26 February 2015
Leadership from the Middle East and North Africa's leading telecom, tech, Government, finance and advisory institutions are meeting in Dubai on April 22, for the 9th annual TMT MENA Conference and Awards, which is focused on Smart City investment for 2015. www.tmtfinance.com/mena/ 

Khalifa Al Shamsi, Chief Digital Services Officer, Etisalat Group; Louay Abou Chanab, Investment Director - Telecom, Emirates Investment Authority; and Fahad Mushayt, Vice President, Corporate Strategy, STC have been announced as the first key speakers on the opening session at the event, which will tackle Smart City Investment Strategies, and the role of Telecoms, Government and Finance.

Key questions for the opening session include:

 -What is the role of Government in facilitating smart city investment?

- Where do telcos have the right to win across the value chain of smart cities?

- What are the expected investments? What is the risk/return profile of such investments?

- What are the required partnerships across ICT, Finance and Government? 

Over 50 speakers and 200 delegates are expected at the conference which features a series of Leadership Panels, Peer to Peer Round Table Debates, Keynote Presentations, Case Studies and Networking Sessions.

Other key speakers announced so far include Dr. Imad Hoballah, Chairman and CEO, TRA Lebanon; Hadi Hazim, Senior Director Network Architecture Operations, Du; Wael Doukmak, Director ICTE Business Development, Ooredoo Qatar; Gulfraz Qayyum, Managing Director, Telecoms & Media, EMEA, Citi; Hazem Galal, Partner, State & Local Government Sector Global Leader, PwC; Chady Smayra, Vice President and Partner, Strategy&; Martin Spicer, Senior Manager, TMT - Asia & EMENA, International Finance Corporation (IFC); and Khaldoon Tabaza, Managing Director, iMENA Holdings.

Sessions include:

• TMT Leadership Round Table 2 - Implementing Smart Cities

• Smart City Business Models and the Roles of Vendors

• Mergers and Acquisitions - How will consolidation shape the TMT market?

• Mobile and Fixed infrastructure Investment and Sharing

• Smart Healthcare, Commerce, 'Edutainment', Energy and Financing

• Investing in Cloud, Emerging Markets and the Internet of Things

• Big Data - how to manage the 'new oil' across Smart City silos?

For more information on the programme go to http://www.tmtfinance.com/mena/programme

TMT MENA 2015 - Investment and innovation strategies for Smart Cities (www.tmtfinance.com/mena ), takes place at the Madinat Jumeirah resort on April 22.

TMT Finance MENA 2014 Awards Ceremony and Gala Dinner (www.tmtfinance.com/mena/awards) will also take place at the event, recognising the leading investors and advisers in telecoms and finance.

Register to attend at http://tmtfinance.com/mena/register

Contact the organisers enquiries@tmtfinance.com

© Press Release 2015