Hope you can join us this Saturday, attendance is complimentary.

Map and Directions to Microsoft Research in Silicon Valley:

Each year since 2004, the Symposium has brought more than 300 selected opinion leaders in business, finance, technology, and policymaking to Silicon Valley,where they share insights into the opportunities and challenges of globalization. The theme of this year’s Symposium will be “entrepreneurship rising”.

Speakers include:

Dave McClure Founder 500 Startups	Craig Barrett Former Chairman and CEO Intel Corporation	Steve Blank Serial Entrepreneur and Management Guru
Claudia Van Munce Managing Director IBM Venture Capital Group	Viktor Vekselberg President Skolkovo Foundation	Promod Hague Managing Partner Norwest Venture Partners

As well as Igor Agamirzian (Russian Venture Company), Alexander Debelov (Virool), Peter Dindial (Grameenphone IT), Brian Dovey (Domain Associates), Lorraine Hariton, (U.S. Department of State), Steve Jurvetson (Skolkovo Foundation), and Dmitry Repin (Digital October).

Sign up on www.globaltechsymposium.com, TechWadi members receive a $300 discount by using code TECHWADI2012

Photos from the previous Global Tech Symposium:

In response to the political upheaval following the Arab Spring, Stanford students from the MENA region and United States created the American Middle East Network for Dialogue at Stanford (AMENDS), a new initiative to promote greater collaboration and understanding between youth leaders in the two regions.

The 40 delegates were chosen from a pool of over 300 candidates. The applications came in from across the US and MENA region. Participants were selected based on demonstrated commitment to promoting social, political, and economic change – as well as an assesment of their potential to influence US-MENA affairs.

Among the AMENDS delegates are a leader of the February 20 Youth Movement in Morocco; the co-founder of Rassd News Network, the sixth most influential media source in the MENA region; and the founder of Lend for Peace, a micro-finance program in the Middle East. Countries represented include Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, Yemen, as well as the US and Canada.

For 5 days starting April 10, the delegates will work together on their initiatives, participate in workshops held in collaboration with the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and present AMENDS Talks, modeled after TEDTalks™, that will be broadcast on Stanford University’s official YouTube channel. 

TechWadi mentors will host the delegates on April 11 at Stanford. Events on April 13 and 14, including the AMENDS Talks and keynote addresses, will be open to the public.

Some of the AMENDS Delegates:

Over 100 leading global and regional ICT professionals are set to take the stage at the ArabNet Digital Summit 2012 to share their expertise on the latest trends and topics in the field of online business.

The Summit, to be held between March 27-31 in Beirut, Lebanon, will bring together leading experts from the global web and mobile industries with digital professionals and entrepreneurs from across the Arab world.

Presentations will provide in depth insight into a wide spectrum of topics such as entrepreneurship, investment, the future of media and advertising, interaction through social media platforms, and the affect of the latest technology trends on the digital market.

See our in-depth partner page for more.

The event will start at 6pm on Wednesday March 14.

Come learn about:

• How to successfully launch a new endeavor;
• Can start-ups succeed outside of Silicon Valley?
• What lessons can one learn from a failed venture?
• And much, much more

Hors d’Oeuvres will be served, please register now. We look forward to welcoming you all on March 14th!

About our speaker:

Maher is a serial entrepreneur and a seasoned software and Internet technology executive. Over the past 15 years, Maher was either a founder of a startup technology company, or a senior executive of a technology publicly traded company. Currently he is the founder and CEO of Giveplace, an online social funding platform for schools and nonprofits. Before founding Giveplace, Maher was the founder and CEO of Faculte, an online video platform for e-learning and corporate training. Between 2003 and 2007, Maher was a senior vice president at Lawson Software, an enterprise software publicly traded company. Previously, Maher was the founder and CEO of Apexion Technologies- a mobile software solutions provider acquired by Lawson, a CTO at Neoforma- an Internet B2B publicly traded company, and the founder of Pharos Technologies- an Internet product catalog management platform. Maher has advised a number of technology companies and private equity firms on product strategy and business development issues, and is currently an active angel investor.

Some photos from previous events:

TechWadi photos
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Dr. Hassanein is an Entrepreneur, Venture Capitalist, Mentor, Educator and Activist. Over the last 35 years, Dr. Hassanein has managed over $1 billion in 14 international technology funds, spearheaded the mezzanine financing of 80+ IT companies, and been the founder or Chairman of 8 successful technology companies. As Chairman of TechWadi since March 2010, Dr. Hassanein has played an instrumental role in the organization’s outreach to -and success in- the Arab world over the past years. Watch the interview below.

ArabNet is the hub for Arab digital professionals and entrepreneurs to connect and learn.

ArabNet runs a series of events across the MENA region aimed at growing the web and mobile industry and launching new digital startups. For the third consecutive year, ArabNet is holding the ArabNet Digital Summit in Beirut from March 27-31, gathering over 1,500 high-profile executives and globally-renowned players.

