins, Staoueli – Algiers, Algeria

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A New Economy for Middle East and North Africa Countries: Youth, Technology and Finance

  • The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region will have to create hundreds of millions of new jobs over the next three decades. This challenge presents an opportunity for the region to transform its economies and harness both the creativity of its large youth population and the disruptive power of technology as engines of growth.

    The World Bank Group in partnership with the government of Algeria and the Arab Monetary Fund, will bring together policymakers, entrepreneurs and academics from the region and beyond for a series of far reaching discussions on what it will take for MENA to seize this opportunity.

    The Youth, Technology and Finance conference will focus on the building blocks of a new economy. This will include discussions on the role education systems play in changing attitudes toward and encouraging innovation. The region has a fast-growing population of university graduates, and widespread adoption of smart phones and social media, but few combine their skills with technology to become entrepreneurs.

    The e-commerce site, Souq.com and the ride-hailing app Careem are powerful examples of what is possible, and the conference will host discussions on the environment needed to multiply these green shoots. There will be sessions on creating education systems that equip young people with 21 st century skills, and crafting smart regulations that promote innovation as a driver of private sector development and job creation. Discussions will also focus on the lessons learned in
    establishing the necessary technical infrastructure, such as accessible and affordable high-speed internet and digital payment systems.

    The new economy will be driven by technological innovation, which has broadened the reach and lowered the cost of training, revolutionized job matching and lowered the cost of incubating start-ups.

    A number of the region’s most successful ‘unicorns’ will also be featured at the conference, with their stories of how they leveraged disruptive technologies to launch businesses and grow offering a glimpse of a potential future for the region.

    For more information on the conference please contact newarabeconomy@worldbank.org

    Follow us on twitter: #newmenaeconomy

     

    Last Updated: Mar 18, 2018

  •  

    Day 1 — Monday, March 26, 2018

     

    8:00 AM   

    Breakfast and Registration
    8:30 AM

    OPENING SESSION

    Ahmed Ouyahia, Prime Minister, People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria
    Abderrahmane Raouya, Minister of Finance, People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria
    Hafez Ghanem, Vice President, Middle East and North Africa, The World Bank Group
    Abdulrahman A. Al Hamidy, Director General Chairman of the Board, Arab Monetary Fund

    Jim Yong Kim, President, World Bank Group (by video)

    9:00 AM

    PANEL SESSION 1. START-UPS AND UNICORNS

    Moderator: Rebeen Pasha, Founder of MyeDream Incubator, Iraq, and StartUP MIddle East

    Keynote address: Mudassir Sheikha, CEO and Co-Founder, Careem
    Keynote address: Kamran Elahian, Founder and Chairman, Global Innovation Catalyst

    Panelist: Ala' Alasallal, CEO, Jamalon
    Panelist: Riad Hartani, Co-founder, Xona Partners & iValley.co
    Panelist: Ghinwa Jalloul, Founder and CEO, Torch
    Panelist: Xavier Reille, IFC Country Manager for the Maghreb region, World Bank Group

    11:00 AMCoffee break
    11:30 AM

    PANEL SESSION 2. DIGITAL JOB PLATFORMS

    Moderator: Parmesh Shah, Global Lead for Jobs, Agriculture Global Practice, World Bank Group

    Panelist: Waleid Asad, Executive Director of Enterprise, Silatech
    Panelist: Mahmoud Shayeb, Chief Operating Officer, SoukTel
    Panelist: Sean Blagsvedt, Founder and former CEO Babajobs.com
    Panelist: Krimo Salem, Founder and CEO, If And Then, Inc.
    Panelist: Mudassir Sheikha, CEO and Co-Founder, Careem

    1:00 PMLunch
    2:00 PM

    PANEL SESSION 3. REGULATION AS A CATALYST FOR INNOVATION

    Moderator: Faraoun Houda-Iman, Minister of Post, Information Technology & Communication, People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria

