MENTORS
Mr. Ayman AlAwadhi
Co-Founder and Group Managing Director, The Corporate Group
Mr. Al Awadhi's work experience includes having worked in the Government Resource Planning project (currently known as Smart Dubai) for Oracle implementation across local government departments of Dubai Government (2002-2006). He was also Co-Founder and COO of Zeroday IT Solution, an information and cyber security consulting company based in Dubai (since 2007). He also was a part of the Corporate Business Services, a corporate service provider company specialized in company formation solutions and business consultancy based in Dubai (since 2007)
Mr. Ayman Al Awadhi
Co-Founder & Group Managing Director, The Corporate Group
Mr. Hassan Khayal
Senior Consultant, Mazars’ Consulting
Mr. Khayal’s experience spans both the public and private sector across the GCC. The public sector experience includes both federal and local government projects. During his work, Hassan has had exposure and experience in the Government Services, Financial Services, Free Zones, Security, Oil and Gas, Nuclear Energy, Space, Education, Construction, Food and Beverages, Hospitality and Retail sectors. Prior to joining Mazars, Hassan worked in Protiviti, where his duties included independently establishing internal audit functions for the clients, conducting risk assessments, internal audit assignments, corporate governance reviews, business process reengineering projects, and strategy formulation projects.
Mr. Hassan Khayal
Senior Consultant, Mazars' Consulting
Mr. Derek Watson
Founder, N2 Technology
Derek Watson is the founder of N2 Technology Ltd, a Market Network for the distribution and sourcing of Startup investments and opportunities. N2 is the culminations of 30+ years in Financial Markets. Derek founded Wake2o in 2011, a private markets advisory platform. Prior to this, he was a founding partner of Wake Asset Management; a $500m Hedge Fund manager based in Geneva, Switzerland. As well as running the investment portfolio, he headed up new business initiatives and direct Venture Capital Investments, he also sat on the investment committee.
Mr. Derek watson
Founder, N2 Technology
Dr. Sunitha Kshatriya
Director, Entrepreneurship & Innovation (Center) & Associate Professor of Management
Dr. Sunitha Kshatriya is the director of the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center at AUD since its inception in June 2019. She served as Associate Professor, Human Resource Management (HRM) and Director, Institutional Effectiveness prior to joining AUD. She is also Chairperson of ‘Empowerment Centre for the Advancement of Education’ (ECAfE), a not-for-profit she founded in Canada. She specializes in program creation, teaching and curriculum design, reinforced with an extensive breadth of international experience.
Dr. Sunitha Kshatriya
Director, Entrepreneurship & Innovation (Center) & Associate Professor of Management
Dr. Vinod Pangracious
Chair, Dept. of Electrical & Computer Engineering,
Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering
Prior to joining AUD, Dr. Pangracious was a research and development engineer at the Cypress Semiconductor Technology in San Jose, CA/Bangalore India and in 2004 he joined Infineon Technologies Germany to work with the Research and Development team to develop stack capacitor memories. In 2007, he moved to Switzerland to join Innovative Silicon a start-up company specialized in Zero Capacitor Memory.
Dr. Vinod Pangracious
Chair, Dept. of Electrical & Computer Engineering
Dr. Ruchi Dana
Founder, Dana Group
Dr. Ruchi Dana is a qualified medical practitioner, who has transitioned successfully into a seasoned entrepreneur and Business Leader. Ruchi did her MD from AMU and her full-time MBA from Stanford University. Ruchi has been recognized by Forbes Middle East as the “Next Generation Business Leader, Arab World” for 3 consecutive years 2017, 2018, and 2019. Recently, Dr. Ruchi was featured on the Forbes ME Top Power Businesswomen 2020. Dr. Ruchi is actively involved in strategic planning for Dana Group and manages the family office investments.
Dr. Ruchi Dana
Founder, Dana Group
Ms. Maryam Yusuf
Founder & Managing Director of Pixel Digital Marketing
Maryam Yusuf is the Founder & Managing Director of Pixel Digital Marketing and the Co-Founder of Flashback Photo & Video Digitizing Services. Pixel is a Dubai-based agency that provides Strategic Digital Marketing solutions, including Consultancy & Training, Digital Advertising, Social Media services and more. Clients include Google, PwC, The Emirates Group, Subway, Mall of the Emirates, KOITA, and various government entities. Maryam is also an AUD graduate, and is Board Member and Communications Chair of the EO Accelerator Program in the UAE.
Ms. Maryam Yusuf
Founder & Managing Director of Pixel Digital Marketing
Mr. Sacha Christe
Founder, Emirates Graphic
Mr. Christe is a 24 year old entrepreneur from Switzerland. He is running a successful digital agency with 28 employees across 3 offices, alongside being the Co-founder of 5 other start-ups. In addition to being featured on well-known magazines such as Forbes, Esquire, and Gulf News, he has recently published his own book “Success Under 30”. Over the past 7 years, Sacha has helped thousands of entrepreneurs to grow their businesses and has made public appearances as a speaker in several conferences such as Gitex Technology Week, Digimarcon, and Fun DXB among others.
Mr. Sacha Christe
Founder, Emirates Graphic
Mr. Alexander Epure
Co-founder, Queros
Mr. Epure has 10+ years’ experience in Sales and Business Development in IT Technology and Digital Transformation. As a mentor, Alexander encourages students to concentrate on activities that create value. He is an advocate for development and offers guidance within a supportive environment for student success.
Mr. Alexander Epure
Founder, Queros