Agenda

Abeer Shakweer is currently the Assistant Resident Representative and the Inclusive Growth and Innovation team leader at UNDP Egypt. She is responsible for digital transformation, SMEs and entrepreneurship, youth, innovation, and governance. She holds a Ph.D., in Environmental Engineering and a M.Sc. in Computer Science both from the University of Nottingham, in the UK, and a B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from Cairo University.

Dr. Shakweer has more than 20 years of experience in ICT, Technology Transfer, Innovation, and entrepreneurship, working with national and international organizations. She worked as the advisor to the Egyptian Minister of Communication and Information Technology; and the Founding Executive Director of the National ICT academy for Persons with Disabilities.

She previously worked as the founding Planning and Monitoring Manager and head of International Cooperation at the Science and Technology Development Fund, and the Executive Director for the center for future studies at the Egyptian Cabinet of Minister’s Information and Decision Support Center. Dr. Shakweer worked as a consultant with several reputable international organizations including the European Commission, and several UN agencies.

Dr. Shakweer received several international awards including the WSIS, Best UK universities alumni, the world innovation, technology, and services alliance award and the 100 communications and information technology officers award.

Dr. Hoda Baraka is the Advisor to The Egyptian Minister of ICT for Technology Talents Development; National AI Lead; and Acting Director of the Egyptian Center for responsible AI, in addition to her being Professor of Computer Engineering at the Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University.

She has a vast portfolio including initiating and managing a number of national skilling initiatives that lie under Digital Egypt Generations: The Digital Egypt Builders and Pioneers initiatives (DEBI, DEPI) targeting university undergraduates and graduates, and The Digital Egypt Cubs and Marvels Initiatives targeting students in schools from G4 to G11.

In addition, Dr. Baraka is leading the National Artificial Intelligence strategy at MCIT, contributing in the development and monitoring the implementation of the national AI strategy and the AI governance framework to ensure safe and ethical AI deployment. She is the founder of the Egyptian Center for Responsible AI and currently its Acting Director.

Former First Deputy Minister of ICT since 2006 till 2013. From 2002 till 2013, she was also the National Director of Egypt’s ICT Trust Fund, which is established to promote the use of ICT for Development.

Prof. Baraka has been awarded the UNESCO King Hamad Bin Isa Al Khalifa prize for the use of ICTs in Education, for her contribution in the development and enhancement of education in Egypt using ICT. She was one of WEF/UNESCO Partnership for Education Technical Advisory Group on Capacity development, and a former member of WEF Global Agenda Council for Technologies in Education.

Dr. Baraka has more than forty years of extensive experience as consultant in the field of digital transformation for public and private sectors.

Dr. Ahmed N. Tantawy is a lifelong learner and educator, an engineer, an inventor, a scientist, and a former senior business executive. He enjoys conceiving, planning, structuring, and managing innovation ecosystems and effective organizations that are centered around people and purpose.
Since 2013, Dr. Tantawy has been serving as an expert advisor to multinational corporations, the World Bank, the UN and various government agencies. He is currently a senior advisor to the Egyptian Minister of Communications and IT and the Founding Director of the Applied Innovation Center, where national challenges are addressed through the application and adaptation of emerging technologies. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of various national scale initiatives in the Middle East, a member of the Board of Directors of Telecom Egypt’s Data Services company, and a Trustee of two Not-for-Profit Organizations working in the fields of Education and Sustainable Social Development of underprivileged communities. He was a member of the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee of the Egyptian National
Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, a member of the Executive Committee for the Development of the Suez Canal Region, a senior advisor to various cabinet ministers, the Executive Director of an international Nanotechnology initiative, and a principal investment advisor of a Venture Capital fund operating in the US and the Middle East.
Dr. Tantawy held several technical and executive positions at IBM Corporation. From 2008 to 2013, he was Chief Technical Officer and Senior Executive Advisor in the Growth Markets Region, where he oversaw the company’s mega-projects in Central and Eastern Europe, Central and South America, Africa, Asia, and Australasia. From 1996 to 2008, he was the CTO of IBM’s Telecom and Media Industry Solutions Unit then the entire Internet Division, directing Product Development Labs in the US, UK, Germany, Italy, Japan, Brazil, and Egypt. 

As Vice President of Global Public Policy for Government Affairs, Nicole Isaac leads a team of experts that drive 
Cisco’s policy agenda to bolster ICT adoption around the world and to enable Cisco’s purpose to power an 
inclusive future for all.
Prior to joining Cisco, Nicole spent more than 20 years in the government, corporate, legal, and nonprofit 
sectors. In addition to senior roles at Google, Meta, and LinkedIn, her background in government is wideranging. After beginning her career as counsel in the U.S. House of Representatives, she became a foreign law 
clerk at the Constitutional Court of South Africa before joining the office of U.S. Senate Assistant Majority 
Leader Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) as floor counsel. For five years of the Obama administration, Nicole was the 
deputy director for legislative affairs to then-Vice President Joe Biden and later served as a special assistant to 
President Barack Obama in the White House’s Office of Legislative Affairs.
Passionate about empowering others, Nicole was the founder and CEO of Code the Streets, Inc.—a nonprofit 
organization designed to increase access to educational and mentoring resources for inner-city youth through 
technology. She has also been a trustee with World Learning Inc. and a board member of the Joseph R. Biden 
Foundation. She was recently appointed to serve as a commissioner to the United States Commission on the 
Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad, which protects and preserves historic properties and monuments 
across Eastern and Central Europe.
Nicole grew up in the Bronx, New York and received her Bachelor of Arts from Brown University, Master of Arts 
from Columbia University, Juris Doctor from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, and Master of Studies 
(LLM equivalent) from the University of Oxford.

Jeanine Vos is Head of SDG Accelerator at the GSMA, the global organisation unifying the mobile ecosystem. Jeanine’s mission is to help industry and partners fast-track digital innovations, capture Al’s transformational opportunity and drive responsible industry leadership.

She heads up a multidisciplinary team undertaking a portfolio of industry programmes that deliver a positive socio-economic impact across the world. For example, Jeanine set up the GSMA AI for Impact initiative, collaborating with a global taskforce of AI industry leaders to unlock AI business and societal value, scale impactful use cases and embed responsible design. She further oversees programmes to help companies strategically integrate sustainability into core business and to build capacity, talent and skills.

Prior to her current role, Jeanine was Executive Director, Connected Living at the GSMA, where she created a wide range of projects to build new market opportunities leveraging the Internet of Things. Jeanine launched strategic partnerships and programmes in digital health, mobile learning, smart cities and connected cars.

Before joining the GSMA, Jeanine worked in different mobile industry roles across the areas of Public Policy, Marketing and Strategy. She holds an MSc from the Delft University of Technology and an MSc from the London School of Economics.