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Abdeslam El-Idrissi
Deputy CEO & Secretary General of Arab British Chamber of CommerceMr Abdeslam El-Idrissi is proud to have served the best part of over 36 years with the Arab British Chamber of Commerce, serving both as Director of Trade Services, Acting General Manager and now his present position as Deputy CEO and Secretary General. During this time, he has cultivated strong relationships with British Chambers, Government bodies, educational institutions, NGOs across both the Arab world and the UK regions, as well as the UK-Arab business communities as a whole.
To this end, Mr El-Idrissi is in much demand across the regions as a keynote speaker and as one of the UK’s leading experts on UK-Arab trade relations.
He is also a key member of the Institute of Export where in the past he has held the position of Vice Chair of the Institute of Export, London Branch for a period of 7 years.
Mr Bandar Reda
Secretary General & CEO of ABCCMr Bandar Ali Reda joined the Arab British Chamber of Commerce, on 1st March 2019, as Secretary General and CEO, becoming the fourth person to lead the Chamber since its foundation almost five decades ago.
As CEO, Mr Reda contributes his expertise by drawing on his wealth of experience as a diplomat and extensive time spent in the private sector to ensure the Chamber moves to the next level.
Mr Reda has a distinguished professional career of more than a decade in banking and corporate industry at SABB HSBC Saudi Arabia, prior to senior positions in the diplomatic service of his country, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where he served as Commercial Attaché in the UK & Europe, based in London, and in Italy and as part of the Saudi delegation to the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) in Paris.
Mr Reda holds a BA in Economics and Business Administration from Orlando, USA. He has been an Executive Member of the Saudi-Italian Business Council, the Council of Saudi Chambers; a Member of the Business Youth Committee, Jeddah Chamber of Commerce; a Member of the Saudi Economy Association; and a Member of the Saudi Arabian legal accountants. Mr Reda has demonstrated his experience and abilities in his roles in both public and private sectors.
Since taking up his post, Mr Reda has successfully steered the Chamber throughout the difficult months of the pandemic and lockdown, a period which presented unprecedented challenges for international trade and the business community. Under Mr Bandar Reda’s guidance and leadership, the Chamber not only continued all its activities uninterrupted but extended its services during this period and has reinforced its reputation as the leading strategic business services organisation in the UK dedicated to strengthening Arab-British trade and building closer business co-operation.
Professor Upul Wijayantha
Head of Centre for Renewable Energy Systems at Cranfield UniversityProfessor Upul Wijayantha led a renewable hydrogen generation device development team in the UK industry, which was expanded to the US through the US DoE funding, until 2006. His expertise includes low-carbon Hydrogen technologies, electrochemical energy storage, energy materials and circular chemical economy. Due to his unique expertise and experience in the broad area of sustainable energy research, he has played prominent roles and continues to do so in a number of UKRI funded projects including EPSRC
Upul Wijayantha has represented the UK in research and innovation delegations and visited overseas countries (eg. The Middle East, Malaysia, Turkey) to promote international research collaborations. He has served on industrial advisory boards and worked as an advisor for Catapults and currently serves in two technical task groups of renewable hydrogen technologies in International Energy Agency.
Courtney Lowrance
Managing Director, Sustainability and Corporate Transitions of Citi ( Leading Global Bank)Courtney Lowrance leads Citi’s Sustainability and
Corporate Transitions team for Europe, Middle East,
and Africa. The team provides in-house environmental and social expertise for clients, and supports the bank in sustainable finance and product innovation.
She has 20 years of experience in sustainable finance, including a previous role as the global head of Citi’s Environmental and Social Risk Management (ESRM) group. In this capacity, she
served as a technical resource for clients in improving their environmental and social management systems.
Recently, Courtney spent two years in Beijing as the Principal Environment Specialist for the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). In this capacity, she oversaw AIIB’s ESG strategy
and helped develop the Bank’s first ESG enhanced fixed income fund focused on emerging markets in Asia.
Daniel Klier
CEO of ESG BookDr. Daniel Klier is CEO of ESG Book, a leading ESG data and technology company with offices in Boston, London, Frankfurt, Delhi, Singapore and Tokyo, which he joined in June 2021.
