Tuesday March 19th, 2024
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15 Speakers You Cannot Miss at the Creative Industry Summit

The 14th edition of the Creative Industry Summit, the region’s largest event spotlighting everything related to Egypt’s creative economy, is a showcase of local and global game-changers.

Fadila Khalid

15 Speakers You Cannot Miss at the Creative Industry Summit

It is both a blessing and a curse to be a creative individual; the ability to think beyond the bounds of what is deemed ‘possible’ and ‘real’ can be nothing short of brilliant, but it is also suffocatingly isolating. Growing up, most creatives were met with - ‘you’ve got your heads in the clouds’, ‘you won’t ever make a living out of art’, and everyone’s personal favourite, ‘you think you can change the world?’- when they expressed their thoughts or spoke about their dreams. 

The concept of creativity is just that, a concept. It’s an abstract and intangible train of ideas and thoughts and feelings that tangle themselves into individuals’ very identity. Unfortunately, this also leads to the development of an echo chamber, where creatives force themselves to exist in a vacuum, and creativity cannot exist in a vacuum. For many years, creatives were marginalised for their individuality and uniqueness, but it is only through community that the power dynamics that have been so rigidly cornering the creative ecosystem and its economy can shift, and they have. 

The Creative Industry Summit (C-S) was founded by Neamat Khalil and Mai Salama in 2007 to create an on-ground space that proves that the creative community in the region isn’t at all concerned with borders, power relations, geography, race, ethnicity, class, gender, or religion, but with allowing people to share their collective passions, dreams, ideas, curiosities, experiences, inspirations, and ‘impossible’ goals.

Over the last 13 editions, the Creative Industry Summit succeeded in becoming the Middle East’s biggest gathering for the region’s most impactful innovators, dreamers, and doers; uplifting the creative economy in ways that would’ve similarly been deemed ‘impossible’ a decade ago.

Speakers from across the last thirteen years include Sir Martin Sorell, Garyvee, Naguib Sawiris, Tarek Nour, Hany Shoukry, Massimo Posseti, Mohamed El Saadi, and even Abla Fahita!

Scheduled to take place starting September 27th, the 14 edition of the Creative Industry Summit will showcase local and global game-changers on its stage. With 25 + tracks across the creative economy, as well as a new dedicated track for Web3 in partnership with our sister site NFTYScene, C-S seeks to nurture conversation and cooperation through its cutting-edge workshops, panels, and talks.

MARK ADAMS, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT & HEAD OF INNOVATION AT VICE MEDIA

Mark Adams is the Senior Vice President and head of Innovation at Vice Media. Previously, Adams was the co-founder of The Audience, a platform that raised USD 40 million in funding to become a powerful creative agency for the world’s biggest and most sought after celebrities. In 2015, Vice Media acquired The Audience, and Adams became Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer. 

ISLAM EL DESSOUKY, GLOBAL CREATIVE STRATEGY DIRECTOR AT COCA-COLA UAE

Islam El Dessouky is a brand strategist, creative director, speaker, podcaster, positioning architect, and podcaster - as well as the  Global Creative Strategy Director at Coca-Cola UAE. He has over 20 years of experience under his belt, having worked with global brands and associations like Henkel, PepsiCo, and the World Federation of Advisors (WFE).

EDUARDO TAVARES, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT AND CREATIVE DIRECTOR OF CRAFT & DESIGN AT AREA 23

Eduardo Tavares is the SVP Group Creative Director of Craft & Design at AREA 23. For the last 16 years, Tavares has been making a name for himself in the global design industry as an art director. Tavares currently runs the Refinery, an AREA 23 special division for craft and design. Ever since joining AREA 23, Tavares has earned the agency a multitude of creative awards, including 4 Grand Prix and more than 30 Lions at Cannes International Awards.

AMIR FAYO, BRAND ARCHITECT AND CREATIVE STRATEGIST AT MAISON69 STORES

Amir Fayo’s experience as an accomplished entrepreneur and creative is long and fruitful. Fayo uniquely positions concepts to create an experience that comes to life emotionally, physically, and digitally. That could be HR manuals that pinpoint the collective culture, images that capture the narrative of a location, or fabrics that tell about the brand’s context. The prolific creative strategist and brand architect had spent years working with global fashion, retail, hospitality, media, tech, entertainment, and F&B brands.

NERMINE SHEHABELDIN HEAD OF MARKETING AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT, NATIONAL BANK OF EGYPT

Nermine Shehabeldin is a marketing expert with over 20 years of experience in the banking industry. Over the course of her prolific career, Shehabeldin managed to not only stabilise the National Bank of Egypt across its most tumultuous periods but also elevate its clientele and promote its value. 

AMR EL KADY, CEO OF THE EGYPTIAN TOURISM AUTHORITY

Amr El Kady has 30 years of experience in various disciplines in the fields of media, advertising, and marketing. During these years, he held various positions until he reached senior management positions in 2003, and became Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of one of the largest marketing groups in 2014. He has been a member of the “Tourism Promotion Experts” committee since 2020, which is the committee formed by a decision of the Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, which includes a number of marketing experts from inside and outside the ministry and the authority, and university professors. Over the past years, El Kady worked with the largest international companies specialised in media and advertising, including Horizon International Advertising Company, English Lowe Advertising Company, Mindshare worldwide advertising media, and DDB Worldwide.