    Keynote address: Mr. R. S. Sharma, Chairman, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI)
    Keynote address: Martin Peitz, Professor, University of Mannheim

    Panelist: Marie Francoise Marie-Nelly, Country Director for the Maghreb Region, World Bank Group
    Panelist: Federica Maiorano, Senior Competition Expert, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)

    Panelist: Noureddine Tayebi, Founder and CEO, InSense Inc. and Founder and Chairman of the Board of VA Technologies, Algiers

    4:00 PMCoffee break
    4:30 PM

    PANEL SESSION 4. FINANCE AND DEVELOPMENT

    Moderator: Abderrahmane Raouya, Minister of Finance, People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria

    Keynote address: Lemma Senbet, Executive Director, African Economic Research Consortium and University of Maryland

    Panelist: Ragavan Venkatesan, Head, Digital Payments & Alternate Channels, IDFC Bank
    Panelist: Abhishant Pant, Founder, Cashless Journey 
    Panelist: Kamran Elahian, Founder and Chairman, Global Innovation Catalyst
    Panelist: Habib Attia, Senior Financial Economist, Arab Monetary Fund
    Panelist: Issa Aghabi, IFC Investment Officer, Venture Investing, World Bank Group

    7:30 PM

     

    Gala Dinner

     

    Day 2 — Tuesday, March 27, 2018

    8:30 AMBreakfast
    9:00 AMPANEL SESSION

    PANEL SESSION 5. EDUCATION, SCIENCE AND INNOVATION

    Moderator: Nouria Benghabrit, Minister of National Education, People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria

    Keynote address: Hayat Sindi, Special Advisor to the Islamic Development Bank’s President, IsDB

    Panelist: Nadir Mohammed, GCC Country Director, World Bank Group

    Panelist: Salvatore Nigro, Global Vice President, Education for Employment.

    Panelist: Kamran Elahian, Founder and Chairman, Global Innovation Catalyst

    Panelist: Lesly Goh, Director, Information and Technology Solutions Vice Presidency, World Bank Group

    Panelist: Mussaad Al-Razouki, Chief Business Development Officer, Kuwait Life Sciences

    10:30 AMCoffee break
    11:00 AM

    PANEL SESSION 6. DIGITAL AGRICULTURE

    Moderator: Parmesh Shah, Global lead on jobs, World Bank Group

    Panelist: Castro Antwi-Danso, Director of Sales and Marketing, Esoko
    Panelist: Lavandez (Van) Jones, co-founder, Hellotractor
    Panelist: Maurits Voogt, Managing Director, Eleaf
    Panelist: Simone Strey, CEO, PEAT/Plantix
    Panelist: Maria Claudia Pachon, Engagement Director, CiBO

    1:00 PMLunch
    2:00 PM

    MINISTERS CLOSING ROUNDTABLE

    Abderrahmane Raouyao, Minister of Finance, People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria

    Hafez Ghanem, Vice President, Middle East and North Africa, The World Bank Group

    Abdulrahman A. Al Hamidy, Director General Chairman of the Board, Arab Monetary
    Fund

    3:30 PMCLOSING REMARKS AND NEXT STEPS
    3:30 PM

    Press Conference

    Abderrahmane Raouya, Minister of Finance, People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria 

    Hafez Ghanem, Vice President, Middle East and North Africa, The World Bank Group

    Abdulrahman A. Al Hamidy, Director General Chairman of the Board, Arab Monetary Fund 

    Last Updated: Mar 25, 2018

  • Ahmed Ouyahia

    Prime Minister, People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria

    Ahmed Ouyahi has been appointed Prime Minister of Algeria in August 2017. Previously, he was Prime Minister from 1995 to 1998, from 2003 to 2006, and from 2008 to 2012. Mr Ouyahia also served as Minister of Justice. A career diplomat, he was Ambassador to Mali, served as Algeria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations and held the positions of Director General for Africa in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Head Office and Secretary of State for Cooperation and Maghreb Affairs. Mr. Ouyahi was one of the founders of the National Rally for Democracy (RND) as well as the party's Secretary-General.

