Board Members
The World Business Angels Investment Forum (WBAF) is an international organisation that aims to ease access to finance for businesses from start-up to scale-up to exit, with the ultimate goal of generating more jobs and more social justice worldwide. It is committed to collaborating globally to empower world economic development by creating innovative financial instruments for innovators, start-ups, and SMEs.
It is developing a global agenda to accomplish this mission with the cooperation of its highly dedicated international board members.
EUROPE
Baybars Altuntas
Chairman, World Business Angels Investment Forum (WBAF)
Former Senior Advisor of the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) for the Elite Program, Chairman of the World Business Angels Investment Forum (WBAF) – an affiliated partner of the G20 Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI) chaired by the Queen Maxima of the Netherlands, Co-chair of the Washington DC- based Global Business Angels Network (GBAN), Vice President of the Brussels-based European Trade Association for Business Angels, Seed Funds, and Early Stage Market Players (EBAN), President of the Business Angels Association of Turkey (TBAA), the World Entrepreneurship Forum Ambassador to Turkey and the Balkan countries, and President of Deulcom International Inc. Star of the Turkish version of the television show Dragons’ Den / Sharks Tank. Recipient of the European Trade Association of Business Angels (EBAN) award for the Best Individual in Europe Globally Engaging with the Global Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in 2014 (Ireland), 2015 (Netherlands), 2016 (Portugal), 2017 (Spain) and 2018 (Bulgaria). The only entrepreneur to be granted a personal audience with former President Obama at the Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship in Washington DC. Developer of the world-renowned entrepreneurship theory, the Altuntas Start-up Compass Theory, researched by Sheffield University and used in numerous MBA programs. Appointed as JCI Ambassador, following Ban Ki-moon, former Secretary General of the United Nations. Profiled regularly by leading international media such as CNN International, Bloomberg, BBC. A co-author of Planet Entrepreneur: The World Entrepreneurship Forum's Guide to Business Success Around the World, published by Wiley (2013). Author of Off the Bus, Into a Supercar! How I Became a Top TV Star and Celebrated Investor, published by Balboa Press (2014) and translated into Chinese, Croatian, Albanian, and Macedonian.
GULF COUNTRIES CORPORATION
Abdulaziz N. Al-Khalifa
Chief Executive Officer, Qatar Development Bank (QDB)
Abdulaziz bin Nasser Al-Khalifa is the CEO of Qatar Development Bank (QDB), the leading development and financing body driving the growth of Qatar’s private sector and its contribution to GDP. He previously held leadership positions at QDB, where he was the Executive Director of Strategy & Business Development for three years, serving simultaneously as Vice President of several internal and external committees. Prior to joining QDB, Abdulaziz worked at Qatar Shell as a Business Development Manager for nearly three years and held technical and managerial positions at The Qatar General Electricity & Water Corporation for six years prior to that. He has extensive experience in the SME, private and entrepreneurship sectors. He played a leading role in the launch of several flagship development initiatives, including the Al Dhameen Partial Guarantee Program, Tasdeer Qatar Export Development Agency and the Housing Loan Program for Qatari citizens.Abdulaziz holds an MBA degree from Qatar University, a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of California and has received several specialized diplomas from Harvard and INSEAD Universities.
MIDDLE EAST
Dr. Abdul Malek Al Jaber
President, Middle East Business Angels Network (MBAN)
Dr. Abdul Malek Al Jaber has a wealth of experience and a long record of achievements locally and regionally in the ICT, Services and Financial industry. Dr. Al Jaber is the Founder and Chairman of MENA Apps, the former COO of Zain Group and CEO of Zain Jordan. Prior to joining Zain, Dr. Al Jaber served as CEO and Vice Chairman of Paltel Group where he was also responsible for profits growth from $15 million to $100 million in a record time. During his tenure, the Paltel Group became the first Palestinian company and 2nd in MENA to adopt the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standards on Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability Practice and Reporting, as well as the first company in the country to form a corporate foundation. Dr. Al Jaber serves as chairman of the Golden Wheat Mills Company and is Chairman of Middle East Payment Services, leading payment processor and acquirer in the Middle East. He also sets on a handful of regional and global boards of companies and institutions. In 2010, Dr. Al Jaber was ranked by Global Telecoms, # 62 on its annual power 100 list. He is the first Jordanian recognized on this list. Again and in 2011 the same organization ranked him # 69 and # 70 in 2012. In addition to this, he was also ranked number 21 in the top 50 most powerful people in the Media, Marketing and Advertising in June 2011. He was also awarded by HRH Sheikh Mohamed Bin Rashid PM of UAE as Best Arab Manager. Dr. Al Jaber is a member of the Arab Business Council, WEF, The Arab Technology Forum, YPO and the Global Agenda Council. Dr Al-Jaber is a member of the Advisory Council of Kuwait National Fund for Entrepreneurshio, Chairman of Oasis Venture Fund and Founder or Arabreneur.
