Category: Speakers

Dr. Asim Qureshi holds a Law degree (LLB Hons, LLM) with a focus on International and Islamic Law and completed his Ph.D. in International Conflict Analysis at the University of Kent. He is the Research Director at CAGE International, specializing in the global impact of counterterrorism practices since 2003. Dr. Qureshi has published extensively, including NGO reports and academic articles, and authored several books, such as “Rules of the Game” (2009) and “A Virtue of Disobedience” (2019). Since 2009, he has advised legal teams defending terrorism trials in the US and at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Umer is the Chief Risk Officer (Global Head of Risk, Compliance & Shariah) at Wahed, with a degree in Economics from Royal Holloway University of London and further qualifications from Manchester Business School and Harvard University. He began his career at Ernst & Young and held senior roles at HSBC and Daiwa Capital Management. Umer sits on the boards of the UKIFC, Cube Network, and the Islamic Council. He founded the National Waqf Fund in 2020 and oversaw its merger with another fund in 2023. An advisor to fintechs, Umer is also an international speaker on Islamic Finance, recognized as “one to watch” by Brummel magazine in 2016.

Riyaad is the founder of N6B, a media agency focused on the Global South. N6B partners with impactful brands to launch bold, innovative media strategies, shaping imaginative futures that transform their engagement with global audiences. As the former Director of Digital at TRT, Turkiye’s public broadcaster, Riyaad led its digital transformation, launching international news channels and its global entertainment streaming platform, tabii. Prior to that, at Al Jazeera, he founded AJ+, one of the world’s largest digital news outlets. His portfolio of work has amassed over 280 million followers and 40 billion views. Riyaad also chairs the ABU (Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union) Digital Working Group, advancing global media standards.

Thembisa Fakude is a senior research fellow and director of Africa Asia Dialogues (Afrasid),a think tank based in Johannesburg, South Africa.  He holds a Master’s degree in Politics from the university of the Witwatersrand. He is a columnist with the Middle East Monitor in London and a research fellow at Al Sharq Forum in Istanbul, Turkey. He also serves on the board of Common Action Forum (CAF) in Madrid, Spain and on the board of Mail and Guardian publication in South Africa.

Thembisa is the chairperson of Gauteng Industrial Development Zone (GIDZ), a government owned special economic zone (sez) located at OR Tambo International Airport in South Africa. He also serves as a Deputy Chairperson of Gauteng Growth and Development Agency (GGDA) a government investment promotion agency in South Africa.

He is the former Bureau Chief of Al Jazeera Media Network in Southern Africa, former head of English unit of Al Jazeera Centre for Studies and a former chairperson of Foreign Correspondents Association of Southern Africa (FCA).

Hasan Abo-Shally is a visionary tech entrepreneur and social innovator committed to creating scalable solutions with lasting social impact. He is currently the CEO and co-founder of GoodDeeds.AI — a tech startup utilizing advanced AI to help impact-organizations efficiently generate, fund, and execute high-impact projects at any scale. With GoodDeeds.AI, Hasan envisions a world where everyone is empowered to amplify and fulfill their goodness potential.

Hasan’s tech journey commenced in high school, where he developed and sold his own software. Following diverse software-engineering and product-design roles, he transitioned to product-management, contributing to Microsoft’s cybersecurity team and several startup companies in fintech, healthcare, and education.

Hasan holds an MBA from the Technion and a B.A. in communication and interactive media from The Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya (IDC), where he also served on the research team of the Media Innovation Lab (miLAB), exploring human-computer interactions, experiences of life-long learning, and critical design.

Parallel to his tech career, Hasan has been actively involved in social innovation and entrepreneurship; over the past decade he has initiated and advised several local and international initiatives, leveraging his diverse expertise to foster effective social impact.

In 2013, at 22, Hasan established “Hasoub,” a grassroots nonprofit which raised over $10M to foster tech entrepreneurship as an economic lever for the Arab Palestinian minority in Israel. Three years later, he founded “Ibtekar,” a social enterprise offering affordable STEAM education to underserved kids and youth, with an emphasis on technology, craft, and digital creativity. Today, Hasan serves on Hasoub’s board and presides as chairman of Hasoub Labs.

Among several prestigious listings and fellowships, Hasan was featured in Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list in 2017, and his TEDx talk in 2019 was spotlighted by the TED team, reaching tens of thousands of people. His combined technological innovation and social dedication forge a unique path, pursuing a world of meaning, compassion, and prosperity.

Kamran Kiyani is the Managing Director at GEM, a Digital Transformation company. A serial entrepreneur, he has founded two AI technology companies: Scoute & Zaheen Systems. Kamran is a Mathematician by training. He has a B.S. from Purdue University, an MBA from the Krannert School and a Masters in Technology Design from Harvard University. Kamran has founded and worked with various not-for-profit organizations in the US, Singapore and Pakistan. His work focuses on leadership development, Artificial Intelligence and impact of technology on society.

ASK is the founder & CEO of Youth Impact, an award winning not for profit, having trained 26,000+ youth across five continents on earth. ASK, a cancer survivor, who has dedicated his second life to empower youth of the world, has introduced ‘Markhor’, Himalaya’s unique wilderness-based youth leadership conference held annually since 2013. A published author, founded leadership development organizations in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, has leadership development experience of more than 20 years. ASK is specialized in wilderness and adventure-based leadership development programs. Being an adventure enthusiast, he is first Pakistani to graduate from National Outdoor Leadership School, USA. He is also certified in ‘Train the Trainer’ from American Management Association, Chicago. ASK holds multiple Leadership Fellowship including at Stanford University’s ‘Executive Program for Nonprofits, International Visitors Leadership Program by US State Department, South East Asia Leadership Academy, Executive Endeavor Award in Australia and many more.

Serves as the Director General of Youth Services at the Ministry of Youth and Sports. As a Public Health specialist, he focuses on youth health, youth policies, innovation, and employment.

Business Development Manager at 1Web in Canada and for organic campaigns at Madinah Platform, also in Canada. He has served as Press Contracting Officer for the Peace for Palestine Campaign and as Influencer Contracting Officer at Madinah Platform. Additionally, heco-founded Al-Noman Foundation in the USA and founded the Ejabh Organization. As a Crowd Marketing Consultant, he has worked with various charitable organizations and has lectured on the significance of crowdfunding at Al Sharq Academia.

Hooman Keshavarzi is a licensed clinical psychologist in Illinois with extensive expertise in integrating Islamic spirituality into modern psychological practice. He serves as the program director for the Masters in Counseling Islamic Psychology Program in Doha, Qatar, and is the founding director of Khalil Center, the largest provider of Muslim mental healthcare in North America. Keshavarzi is a senior fellow at the International Association for Islamic Psychology and a visiting scholar at Ibn Haldun University. His academic contributions include published papers on Islam and mental health, alongside years of Islamic theological study.