Hana Alireza
Founder, Qi Juice Cleanse
Country of Nationality: Saudi Arabia
Country of Residence: Lebanon
Website: www.qijuices.com
Twitter account: @hanaalireza
Hana Alireza is a multi-passionate entrepreneur and mother of 3. She is the creator of Qi Juice Cleanse, the first company in Lebanon to deliver fresh-pressed organic juice cleanses. The idea for Qi Juices came about as a natural extension of Hana’s own research into a healthier lifestyle for her family, and the concept of juicing for better health is a new one to this market. There was no other source of organic, cold-pressed and unpasteurized vegetable and fruit juice on the market and the whole concept of detoxing on green juices was something only accessible to someone willing to go through the process themselves at home, or travel abroad. She and her business partner had to put a lot of resources into educating about their product and had to learn everything about running this kind of business from scratch themselves, as neither of them have food backgrounds. Hana’s past experience includes co-founding Bayt.com, the leading online recruitment company in the Middle East, working at Organic, Inc, during the 90s Internet boom in New York City, and producing the award-winning documentary Seeds.
Sara Falaknaz
Co-founder, Innova Machine
Country of nationality and residence : UAE
Website: www.innovamachine.com
Twitter account: @Sara_Falaknaz
Sara Falaknaz is the co-funder of InnovaMachine which organizes ‘Startup Weekend Dubai’ – a program to support, encourage and motivate today’s youth to become tomorrow’s pioneer entrepreneurs. Up-to-date Startup Weekend Dubai and Abu Dhabi helped establish more than 100 companies during the event. Sara started her journey working for a financial institution with global presence (Citibank) – a way to gain knowledge and expertise in the field of banking. Later, she joined the family business and was appointed Chief Financial Advisor at the Falaknaz General Enterprises (FGE). Having the technical know-how gained from this experience, she pursued her dream of becoming a leading entrepreneur to inspire the young generation to progress on the same path.
Samia Ataya
Founder & Managing Director, CATWALK COW
Country of Nationality: Palestine
Country of residence: UAE
Website: www.catwalkcow.com
Twitter account: @CATWALKCOW
In 2009, Samia Ataya saw a void in the MENA market for healthier dessert mixes that are All Natural and so decided to create her own. CATWALK COW was born as the first and only brand of 100% All Natural baking mixes in the MENA region offering desserts/baking mixes that are preservative free, additive free, non-gmo and uses only ethically sourced ingredients supporting small farmers coops and family run plantations. As MENA markets are saturated with global brands that are imported and food manufacturing in this region is limited to products that are not targeting ‘niche’ segments, CATWALK COW is considered pioneering in the ‘health food’ manufacturing movement in the region.
Lina Karmash Hundaileh.
Chairman, printing for the manufacturing of chocolate
Country of Nationality and Residence : Jordan
Twitter account: @linahundaileh
Lina is a serial entrepreneur. After founding and managing the General Philadelphia Chocolate Manufacturing Company from 1992 to 2008, she started Chocolography in 2009, which specializes in printing on chocolate personalized gifts for customers (pictures, logos…etc for different event or occasion: new born babies, engagements, birthdays , weddings, corporate gifts). She experienced fierce competition from well-established chocolate multinationals, and had also to overcome the perception of many Jordanians that locally-produced chocolates were inferior to imported ones. She succeeded in creating a new demand for personalised gifts. Based on the uniqueness of the concept and the diverse offerings centered on the culture of chocolate, today she is producing a wide range of innovative personalized gifts. She became the number one creative designs for different occasions in Amman. Lina also founded Rawafed Consulting & Development in 2009, which is a company that provides mentoring and coaching services to women entrepreneurs of small- and medium-sized enterprises and lobbies the government with the aim of creating a more attractive legislative ambience in which businesses can grow and foreign direct investment can be secured.