Prior to this, Daniel was Global Head of Sustainable Finance for HSBC, where he developed the global climate strategy for the bank and led the development of the sustainable finance business across the corporate bank, retail bank and asset management business.
Daniel chaired the Bank of England Climate Risk Working Group and the Sustainable Finance Working Group at the Institute of International Finance. He is a member of the Board of Sustainable Energy for All.
Daniel joined HSBC in 2013 as Group Head of Strategy in London, following nine years at McKinsey & Company where he was a Partner. In 2016, Daniel was selected as Young Global Leader at the World Economic Forum.
Ahmed Zahran
CEO & Co-Founder of KarmSolarAhmed Zahran is the CEO and Co-founder of KarmSolar. Inspired by the energy of theEgyptian revolution, Zahran founded the company with a team of three others in 2011.
Zahran has over 19 years of experience in renewable energy and carbon trading. Before founding KarmSolar, he worked at Shell in Tunisia as a financial planning analyst for the company’s gas distribution activities. He also worked with Shell Trading in London as a finance adviser for the European Emissions Trading System.
Zahran’s modus operandi is disruption and KarmSolar was born out of the idea that every problem presents an opportunity. He is obsessed with the belief that
entrepreneurship can be its own form of self-expression; a catalyst for innovation, and a powerful means of resistance against unchallenged thought.
For Zahran, KarmSolar is the ultimate vehicle for disruption; a place where young
people are empowered to solve some of the most pressing problems facing Egypt. With the company currently occupying the position of the biggest solar energy developer for the private sector, Zahran is focused on redesigning the energy structure business model and is responsible for guiding, co coordinating and overseeing commercial and technical growth strategies for the company.
Zahran is a co-founder and a former board director of Nahdet El Mahrousa, one of the largest youth-run NGOs in Egypt, which works on youth development projects. He also sits on the boards of the Technology Innovation & Entrepreneurship Center (TIEC) and the Arab Development Portal.
He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the American
University in Cairo, an MSc in Economics from the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies, and diploma in philosophy and literature from the
European College of Liberal Arts in Berlin. He is recipient of the American University in Cairo’s ‘Distinguished Alumni Award’ and a Desmond Tutu Fellow at the African Leadership Institute
Dr Raed Bkayrat
CDO at AEPCRaed is currently the Chief Energy Strategist and Senior Advisor for several public and private entities like the Clean Energy Business Council, Alternative Energy Projects Co. in Kuwait, Apricum Group in Germany, and founder of Sunergy Advisory in the UAE. Raed has over two decades of international experience in the energy sector, having worked with Multinational corporations, government entities as well as technology startups and R&D organizations. Previously, Raed was at First Solar where he was Vice President for Sales and Business Development for MENA, overseeing First Solar’s commercial footprint, market setup, origination, and strategy development. Upon moving back to the Middle East in 2009, Raed joined the core team that built the Economic Development Division at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), where he was responsible for creating the institution’s successful Industry Collaboration Program and acted as an advisor to both public and private sector entities in Saudi Arabia.
Raed previously took on several senior roles with Siemens AG in Germany and in the US. He is the author of several referenced papers and holds several patents around energy conversion. Raed is a co-founder and mentor of several technology startups and is a passionate advocate for decarbonization and the clean tech industry in the MENA region.
Mohammed Waleed Ayoub
Regional Commercial Director of GE Renewable EnergyMohammed is the regional growth leader for GE Renewables - Grid Solutions. He has more than 15 years of experience in technical and commercial roles across various industries including power generation, transmission, oil & gas, and manufacturing. He joined General Electric in 2015 and has served in various functions such as product management, commercial operations, marketing and business development.
Mohammed served in global roles across various geographies including the United States, France and the United Arab Emirates. He is currently leading the growth team within GE’s Grid Solutions business and responsible for the regional commercialization strategy of special grid solutions such as HVDC and FACTS across various market segments.
Mohammed received his BSc in Electrical Engineering from the American University in Dubai and graduated his master’s degree in Electrical Power Systems with honours from the university of Bath in UK.