Our Faculty

Abdelhameed Sharara

PROFESSOR OF Practice

Abdelhameed Sharara

PROFESSOR OF Practice

Abdelhameed Sharara, is the CEO and cofounder of RiseUp; the Middle East and Africa’s top startup platform organising the famous RiseUp Summit with more than 5000 attendees from 52 countries every year. The company was awarded the top MENA ecosystem enabler in 2017 by Silicon Valley’s TechWadi as a result of connecting thousands of startups in the region to resources and helping promote entrepreneurial culture. Before founding RiseUp with his co-founders and the whole startup community at the GrEEK Campus in November 2013, Abdelhameed worked at Injaz-Egypt where he helped in creating the first startups’ pipeline in all Junior Achievement countries worldwide. Sharara taught English and soft skills to more than 7000 Egyptian youth and young professionals at Dale Carnegie Global, Berlitz and many universities in Egypt and MENA. He is also part of the ‘young global shapers’ community, initiated by the world economic forum, which is a network of young people who are exceptional in their potential. He also serves on the board of multiple organisations supporting entrepreneurship and innovation and Egypt and MENA, which includes TIEC (Egyptian government technology, innovation and entrepreneurship center) The American Chamber of Commerce and Edventures; Nahdet Misr Publishing Group education incubator.
His efforts were acknowledged in more than 300 local and international media outlets such as Techcrunch, Forbes, Wall Street Journal and The Economist. He was also selected as Egypt’s top influencer due to the RiseUp Summit 2015’s impact on the regional ecosystem. Top 100 Arab Pioneers by UAE Prime Minister's World Government Summit,Top 100 African Influencers by MIPAD magazine and the International Visitors Leadership Program by U.S State Dept"

Adly Thoma, MSc., MPM, PMP

Professor of Practice

As the Executive Chairman & CEO of Gemini Africa, Adly Thoma is leading the disruption of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the MEA region by bridging the gap between entrepreneurs

Adly Thoma, MSc., MPM, PMP

Professor of Practice

As the Executive Chairman & CEO of Gemini Africa, Adly Thoma is leading the disruption of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the MEA region by bridging the gap between entrepreneurs and the business world through offering unique investment models, untapping business opportunities and creating innovative flagship programs. He promotes an innovative vision through Gemini Africa’s one-stop e-Hub where collaboration supersedes competition.

Alex Shalaby

Professor of Practice

Alex Shalaby

Professor of Practice

Alex Shalaby is the President of the Advisory Board at Agora School of Business. He served as CEO of the Egyptian Company for Mobile Services (Mobinil, currently Orange) from 2005 to 2008 after which he was appointed as its chairman until his retirement in 2017. Between 1993 and 1995 Mr. Shalaby served as Regional Director for International Public Affairs for AT&T in Cairo, Egypt, where he served as the principal interface with key agencies in the region on matters impacting AT&T's international operations.
Prior to joining Mobinil, Mr. Shalaby was based in Washington, DC where he was an AT&T Director for Public Affairs, serving as the company's link to lawmakers on Capitol Hill and the executive branch of the U.S. government. He contributed to the further liberalization of the telecoms sector in emerging countries across the Middle East, Africa and Eastern Europe through relevant bilateral and multilateral agencies. During this period, he served on the boards of the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt becoming its president in 1991, as well as the boards of the Bi-national Fulbright Commission, Injaz and Seeds of Peace. Mr. Shalaby currently chairs the board of The Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy, a think tank headquartered in Washington, DC as well as Hands Along the Nile, a development NGO based in Alexandria, VA. Alex earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Alexandria 1966 and went on to receive his Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from San Jose State University in California.

Alexandra Abdel Nour

Professor of Practice

Alexandra Abdel Nour is the 2nd generation at the head of HappyTex Egypt & HappyDye Egypt, a fully vertically integrated business in the textile industry fabric knitting, dyeing, garment manufacturing including...

