Speakers 2021

Kobus is the Founder and CEO of Axis Group International. He has been working in Asia for over 25 years and is currently based in Dubai and Shanghai. Axis Group solves complex global value chains – by driving ‘cost-down’ in inbound supply chains, enhancing international revenue growth in outbound supply chains and managing cross-border complexities. At the core of Axis Group’s solutions are deep capabilities, experience and track record in global sourcing and procurement; international logistics and supply chain management; and route-to-market management and distribution. In 2019 Axis Group was acquired and became part of Imperial.

Before founding Axis Group and The Beijing Axis, he was Head of Investment Strategy and Global Market Research for Asia Pacific for Standard Chartered Bank Plc. Prior to that, he was a Senior Strategy Consultant with the Boston Consulting Group in Asia. In his early career, he was an Emerging Market Investment Strategist in London; a Treasury Economist with Standard Merchant Bank in Johannesburg; and an Economist with the South African Reserve Bank in Pretoria.

He holds an MBA from INSEAD in France, a Master of Business (I.T.) from Curtin University in Australia and BCom Honours degrees in Finance/Investments and Economics, respectively from UJ and Unisa in South Africa. He is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business, teaching ‘Doing Business in China and Asia’. He is also a Fellow at the University of Pretoria’s Gordon Institute for Business Science, in the Centre for African Management and Markets.

He is well published and has received numerous invitations to present as a keynote speaker in over 25 countries. He is regarded as a thought leader on the topic of China cross-border business and Global Procurement.

Patrick is a Senior Operations Executive with 20 Years of international Experience in CPG, Trade and Retail/Wholesale.

He holds an MBA from the University of St. Gallen (HSG)/ Switzerland and Hitotsubashi University of Tokyo/ Japan with the Major in Operations Research.

Patrick started his career as Technology Consultant at Accenture and spent more than ten years with Nestle in various leadership positions. Prior to joining SAS, he was the Global Director Supply Chain at METRO Cash & Carry AG (Germany) and most recently COO at Office DEPOT Europe.

Patrick was rated twice by the “Supply Chain Movement Magazine” in the Top 10 Supply Chain Professionals in Europe. Under his Leadership the Supply Chain Team of METRO Cash & Carry won the GS1 Germany Excellence Award. He also contributed to the book from Prof. Desmet ’Supply Chain Strategy and Financial Metrics’.

Batoul Salah Karim, Head Project in Information Technology department at Kuwait Nation Petroleum Company. Graduated from Kuwait University on 2007 with computer since major and accounting minor.

Joined KNPC on November 2007 as a system analyst and developed many Java and .Net applications and work with SQL and oracle databases. Also, work on HRMS project with success to automate all HR services and lunch the employee HR self-services.

Start working as project manager on 2016 and lunched many successful major project in KNPC including mobile application and consultancy contracts.

On 2019 promoted as a head project to manage a team who is working on several applications from ODIs and dashboard to large systems similar to the Jaggear e-Sourcing and e-Tendering system.

Suha El Sherbiny, Regional Corporate Solutions Manager, Bureau van Dijk Suha El Sherbiny is the Regional Corporate Solutions Manager at Bureau van Dijk - A Moody's Analytics Company supporting decision makers evaluate and eliminate risk using risk management of credit and procurement in the corporate world.

Prior to joining Bureau van Dijk, Suha earned more than 12 years of experience in the IT and Telecommunication industries. She worked in different roles from product marketing and portfolio management to business development and B2B consultancy, at several companies, including Microsoft, Nokia, and Cisco distribution.

Suha received post graduate diploma in Strategic Project Management from Heriot-Watt University and a bachelor's degree in Information Technology from the American University of Dubai.

Hani AlSaigh is an award winning Executive, Head of Technology Procurement at stc, a member at the Saudi Procurement and Supply Chain Society and a Board Director. He is helping drive Saudi Vision 2030 through digitalisation and increasing local GDP by building in-country value and localizing industry within the Kingdom.

Hani oversees a 20 BSAR technology procurement spend, supporting over 50+ million customers across KSA with a focus on building the industry and raising procurement and supply chain maturity in MENA. He has led innovative initiatives in the region including introducing Digital Procurement, Supplier Enabled Innovation, Digital Signatures and RPA.

