TechWadi

The accomplishments of women executives in the technology industry and the TechWadi community in particular have long gone unnoticed. Well, TechWadi wants to change that - so we’ve put together our first in a series of “Women in Technology” events.

This edition of the event will address the unique challenges that women face in the technology, science and medical industries. We’ll address topics such as how senior executives achieve their professional success, cultural/gender biases in the workforce, advice for female entrepreneurs etc.

We’ve assembled a stellar panel made up of successful women from several disciplines in technology and its eco-system:

    •    Ghada Saliba-Malouf, Managing Counsel at Wells Fargo Bank

    •    Dania Ghantous, CTO at Lion Cells

    •    Maha Ibrahim, General Partner at Canaan Partners

    •    Nadia Mansour, VP Sales of The Americas at Turin Networks

    •    Susan Lucas-Conwell, CEO, SDF Forum

 
We hope you will join us for this worthy event.

Event Sponsors: WilmerHale

Date: Thursday July 10, 2008

Time:


Networking at 6:00 PM (registration starts at 5:30)
Program starts at 7:00 PM

Location:
1117 S California Ave
Palo Alto, CA 94304
(650) 813-1601

Registration: $20 for professionals - $10 for students


https://web.memberclicks.com/mc/quickForm/viewForm.do?orgId=tec&formId=20920

 
TechWadi is delighted to welcome EastNets, a technology company based in the UAE, as the latest TechWadi Sponsor.

EastNets is indicative of the emerging Arab technology companies which are developing technologies and solutions and selling them in the Middle East, Europe and North America.

In particular, we want to thank Hazem Mulhim, Chairman of the Board and CEO of EastNets, for his support of TechWadi and our mission.
 

  Hazem Mulhim – Chairman of the Board and CEO

Having held senior management positions for the past 17 years, Hazem has proven his ability to establish and expand a business structure according to market needs. He has demonstrated the ability to build a new business, introduce new products, penetrate new markets, build various alliances and partnerships in the area, and has successfully implemented projects in various countries.
Hazem was educated in Sofia, Bulgaria, at the Higher Institute for Mechanical & Electronic Engineering. There, he earned his Masters of Science in Electronics Engineering and Medical Electronics. He also earned a Certificate of Advanced Management Program (AMP) from INSEAD, Fontainebleau in France.
 

EastNets Background:

Founded in 1984, EastNets is engaged in the provision of payment and security solutions primarily for the financial, corporate and government sectors. EastNets has strategic presence in the Middle East, Europe and North America providing services to customers across 120 countries. It is a business partner of SWIFT maintaining all five spectrums of SWIFT partnerships (SWIFT Business Partner, SWIFT Service Partner, SWIFT Business Partner Service Bureau, SWIFT Solution Partner, and SWIFT Education Partner). EastNets has other strategic global alliances offering value added payment solutions. It also develops Business Software Solutions, such as Enterprise Application Integration (EAI), Anti Money Laundering Applications, SWIFT Empowerment applications, and card Issuing Software.

In the current trends of outsourcing, EastNets has a well established service bureau offering outsourced payment and financial payment solutions and services globally. In 2004 IFIC Kuwait acquired 25% of Eastern Networks BVI. Today IFIC holds board positions along with CEO Hazem Mulhim. As a strategic partner IFIC provides ongoing support to the EastNets executive team.

We are very proud to announce that EastNets Group has acquired SIDE International in 2007. The two companies had been business partners since 2002 reflecting a successful partnership which lead to strategic acquisition.

EastNets Solutions:

Business Software Solutions
EastNets™ has developed a number of business software solutions to cater for different market segments. The product lines include: AML Profiling & Filtering suits, Integration solutions, Kiosk solutions, SWIFT Empowerment with reporting, duplicate detection, recovery solutions, etc. More than 400 established customer references are using these products.
 
Partner Solutions
EastNets™ has established global valued business partnerships such as, SWIFT for financial applications, DoubleTake for high availability and Disaster Recovery solutions, and CheckFree for Reconciliation and Electronic Bill Payment and Presentment Solutions.
 
Integration Services
EastNets™ has developed integration Solutions such as en.finmeX and en.PayGate and other services pertaining to confidential transactions with process efficiency.
 
Portal Services (en.SB)
EastNets™ has established a service bureau offering SWIFT connectivity and application services, Reconciliation and AML Filtering solutions. It has also established portal services as low cost outsourced solutions for the financial and corporate industry.