Alexandra Abdel Nour

Professor of Practice

Alexandra Abdel Nour is the 2nd generation at the head of HappyTex Egypt & HappyDye Egypt, a fully vertically integrated business in the textile industry - fabric knitting, dyeing, garment manufacturing including embroidery & printing. Having graduated with a double degree in History & Political Science (and minors in Literature & Business), from AUC/UCLA, she changed course and joined the family business 10 years ago. Her main focus is in restructuring, institutionalizing & digitizing the business as well as expanding markets locally (quality oriented), Europe and Latin America. A big believer in the core values of most family businesses and in supporting local industry, she is very much interested in taking the garment business one step further, B2C, both locally and internationally. Besides work, she is a board member of the Entrepreneurs Organization, a global community of entrepreneurs. She is also horseback rider, a Salsa dancer, enjoys investing in wellbeing and of course traveling the world.

Bassem Fayek

PROFESSOR OF practice

Bassem Fayek

PROFESSOR OF practice

Bassem Fayek is office co-leader for Boston Consulting Group in Cairo. He joined BCG in 2020 to establish the Cairo office, and is a core member of the Financial Institutions, Health Care, and Public Sector practices. Bassem advises Middle East public and private sector clients on strategy formulation, value creation, and modernization. His past projects have covered business strategy and value creation, operating and governance model development, organization and large-scale transformation, digitization, investment due diligence and execution, joint venture development, and supply chain optimization.

In Egypt specifically, he has worked with local national champions, regional and international investors, and public sector leaders on partnership development, market entry and growth strategy, sector strategy, and investment attraction. Before joining BCG, Bassem worked at Strategy& (previously Booz & Company).

Eusebio Scornavacca, Ph.D.

PROFESSOR OF MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Dr. Eusebio Scornavacca is Parsons Professor of Digital Innovation and Director of the Center for Digital Communication.

Eusebio Scornavacca, Ph.D.

PROFESSOR OF MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Dr. Eusebio Scornavacca is Parsons Professor of Digital Innovation and Director of the Center for Digital Communication, Commerce and Culture at University of Baltimore (UB). He also holds the J. & M. Thompson Chair in Management Information Systems at the Merrick School of Business. Dr. Scornavacca is a truly global scholar with a strong research collaboration network across six continents.

ghassan yacoub, Ph.D.

Professor of Strategic Management

Dr. Ghassan YACOUB is a Professor of Innovation and Strategy and the MBA Academic co-Director at IESEG School of Management in Paris. He holds a PhD and Master’s degrees..

ghassan yacoub, Ph.D.

Professor of Strategic Management

Dr. Ghassan YACOUB is a Professor of Innovation and Strategy and the MBA Academic co-Director at IESEG School of Management in Paris. He holds a PhD and Master’s degrees and graduated with distinction from ESCP Business School, Bayes Business School (formerly Cass), and Imperial College London. His academic research lies around the sources, value capture, and management of strategic, innovation, and entrepreneurial processes within, outside, and between firms. Prior to his academic career, he worked as an M&A Investment Banker at advisory boutiques and at J.P. Morgan in London where he was responsible for transaction origination and execution of multi-billion cross-border M&A mandates. He also worked as a strategic consultant advising global clients on strategic planning, restructuring, and digital transformation.

Fadi Antaki

PROFESSOR OF practice

Fadi Antaki the Founder & CEO at TFK, is a veteran tech venture builder and investor. He has invested in the region’s leading and fastest growing tech startups...

Fadi Antaki

PROFESSOR OF practice

Fadi Antaki the Founder & CEO at TFK, is a veteran tech venture builder and investor. He has invested in the region’s leading and fastest growing tech startups.

Antaki’s entrepreneurial experience enabled him to mentor and guide many entrepreneurs to overcome their challenges in management, generating traction and fundraising. Being an entrepreneur at heart; he founded TFK.me in 2020, the leading digital partner for Fashion brands in Egypt which is a curated Fashion marketplace having a portfolio of more than 200 partner brands and 135K+ customers.