TechWadi is proud to partner with ArabNet in support of Digital Summit 2012, what will be the region’s largest web/mobile gathering. Including familiar faces from the TechWadi community, a total of 100 globally renowned speakers will share their expertise in cutting-edge panel discussions, specialized workshops, exciting competitions, and more.

The ArabNet summit has a track-record of connecting participating entrepreneurs with funding and media exposure. Again, this year ArabNet is providing the opportunity for top entrepreneurs to pitch their digital ideas and startups. Entrepreneurs should apply before March 1, 2012 for the chance to pitch in front of an audience of more than 1000 investors, incubators, executives, developers and media.

More details and videos at the end of this post

Last year, the ArabNet Digital Summit in Beirut saw over 1,000 Arab web business leaders, investors, mentors and start-ups come together to harness innovation and discuss the latest trends in the industry over a period of four days.

This year, ArabNet Beirut  is going to be even BIGGER! The summit is set to take place on March 27-31 and promises 5 action-packed days of cutting-edge panel discussions, specialized workshops and focused networking sessions among other activities. Additionally, over 100 distinguished speakers will take the stage to share their extensive expertise in the field of digital.

The five day summit will be split up into four parts: two Developer Days (March 27-28), which will host technical discussions and workshops for programmers, an Industry Day (March 28) focused on how web and mobile applications are transforming traditional industries, two Forum Days (March 29-30) which will feature pitches by some of the region’s top entrepreneurs and are aimed at bringing together digital business leaders in the region to cover the latest web and mobile trends and technologies, and finally, a Community Day (March 31) open to the public and focused on raising awareness about the power of digital media.

The Digital Summit will include ArabNet’s annual competitions: the Ideathon and Startup Demo. The Ideathon aims at turning bright ideas into functional products will introduce the top 20 entrepreneurs and startups in the region, exposing the latest in digital entrepreneurship and giving entrants the chance to win big cash prizes and the attention of investors, incubators, and developers.

Click here for more info about the conference.

More about ArabNet

The first ArabNet Digital Summit outside of Beirut was held in Cairo in October 2011 (see here for our coverage back then) and brought together globally renowned digital experts not only to discuss the latest trends and technologies in mobile and web, but also to examine the opportunities present for aspiring digital entrepreneurs in a nation undergoing a major political revolution.

“A major focus of ArabNet Cairo was tying digital tools and technologies to economic and social development. The Egyptian market presents significant prospects for the Web and mobile industries, which can in turn contribute to strengthening the economy,” said Christidis.

Cloud Center wins the ArabNet Ideathon in Cairo:

Zaytouneh at the ArabNet Cairo startup Demo:

On the one year anniversary of Ghonim’s release after twelve days of incarceration by the Mubarak regime and emotional interview that reinvigorated the protest movement, join Stanford MSAN and TechWadi to celebrate the accomplishments of the Egyptian people and ponder what comes next.

Featuring Wael Ghonim, Google exec-turned-revolutionary; Dr. Ossama Hassanein, Silicon Valley VC and chairman of TechWadi; and Dr. Joel Beinin, Professor of History at Stanford University.

Open to the public, followed by book signing.

The access road – Serra Street can be used to reach Knight Way and Stanford Graduate School of Business. For GPS please use the address 680 Serra Street – “Schwab Residential Centre” – the Graduate School of Business is located opposite the Schwab Residential Centre. Cemex Auditorium is in Zambrano Hall, the building on the far top-left if you are facing the school. For a detailed map of the Stanford GSB campus, click below:

Some photos from Wael’s visit last year:

Wael Ghonim at Stanford in 2011
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Kiva chair Julie Hanna follows up her incredible talk at TechWadi’s #TechSpring conference by headlining this year’s Women’s Leadership Forum. Join us and witness a captivating line-up of women though leaders with expertise in technology, finance, social enterprise, medicine, and social media discuss reinventing ourselves for a new successful future.

Hosted at the magnificent Computer History Museum, 1401 N Shoreline Blvd Mountain View, CA 94043, the event promises to address global issues at the heart of TechWadi initiatives.

Sign up here using the code “WLF-TECHWADI” for the special TechWadi reduced rate.

Julie Hanna Kiva	Barbara Holzapfel SAP Labs North America	Dina McKinney AMD	Marilyn Nagel Watermark
Kristi Royse KLR Consulting	Jennifer Walske Haas School of Business, Berkeley	Erna Grasz Asante Foundation Africa	Shaherose Charania Women 2.0
Shahnaz Taplin Chinoy Muslim Women’s Fund	Leslie Marshall Talk USA	Seema Aziz CEO SEFAM	Lorraine Hariton US Department of State

Event Agenda

In partnership with