Hani is a key member of the Crisis Management Team and led stc during the coronavirus crisis, while taking part in a number of global CPO calls to share knowledge with others to help during the pandemic. Hani and his teams have won numerous awards including the EIPM best organisation of the year in 2019 and Inspiring Practice of Digitalization & Big Data.

Hani’s values AMMO ( Ambition, Motivation, Making a Difference and Optimism ) have made him a truly transformative leader which has helped him take stc Procurement from 4th to 2nd quartile globally in 3 years based on the Kearney assessment of excellence (AEP). Hani is also the Organizational Culture Change Sector Lead and moved the organisation from 4th to 1st quartile based against global benchmarks for Culture Health Index and led Agile Culture Change across the organisation.

Hani is a well known speaker for Procurement & Supply Chain and Technology Innovation and speaks regularly, as well as taking part in roundtables and panels across the world on thought leadership with key players including TM Forum, Procurement Leaders, CIPS and EIPM.

Kurt is a globally experienced senior procurement and supply chain executive, who has worked in all aspects of the supply chain, providing him with a depth of practical experience. He is recognised for his ability to design and implement innovative strategies which enhance the commercial process, facilitate business transformations and improve operations management. He is an expert on procurement, logistics, supply chain, contract law, ethics and risk management, is a regular lecturer and advisor for industry associations and keynote speaker at foremost industry events. As an expert in business process re-engineering, Kurt has a proven record for developing and embedding cost-efficient, high performing operations which support the commercial objective. He utilises an exceptional blend of commercial experience, theoretical knowledge and first-class relationship management skills to build robust, value-driven supply chain, procurement and logistics functions which fundamentally improve the business objectives.

Certified Procurement/Supply Chain Professional with over 13 years of experience. Worked in Lebanon & Dubai for three of the most important FMCG brands, namely Procter & Gamble (5 years) , BAT (4 years) and currently Mars Inc. Spearheading strategic sourcing for projects above 100K USD. Have been exposed to start-ups since May 2016, worked on establishing the procurement function for the E-commerce, noon.com and Led the Global procurement department at Careem, the largest ride hailing company in the region that has been recently Acquired by Uber.

Head of supply & category management with 15 years experiences running procurement activities in manufacturing, mining and construction industries across the 4 continents.

Specialized in business transformation, strategic sourcing, cost savings program, digitalization and process improvement.

Sulaiman Abdulla holding BBA , Diploma in Property Management, CICCM, ILM, - working currently as Procurement and Contract Manager in a Leading Government Organization.

Sulaiman has a past experiences over 10 years in different industries including Governmental and Private sectors in Telecommunication, IT , Social Services , Property Management.

Has strong believe in Completion rather than Competition – led different teams with different initiatives in value adding to organizations in the field of Cost Optimization and Supplier Management.

Waleed Al Saeedi is the Director of Supply Management at Department of Culture & Tourism Abu Dhabi. A successful leader who has been instrumental in shaping the future of Abu Dhabi Government Procurement Standards.

Waleed has been widely recognized and has received numerous awards for his contributions to the procurement profession. A supporter of procurement profession and he has been promoting the practice and leading it’s advancement for over 22 years.

Today, Waleed advocates a vision for the future of procurement to become a leading function in developing future strategies of any organisation.

Mohamed Habib has over 13 years of experience in the areas of Supply Chain Management and Strategy Execution in Real Estate, Metals, Aviation and Government Administration sectors.

Mohamed currently heads the Supply Chain Management function at Tabreed where he is responsible to assist the growth strategy of the organization and implement transformations to streamline procurement within the value chain. His last assignment was with Dubai Holding's real-estate asset management. During his tenure at Dubai Holding, he managed sourcing and contracting operations, and the procurement transformation program.

Prior to this, he has worked with Emirates Steel, Western Region Development Council, The General Secretariat of The Executive Council of Dubai, Emirates Airline and Dubai World in the UAE.

Mohamed has a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Coventry University, UK and holds a Bachelor’s of Art in Interactive Information Technology degree from University of Hartford, USA. In addition, he is an alumni of Mohammed Bin Rashid Program for Leadership Development.