His purpose is helping Fashion entrepreneurs grow and sustain their brands by offering them all the tools and services needed for their digital transformation to sell online so they focus on enhancing the quality of their products and collections.

As the General Partner of A15, and during the period from 2015-2019, he led the teams of 19 portfolio companies across 17 regional offices with more than 1,000 employees. Antaki turned the corporate structure of an Orascom company OTVentures into a lean VC as A15 by decentralizing all functions and creating synergies across all companies. Overall A15 succeeded in conducting 7 exits crowned by MENA’s first dragon exit which is TPay exit to Helios Investment partners in 2018, the Otlob exit to Rocket Internet in 2014 and A15’s largest dragon exit which is Connect Ads exit to Aleph holding in 2021.

Fadi Currently sits on the boards of companies in Egypt, Mauritius, Dubai, Singapore, and USA. He supports those companies with extensive market and domain knowledge, networks, and strategic operational support impacting their business growth.

Antaki was graduated from the American University in Cairo with a Business Administration Major.

Jason Beck, PH.D

PROFESSOR OF ECONOMICS AND MARKET DYNAMICS

Dr. Beck is an Associate Professor of Economics at Georgia Southern University in Savannah, Georgia, USA. His expertise is in Industrial Organization, Labor Economics..

Jason Beck, PH.D

PROFESSOR OF ECONOMICS AND MARKET DYNAMICS

Dr. Beck is an Associate Professor of Economics at Georgia Southern University in Savannah, Georgia, USA. His expertise is in Industrial Organization, Labor Economics, and Real Estate Economics. He holds an M.A. in economics from Miami University and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Kentucky. Dr. Beck also directs the Coastal Georgia Center for Economic Education, a non-profit center focused on economics and personal finance education.

Kevin Carillo, Ph.D.

PROFESSOR OF DATA ANALYTICS

Dr. Kevin Carillo is an Associate Professor in Data Science & Information Systems at Toulouse Business School (France). He is the director of the Master of Science in Big Data, Marketing & Management

Kevin Carillo, Ph.D.

PROFESSOR OF DATA ANALYTICS

Dr. Kevin Carillo is an Associate Professor in Data Science & Information Systems at Toulouse Business School (France). He is the director of the Master of Science in Big Data, Marketing & Management. Dr. Carillo holds a Ph.D. degree in Information Systems from the School of Information Management of Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand...

Karim Khalifa

PROFESSOR OF PRACTICE

Karim is the Co-Founder and Former CEO of Digital Republic linked by Isobar, and was responsible for one of the region’s fastest growing, full service digital agency networks in MENA..

Karim Khalifa

PROFESSOR OF PRACTICE

Karim is the Co-Founder and Former CEO of Digital Republic linked by Isobar, and was responsible for one of the region’s fastest growing, full service digital agency networks in MENA.

Karim has a multi-functional and multinational success footprint in both the corporate and entrepreneurial business landscapes - a seasoned executive in the former and a successful business owner in the latter.

With 20+ years’ technology, marketing, telco and advertising experience, Karim’s expertise lies in all that is digital. Karim founded Digital Republic in 2009, pioneering the digital ad industry in Egypt and launching offices in Cairo, Dubai and Jeddah. One year later, Digital Republic was partially acquired by a major institutional investor, before Dentsu acquired a majority stake in 2016 and Digital Republic became Isobar MENA.

Lilian Carvalho, Ph.D.

PROFESSOR OF MARKETING

Dr. Lilian Carvalho is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at Sao Paulo Business School (FGV/EAESP). She holds a Ph.D. in marketing from the same university.

Lilian Carvalho, Ph.D.

PROFESSOR OF MARKETING

Dr. Lilian Carvalho is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at Sao Paulo Business School (FGV/EAESP). She holds a Ph.D. in marketing from the same university and has worked as a visiting scholar at the John Molson Business School, Concordia University, in Canada.