    Jim Yong Kim

    President, World Bank Group

    Jim Yong Kim, M.D., Ph.D., is the 12th President of the World Bank Group. Kim’s career has revolved around health, education, and improving the lives of the poor. Before joining the World Bank Group, Kim, a physician and anthropologist, served as the President of Dartmouth College and held professorships at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health. Kim also served as director of the World Health Organization’s HIV/AIDS department and co-founded Partners in Health, a non-profit medical organization that now works in poor communities on four continents. Kim was recognized as one of America’s “25 Best Leaders” by U.S. News & World Report, and was named one of TIME magazine’s “100 Most Influential People in the World.”

    Abderrahmane Raouya

    Minister of Finance, People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria

    Abderrahmane Raouya was appointed Minister of Finance in May 2017. Previously, he was Director General for Taxes, Expert in the Office of the Minister of Finance. He also served as International Monetary Fund Expert in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Director for Fiscal Legislation.

    Hafez Ghanem

    Vice President, Middle East and North Africa (MENA), The World Bank Group

    Hafez Ghanem, an Egyptian and French national is a development expert with more than thirty years of experience in policy analysis, project formulation and supervision, and management of multinational institutions and has worked on World Bank operations and initiatives in over 20 countries in Africa, Europe and Central Asia, Middle East and North Africa, and Southeast Asia. Dr. Ghanem leads the World Bank’s engagement with 20 MENA countries through a portfolio of ongoing projects, technical assistance and grants. Prior to his current appointment, Dr. Ghanem was a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution in the Global Economy and Development program leading the Arab economies project and served as the Assistant Director-General at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). He also led the reforms of the Committee on World Food Security to make it more inclusive and responsive to country needs.

    Abdulrahman A. Al Hamidy

    Director General Chairman of the Board, Arab Monetary Fund

    Dr. Al Hamidy currently serves as Director General Chairman of the Board in the Arab Monetary Fund. Dr. Al Hamidy held several positions: Vice Governor of Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency, Deputy Governor for Technical Affairs, Director General of the Economic Research and Statistics, Director of Training and Research Center and Information at Banking Institute. He was an Assistant Professor in the Economics Department at King Saud University. Dr. Al Hamidy was a member of the Board of Executive Directors of the Arab Monetary Fund for the period from 2003-2013, in addition to his membership in the Boards of Directors in several leading Saudi Institutions. With his appointment as Chairman of the Arab Monetary Fund, Dr. Al Hamidy is also the Chief Executive Chairman of Arab Trade Financing Program by virtue of office.

  • - Powering Africa’s digital transformation to transform rural livelihoods

    By Castro Antwi-Danso, Director of Sales and Marketing, Esoko

    - Engaging for development: Transforming lives through Science, Technology and Innovation

    By Hayat Sindi, Advisor to the President of IsDB

    - iTechpreneurship: Creating Chaos to Avoid Chaos

    Kamran Elahian- Innovation Catalyst

    - The African Financial Development Gap: The Bright and The Dark

    By Lemma W. Senbet, Executive Director, African Economic Research Consortium

    - The key role of Smart Education

    By Leslie Goh 

    - A Quick Guide to Regulation as a Catalyst of Innovation

    By Martin Peitz, MaCCI, University of Mannheim and CERRE

    - Facts from Space

    By Maurits Voogt, eleaf

    - The Careem Story

    By Mudassir Sheikha, CEO, Careem

    - Finance and Development

    By Ragavan Venkatesan, Head Digital Payments & Alternate Channels- IDFC Bank

    - Digital India:  JAM and India Technology Stack

    By RS Sharma Chairman, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI)

    - Where hope works

    By Salvatore Nigro, Global Vice-president, Education For Employment

    - Plantix

    By Simone Strey, CEO, PEAT/Plantix

    - Ta3mal

    By Waleid Asad