UNIDO
Dr. Hashim S. Hussein
Head of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization – Investment & Technology Promotion Office (UNIDO-ITPO)
Dr. Hashim S. Hussein is the Head of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization – Investment & Technology Promotion Office (UNIDO-ITPO) and Director of the Arab International Centre for Entrepreneurship and Investment Training (ARCEIT) – Kingdom of Bahrain. Dr. Hussein has acquired rich experience in the field of Industrial Development as well as Investment and Technology Promotion in the last 22 years. He’s had extensive experience of over 20 years in SME and Entrepreneurship development and He is an international advocate for Women’s Economic Empowerment. He holds a PhD (Honors) in International Law from the Universite de Nantes, France. He obtained a Doctoral Research Programme from the University of Maryland at College Park, Centre for International Development and Conflict Management (CIDCM), Maryland, U.S.A in the year 1989. He has worked at various responsibility levels in different countries like USA, Egypt, Sudan, Austria and the Kingdom of Bahrain. He joined UNIDO in 1991 as a Program Officer posted in the Kingdom of Bahrain to eventually become the Head of UNIDO-ITPO in 1996. Dr. Hussein is also the Director of the Arab International Center for Entrepreneurship & Investment (AICEI) in which he played an instrumental role in its establishment in Bahrain in 2001. Through AICEI, he initiated and developed the Enterprise Development & Investment Promotion Program (EDIP) which is currently implemented in over 49 countries from Uruguay, Africa, the MENA region and all the way to China.
ASIA
Prof Dr Inderjit Singh
Co-president, World Entrepreneurship Forum (WENF)
Prof, Dr. Inderjit Singh serves as Chairman of NTUitive, the Innovation Company of the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He is the Chief Executive Officer of Solstar International Pte Ltd, a multinational company from Singapore. Prof. Singh was the founding President of the Singapore Chapter of The Indus Entrepreneurs, a network of entrepreneurs and professionals founded in 1992 in Silicon Valley, California. From 1995 to 2012, he was the Deputy Chairman of Action Community for Entrepreneurs (ACE), a Singapore national committee involved in Entrepreneurship Policy and Advocacy.
Previously, Prof. Singh founded United Test and Assembly Centre Limited, or UTAC, a Singapore-based semiconductor test and assembly company, and served as UTACs President and Chief Executive Officer. UTAC was a Unicorn 3 years after Inderjit started the company. Before founding UTAC, Prof. Singh served at Texas Instruments Singapore (known as Micron Semiconductor Asia since 1999) for 13 years, holding the post of Director of Assembly and Test Operations for the Memory Division from 1996 to 1998
Prof. Singh also served as a Member of Parliament (MP) in Singapore, from 1996 to 2015 and was the Chairman of the Singapore Government Parliamentary Committee for Finance, Trade and Industry for a duration of his term as an MP. Prof. Singh serves as a Member of the Board of the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and in the past served as a board member in several Statutory and Public Bodies, including the Urban Redevelopment Authority, the Standards, Productivity and Innovation Board and Spring Singapore. He is an active angel investor and also holds directorship positions and investments in a number of start-up companies. Prof. Singh holds a degree in Electronics Engineering from the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, an MBA from the University of Strathclyde, United Kingdom and a Honorary Doctorate from the Amity University, India.