In 2018, Dr. Carvalho was selected among candidates from all over the world to participate in the NASA Datanauts program, working in several communications projects for the Open NASA initiative. Her research interests focus on digital consumer behavior and digital marketing strategies, having published several peer-reviewed articles and books on these topics.

Lana Sawiris, Ph.D.

PROFESSOR OF Practice

Mark Morgan, J.D.

PROFESSOR OF BUSINESS LAW AND ETHICS

Mark Morgan is a litigator with experience in the trial of jury and non-jury cases involving contracts, securities, and intellectual property matters.

Mark Morgan, J.D.

PROFESSOR OF BUSINESS LAW AND ETHICS

Mark Morgan is a litigator with experience in the trial of jury and non-jury cases involving contracts, securities, and intellectual property matters. He has assisted clients with strategies for the containment, management and resolution of legal crises occurring at the federal/state, criminal/civil and domestic/international levels, including the Supreme Court of New Jersey, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, and U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.

Massimiliano Pellegrini, Ph.D.

PROFESSOR OF LEADERSHIP & ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR

Dr. Massimiliano M. Pellegrini is an Associate Professor of Organizational Studies and Entrepreneurial behavior at University of Rome “Tor Vergata”.

Massimiliano Pellegrini, Ph.D.

PROFESSOR OF LEADERSHIP & ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR

Dr. Massimiliano M. Pellegrini is an Associate Professor of Organizational Studies and Entrepreneurial behavior at University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, from which he also received his Ph.D. in 2011. Previously, he was a Senior lecturer at Roehampton University Business School. During his career, he was a lecturer at Princess Sumaya University for technology (Jordan)

Nader Iskander

PROFESSOR OF PRACTICE

Serial tech entrepreneur since 1998. His mobile wallet team was acquired by Fawry pre IPO, His marketplace team was acquired by Grinta ( B2B Online Pharma Marketplace ) in 2022

Nader Iskander

PROFESSOR OF PRACTICE

Serial tech entrepreneur since 1998. His mobile wallet team was acquired by Fawry pre IPO. His marketplace team was acquired by Grinta ( B2B Online Pharma Marketplace ) in 2022. Ventured into healthcare recently and is a Co-founder of Dawi medical clinics and O7Therapy too, Angel investor and mentor past 10 years.

Natalie Ramses

PROFESSOR OF PRACTICE

Natalie Ramses

PROFESSOR OF PRACTICE

CEO and Founder of Enova Digital (N Media Worldwide LLC), Natalie Youssef Ramses is a graduate of the Wharton School of Business. Having founded Egypt’s first performance-driven digital agency in Egypt, Ramses spends the majority of her time running the booming agency where she has pioneered customized results-oriented offerings for clients that include Unilever, Dubizzle, EVA Pharmaceuticals, Ghabbour Auto and government-run telecommunications giant TE Data.

Olli-Pekka Ruuskanen Ph.D.

PROFESSOR OF BANKING AND INSURANCE

Dr. Olli-Pekka Ruuskanen is an adjunct professor of banking and insurance at the University of Vaasa and a research director at Pellervo Economic Research, PTT.

Olli-Pekka Ruuskanen Ph.D.

PROFESSOR OF BANKING AND INSURANCE

Dr. Olli-Pekka Ruuskanen is an adjunct professor of banking and insurance at the University of Vaasa and a research director at Pellervo Economic Research, PTT. He has recently lectured about international banking, financial innovation and fintech. His areas of expertise include risk management, insurance, financial literacy and household behavior. He also has several years’ research and work experience from Uganda in developing insurance and capital markets.

Onsi Sawiris

PROFESSOR OF PRACTICE

Onsi Sawiris

PROFESSOR OF PRACTICE

Onsi Sawiris is a Co-Founder and Managing Partner at HOF Capital, where he focuses on cloud-based technologies, fintech and enterprise SaaS. Sawiris currently sits on the boards of Drop Technologies, ItaliaOnline, Riverbank, OPTii Solutions, Mach Music, and is a Board Observer at Orascom TMT Investments.
He leads portfolio acceleration at HOF Capital and helps founders secure commercial traction by identifying synergies within the firm’s global LP network.