Contacting EastNets:
 

 
 
http://www.eastnets.com/ 

EastNets - UAE
Tel: +971 4 391-2888
Fax: +971 4 391-8652
uae@eastnets.com
Building 2, Office G02/G03
Dubai Internet City
Dubai, UAE
P.O. Box: 500135 

Thank you to our Distinguished Speakers:

Youssri Helmy, Bryce Murray, Anwar Imam, Rami Elkhatib, Ralph Rabbat
and surprise guest: Amr Awadallah !

 TechWadi held the second edition of its Startup Boot Camp at the offices of Weil Gotshal. The panelists discussed the different aspects of startup creation from business plan, to recruiting, to fundraising …

Again thank you to our event sponsors: Weil Gotshal

And here are some photos from the event:

Latest edition of the “Business Plan to IPO” event is around the corner. 

Saturday June 14, 2008 - Redwood Shores, CA

LEADING SPEAKERS FROM OUR COMMUNITY HAVE
BEEN ADDED TO THE PANEL !

This is a unique event tailored to educating up and coming entrepeneurs on all of the aspects of creating a technology startups and running it successfully. All of the different phases of the life of a startup (from Business plan to IPO) will be discussed.

We  have assembled a world-class panel of experts that will offer entrepreneurs a detailed view of what it takes to build a successful startup. Our panel of experts represents tens of years of expertise and hundreds of millions of raised capital:

• Ralph Rabbat - Chief Architect @ SearchMe, a startup backed by legendary VC firm Sequoia Capital
  
  

• Youssri Helmy - CEO and co-founder @ Ideal Ratings, a startup in the financial services for Islamic Finance
  
  

• Rami Elkhatib - General Partner @ SouthEast Interactive Funds, a VC firm with offices on both coasts
  
  

• Anwar Imam - Attorney @ Weil Gotshal, a leading tech-focused law firm in Silicon Valley
  
  

• Bryce Murray - Executive recruiter @ Walker Talent Group, a leading recruiting companies based in Silicon Valley
  

Event Details:

 
Registration: 

• Paid TechWadi members - $40 click here 
  
  
• Non-members - $65 click here  (be sure to check out our discount on a 12-month membership) 
  
  
• Students -  $25 click here
  

Breakfast & lunch will be served at the event.

Date: 
Saturday June 14, 2008

Time:
Registration starts  at 8:30 AM. Conference proceedings start at 9:00 AM and should end around 2:00 PM

Location:
Redwood Shores Parkway,
Redwood Shores, CA

Detailed Agenda:

• 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM: “Business Plan Development”
  What goes into a successful business plan ? How do you develop financial projections ? How much information do you divulge ? …
  
  
• 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM: “Building out your team”
  How do you find co-founders ? What if you need to hire a CEO ? How do you split the ownership ? What about outsourcing ? …
  
  
• 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM: “Deal Structuring”
  How much equity should you give up ? Who should be on your board ? What are standard deal terms these days ? …
  
  
• 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM: “Fundraising for your startup”
  What types of investors should you go after ? How do you contact investors ? What are investors looking for ? …
  
  
• 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM: Lunch & Networking
  Network with your fellow entrepreneurs

 
The last Startup Boot Camp event was very much appreciated by attendees - you can see what it looked like here: http://www.techwadi.org/photo-gallery/business-plan-to-ipo-2007/

TechWadi held its first semi-annual technology career
fair on Thursday May 15, 2008.

In Silicon Valley, the best companies succeed because they have the best human capital. TechWadi wants to work with the various technology companies (small and large) in our community to help them connect with the best talent out there. We expect this to be an ongoing and regular effort on the part of our association.

To that end, TechWadi will be developing two programs for job seeking candidates and companies:

1. Career Fairs - to be held twice a year
2. Online career center - that can help candidates and companies connect on an ongoing basis 

 The TechWadi team will be working with recruiting companies throughout 2008 to fine tune and improve these programs.

 In the mean time, we would like to thank the recruiters and companies who attended the last TechWadi Career Fair - Thank You !

• Arastra

• calisolar

• Cisco

• Cortina Systems

• Eatlime

• elixirmedical

• Faculte

• Google

• KAUST

• Santur

• Symmetricom

• Tessera

• Vusion

Here are a few snapshots from the event:

We hope to see you at the next event - June 14, 2008 - TechWadi Startup Boot Camp !