Souq Information Hub Opens
Diamond Ballroom, Salon 3

Edward Burton, CEO, U.S.-Saudi Arabian Business Council

Overview: The session will offer a a high level perspective on the SME global landscape with an emphasis on the role of SMEs in local and global trade and the importance of cross border collaborations in growing and scaling their business.

Abdallah Jum’ah, Saudi Arabian Co-Chairman, U.S.-Saudi Arabian Business Council and Former CEO, Saudi Aramco

Steve Demetriou, United States Co-Chairman, U.S.-Saudi Arabian Business Council and Chairman and CEO, Jacobs

Overview: The session will offer a a high level perspective on the importance of knowledge sharing as a key enabler for SME growth domestically and internationally. Panelists will reflect on issues such as the role of a highly connected network of Saudi and U.S. SMEs in boosting bilateral trade, sharing of know-how, and co-innovating solutions to benefit the U.S. and Saudi markets.

Esam Al Thukair,Vice Governor of Entrepreneurship Advancement, SME Authority

Michael Vallante, Regional Administrator, Region 9 – Pacific Rim, U.S. Small Business Administration

Moderator: Todd McCracken, President and CEO, National Small Business Association

Overview: These keynotes will offer a high level perspective of SME enablers for business growth in the U.S. and Saudi Arabia. Speakers will discuss the role of major Saudi companies, with supply chains spanning across the world, including the U.S., in understanding and meeting the needs of entrepreneurs and the local entrepreneurial ecosystems, including facilitating access to international markets.

Ahmad AlSa’adi, Senior Vice President, Technical Service, Saudi Aramco

Greg Adams, Vice President, SABIC Americas

Meet and greet!

Overview: The session aims to offer perspectives on methods, processes, and tools for SMEs to grow and scale their businesses. It also aims to introduce the audience to a wide range of opportunities in Saudi Arabia. Panelists will reflect on the role of innovation in various industries, share core insights on making talent a competitive advantage, and discuss the importance of collaboration to create new processes, turn ideas into products, and win in international markets.

Josh Green, VP, Corporate Development and Administration, Carbon, Inc. 
Mohammad Al Shammary, Vice President, Procurement & Supply Chain Management, Saudi Aramco
Eng. Fuad Mohammed Mosa, Vice President, Local Content & Business Development Unit, SABIC
Moderator: Patrick Tucker, Technology Editor, Defense One, and Former Deputy Editor, The Futurist

Overview: The session will offer a C-suite view on the support that large corporations can offer to facilitate SME growth via supply chains. Panelists will reflect upon the impact of local supply chains on their business success, the programs and processes that they employ to expand the local supply chain and integrate those they use in the countries where they operate. They will also reflect on the importance of co-creation with suppliers and business partners as a means to stimulate innovation and link talent across supply chain with value.

Paddy Padmanathan, President and CEO, ACWA Power

Ali Al Ghamdi, Managing Director of Administration, Arabian Drilling Company

Brad Hollister, CEO, SwanLeap

Moderator: Thomas Stewart, Executive Director, National Center for the Middle Market

Josh Green, VP, Corporate Development and Administration, Carbon, Inc.

Carbon is transforming the design, engineering, manufacture and delivery of polymeric products, leading a revolutionary shift towards a digital and sustainable future. Its novel approach combines connected, data-centric hardware with over-the-air software updates and innovative materials.

Christopher Schroeder, Venture Investor and Author of “Startup Rising — The Entrepreneurial Revolution Remaking the Middle East”

Joshn Giegel, CTO and Co-Founder, Virgin Hyperloop One

Overview: Luncheon session will offer a multifaceted perspective on leadership and innovation in SMEs in an increasingly complex world.  Speakers will reflect upon leading with inner agility to empower and stimulate creativity and innovation, digitalization and the growing importance of data analytics to link SMEs with their most valuable strategic opportunities, the role of AI and automation in transforming the SME landscape locally and internationally.  They will also take aim with the promises and challenges of AI and automation in pushing the frontier of innovation and creating opportunities for SMEs to develop solutions for some of the most difficult industrial and societal challenges and contribute to economic growth.

Jim Breyer, Founder and CEO, Breyer Capital

Nadhmi Al-Nasr, CEO, Neom

Moderator: Jon Shieber, Senior Editor, TechCrunch

Workshop 1: Risk Taking and Innovation
Diamond Ballroom, Salon 1

Overview: This panel is a forum for discussion on how best to alter risk-aversion culture and common attitude of fear of failure, and build internal support for innovation.