Panu Kalmi Ph.D.

PROFESSOR OF ECONOMICS

Panu Kalmi Ph.D.

PROFESSOR OF ECONOMICS

Dr. Panu Kalmi is Professor of Economics at the University of Vaasa. His main research interests include financial literacy, economic education and financial institutions. He teaches a variety of courses related to banking, microeconomics and personal financial management. He is especially interested in gamification and digital tools in online education. He is also a governing council member of the Vaasa Cooperative Bank, Finland.

Ramy Adeeb, M.Sc., M.B.A.

PROFESSOR OF PRACTICE

An entrepreneur and investor, Ramy Adeeb is Founder and General Partner at 1984 Ventures. He is also founder and CEO of Snip.it (Acquired by Yahoo,) and one of the earliest engineers at Tellme Networks

Ramy Adeeb, M.Sc., M.B.A.

PROFESSOR OF PRACTICE

An entrepreneur and investor, Ramy Adeeb is Founder and General Partner at 1984 Ventures. He is also founder and CEO of Snip.it (Acquired by Yahoo, where he served as a product executive) and one of the earliest engineers at Tellme Networks (Acquired by Microsoft). Adeeb started his investing career at Khosla Venture where he worked with investors Vinod Khosla and Pierre Lamond on many investments including Groupme (acquired by Skype), Square (NASDAQ:SQ), and Storify (acquired by LiveFyre). He holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Science in Computer Science from Harvard University and an MBA from Stanford University.

Robert Felix, Ph.D.

PROFESSOR OF ACCOUNTING

Robert Felix, Ph.D.

PROFESSOR OF ACCOUNTING

Dr. Felix earned his Ph.D. from the University of Maryland in 2013. His research focuses on corporate governance, financial reporting and auditing. His research has appeared in scholarly journals such as Contemporary Accounting Research, Journal of Banking and Finance, and Accounting and Business Research. Dr. Felix teaches intermediate financial accounting, auditing and managerial accounting. He has taught undergraduate as well graduate students including at the MBA level. Prior to his academic career, Dr. Felix worked as an auditor and consultant for a public accounting firm. Dr. Felix also holds an MBA and a CPA license.

Tiago Ratinho, Ph.D.

PROFESSOR OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Tiago Ratinho, Ph.D.

PROFESSOR OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Dr. Ratinho is an energetic and innovative entrepreneurship educator. All his classes are experiential exposing students to real life challenges. Course work involves surveying customers, interviewing entrepreneurs, and consulting with industry experts as well as live presentations with invited experts. As a researcher, Dr. Ratinho is currently interested in finding out which types of Entrepreneurial Strategies lead to superior firm performance. As an active member of the Effectuation community, he has a keen interest in understanding how entrepreneurs practice through asking and how psychological variables explain entrepreneurial behavior. At the same time, he is fascinated with Entrepreneurship Support mechanisms, how and when those can impact entrepreneurial development.

Our Faculty

Abdelhameed Sharara

Adly Thoma, MSc., MPM, PMP

Alex Shalaby

Alexandra Abdel Nour

Bassem Fayek

Eusebio Scornavacca, Ph.D.

ghassan yacoub, Ph.D.

Fadi Antaki

Jason Beck, PH.D

Kevin Carillo, Ph.D.

Karim Khalifa

Lilian Carvalho, Ph.D.

Lana Sawiris, Ph.D.

Mark Morgan, J.D.

Massimiliano Pellegrini, Ph.D.

Nader Iskander

Natalie Ramses

Olli-Pekka Ruuskanen Ph.D.

Onsi Sawiris

Panu Kalmi Ph.D.

Ramy Adeeb, M.Sc., M.B.A.

Robert Felix, Ph.D.

Tiago Ratinho, Ph.D.

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