TAREK EL GANAINY, CEO OF TVISION MEDIA PRODUCTIONS

Tarek El Gainainy is the founder and CEO of TVision Media Productions, one of the region’s leading production companies in the worlds of traditional and digital cinema/filmmaking. TVision has produced cult classics, including ‘Hekayat Banat’, ‘Ragel w Set Settat’,  and ‘SNL bil Araby’. 

NADINE ABDEL GHAFFAR, FOUNDER & CEO ART D’EGYPTE

Nadine Abdel Ghaffar is the founder & CEO of the Egyptian private multidisciplinary firm, Art D’Égypte, a project dedicated to supporting and uplifting Egypt’s arts and culture scene. Abdel Ghaffar founded Art D’Égypte to provide art consultancies to institutions, collectors, corporations, museums, and other public spaces and venues in order to further expose the richness of art and history that Egypt has to offer. 

AMY MOWAFI, CO-FOUNDER & CEO AT MO4 NETWORK

Amy Mowafi is the co-founder and CEO of the MO4 Network, one of the Middle East’s leading media companies and digital creative agencies, with a staggeringly diverse media portfolio. MO4 Network has 11 bi-lingual digital publications, namely: CairoScene, ElFasla, CairoZoom, StartupScene, SceneEats, SceneNoise, SceneTraveller, SceneHome, NFTY Scene, NFTY Arabia, and SceneNow, a content app. With over 20 years of experience in media, and over 12 in digital media specifically, Mowafi has succeeded in creating comprehensive and expansive publications and digital platforms with hundreds of millions in reach on a monthly basis.

TIMMY MOWAFI, CO-FOUNDER & MANAGING PARTNER AT MO4 NETWORK

Timmy Mowafi is a British-born Egyptian entrepreneur, writer, creative director, co-founder of MO4 Network, and 11 leading regional digital publications. Over the past decade, he has developed marketing strategies and content for some of the world's leading brands.  Fascinated with the technologies shaping the future of the creative economy, Mowafi founded NFTY Arabia, an NFT marketplace and launchpad dedicated to empowering creatives across the region as well as NFTYScene, a digital platform focused on Web3 in 2021.

AMR EL KALAAWY, MANAGING DIRECTOR AT FP7/CAI

Amr El Kalaawy is FP7 McCann Cairo’s General Manager and has devoted 15 years of his fruitful career in media at FP7. Kalaawy has helped shape the agency into one of the region’s best and most affluent, winning awards and gaining acclaim at Cannes, D&AD, and LIA.

NAILA FATTOUH, CEO OF BBDO

Having started out at Bates on beverage brand, Fayrouz, Fattouh’s experience in the F&B industry propelled her career forward, leading to her recruitment by BBDO for the management of PepsiCo’s portfolio in 2007. As the years went on, Fattouh’s experience allowed her to become the Group Account Director of PepsiCo, Mars, and Barclay’s. After a brief break where Fattouh moved to FP7 McCann as the lead of the Strategic Planning department and then General Manager, she moved back to take on the position of Group Managing Director, and is now CEO, at BBDO. 

AHMED YOUNIS (FIZO), HEAD OF META CREATIVE SHOP AT MENA META

Ahmad Hafez Younis, also known as Fizo, started out in the creative industry by co-founding FC Studio, one of the most acclaimed creative studios in the region, before hopping onto Egypt’s first creative hub, Cairo Elephant, and then joining FP7 McCann, becoming a company pillar. At FP7, Fizo lead a series of advertising campaigns across the world that gained international attention and a multitude of awards from Cannes Lions, D&AD, and LIA - putting him on the global creative map by landing him a position on B&W’s list of top 10 creative leaders in the MENA region.  However, Fizo made a career shift in 2017, moving to the tech industry and joining global giants, Facebook - landing the position of head of the Meta Creative Shop at MENA Meta. 

OMAR SAMRA, FOUNDER OF WILD GUANABANA

Omar Samra is an English-Egyptian prolific adventurer, speaker, and founder & CEO of Wild Guanabana, an Egyptian eco-conscious travel agency focused on helping individuals embark on ‘transformational journeys.’ Samra was the first Egyptian to successfully climb the Seven Summits, the tallest mountain on each of the seven continents, including Mount Everest, and skiing to the geographic North and South Poles.

AHMED YOUSSEF, COMMERCIAL MANAGER AT PEACE CAKE

Ahmed Youssef is the co-founder and commercial manager at the award-winning creative agency, Peace Cake. Youssef has over 12 years of experience in the marketing and advertising industry, having previously worked at Mansour Group, FP7, and was previously Careem’s Marketing Manager before co-founding Peace Cake with Marwan Imam, Kareem Abu Gamrah, Randa Habib, and Ahmed Safi.