Participant Takeaways:

◊ How risk-taking is related to business success
◊ How risk-taking attitudes vary between cultures and people
◊ How to overcome and learn from common business mistakes

Expert facilitator:
Sandy Climan, President, Entertainment Media Ventures

Panelists:

Olivier Dock, International Advisor, Motion Picture Association of America
Blair Westlake, former Corporate Vice President of Media And Entertainment, Microsoft Corporation, Board Member, Development and Investment Entertainment Company (DIEC)
Matty Beckerman, Head of Production, Nebras Films
Chris Fenton, Producer, Former President, DMG Entertainment
Maan Bin Abdulrahman, Film Producer, Director, CEO & Founder, Prince of Arabia Entertainment

Workshop 2: Developing High-Performance Teams
Diamond Ballroom, Salon 6

Overview: The session aims to provide SMEs with methods and mechanisms to hire the right talent, design high-impact innovation training programs to boost team creativity, and effectively manage employees’ performances in order to build high performing teams.

Participant Takeaways:

◊ Channels to identify appropriate talents
◊ Skills and tools to measure employee performance
◊ How to set appropriate performance goals and KPIs
◊ How to give and receive feedback to promote improvement
◊ How to identify training needs

Expert facilitator target:
Dr. Ricardo Angel, Managing Director, GE Ventures

Fireside chat:

Dr. Mazin Al Zaidi, Director of Innovations and Entrepreneurship Sector, SAGIA

Panelists:

Nawaf Al Sahhaf, CEO, BADIR
Jim Richardson, Vice President Solutions, Strategic Project Solutions, Inc.
Shelly Fust, Senior Client Partner, Korn Ferry
Frank Van Mierlo, CEO, 1366 Technologies

2:15 pm – 2:45 pm Cristian Toma, CEO, Eco Convergence Group Inc.

Eco Convergence Group developed the HyCube^TM, a high-tech vertical hydroponic vegetable production system currently being used in hospitality and food services industries.  Dr. Toma will discuss precision agriculture and resilient food systems in the context of smart cities.

2:45pm – 3:15 pm Saif AlQahtani, Manager, King Salman Energy Park

3:15 pm – 3:45 pm Chris Brown, Global Front End of the Business Material Program Manager, Raytheon

An overview of Raytheon’s Supply Chain and discussion of the evolution of Raytheon’s Strategic Sourcing approach. The presenter will discuss how Raytheon is working to adapt that philosophy to Localization and Vision 2030 goals for Saudi Arabia.

Diamond Ballroom, Salon 1

Overview: The panel discussion aims to provide SMEs with a deeper understanding and processes to establish, manage, monitor, and track the success of partnerships that would enable them to navigate regulatory landscapes and achieve business objectives.

Participant Takeaways:

◊ Critical steps required to establish a successful partnership
◊ Regulatory challenges and ways to manage them
◊ Other Key challenges and potential solutions around partnership management
◊ KPIs that could be used to measure the success of a partnership

Expert facilitator:

Fahad Al-Husain, CEO, Taqnia International Inc.

Panelists:

Abdullah Aldubaikhi, CEO, Bahri
Dr. Cristian Toma, Founder and CEO, Eco Convergence Group, Inc.
Khalid Al-Jawini, VP, Strategic Programs, Defense & Aerospace Business Unit, Advanced Electronics Company
Carol Wooden, Director, Supplier Diversity, Raytheon
Salem Washeely, Corporate Venture Capital Manager, Al Elm

Workshop 4: Business Management Skills and Financial Literacy (case study)

Diamond Ballroom, Salon 6

Overview: The session will introduce SMEs to key requirements, resources, and methods to help secure financial support from entities that are part of the entrepreneurial ecosystem (angel seed funds, VC, government grants, bank loans).

Participant Takeaways:

◊ Purpose of having accurate financial statements
◊ New methodologies of record keeping and building foundational financial statements
◊ Resources and methods to help gain financial support

Expert Facilitator:

Oscar Edwards, Managing Member/President and CEO of Higher Growth Strategies, LLC and Instructor, Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program, Los Angeles City College
Noor AlAbdulkarim, Vice President, Social Development Bank
Julie Ngu, Member Co-Chair, Pasadena Angel; Member, Network of Executive Women; CEO, Pacific French Bakery
Marianne Hughes, Regional Director, Ex-Im Bank
Sam Cassatt, Chief Strategy Officer, ConsenSys

4:00 pm – 4:30 pm

4:30 pm – 5:00 pm Frank Van Mierlo, CEO, 1366 Technologies

This session, “A practical engineering solution to provide clean energy, clean water and energy storage for the city of Neom,” will present innovative technical solutions and discuss the attractive costs both from a capex and operating perspective that result from his design concepts.

5:00 pm – 5:30 pm Dr. Michael Korkin, Founder, CTO, Entropix, Inc.

Entropix, Inc., a US company that has developed extreme resolution computer vision technology powered by Deep Learning and modern AI. It makes it possible to transcend camera resolution barriers while reducing bandwidth and storage requirements.