Feb 11-12, 2026
Dubai Internet City

Step Dubai | The Heartbeat of Tech in MENA

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Kat Cole is a seasoned business leader and lifelong operator focused on building and scaling iconic brands. Cole is the CEO of AG1, a global health company focused on foundational nutrition. A seasoned operator and growth leader, she draws on more than two decades of experience scaling iconic brands and businesses. Before AG1, Cole served as president and COO of Focus Brands, where she led beloved brands like Cinnabon, Auntie Anne’s and Jamba across more than 7,000 locations worldwide. Known for her unconventional rise from waitress to executive, Cole brings a unique perspective on leadership, innovation and building mission-driven companies.

H.E. Alia Bint Abdulla Al Mazrouei has been announced as Minister of State for Entrepreneurship during the new UAE cabinet formation in July 2024. H.E. Alia Al Mazrouei is a highly accomplished entrepreneur with a diverse career spanning entrepreneurship, the private and government sectors. H.E. Al Mazrouei has held a several high-level positions in leading government institutions. As the Chief Executive Officer of the Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development, she was responsible for overseeing the organization’s efforts to promote entrepreneurship and support small and medium-sized businesses in the UAE. She also served as an Advisor to the Chairman at the Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development, and the Director General of the Human Resources Authority (HRA) in Abu Dhabi. Prior to that, she was the Director General of the Abu Dhabi School of Government (ADSG). Prior to joining the Government, she was Group Chief Operating Officer of Mazrui International LLC, established by her family 50 years ago and which today is an Abu Dhabi-based conglomerate with a highly diversified business portfolio. In 2013 she was awarded the Arab Women’s Award for Entrepreneurship and in 2014 was voted the twenty sixth most powerful Arab woman in the Forbes Middle East list of the world’s 200 most powerful Arab women. In 2017, she was included in the Forbes list of the world’s 100 most powerful Arab business women. HE AlMazrouei is highly respected for her business acumen, creativity, and her flair for mentoring and nurturing new Emirati talent. H.E. Alia Al Mazrouei received her Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) degree in Management Information Systems from the United Arab Emirates University in 2001. After completing her undergraduate studies, she went on to pursue a Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Global Leadership at the same institution, which she received in 2005. Throughout her academic career, Al Mazrouei has demonstrated a strong commitment to her studies and a passion for leadership and management.

Allen Blue is vice president of product management and cofounder of LinkedIn, the online professional network. At LinkedIn, he is responsible for LinkedIn’s overall product strategy. He also sponsors LinkedIn’s work and education products within the economic graph team, including the products and platforms supporting Skillful.com (a joint effort to close the middle skills gap in the United States between LinkedIn and the Markle Foundation.) He advises several startups in Silicon Valley, most focused on improving health and education. He sat on the U.S. Commerce Department’s Data Advisory Council, helping guide the department’s efforts to make its data broadly available to American businesses. Blue serves on the boards of the Hope Street Group, a non-profit which focuses on bringing economic opportunity to Americans through a combination of policy and practice, and Change.org, an online destination for making grassroots-driven change easier. Before LinkedIn, Blue cofounded SocialNet.com, an online dating service, and graduated from Stanford University.

Amjad Masad is a Jordanian American entrepreneur and engineer. He is the founder and CEO of Replit, the world’s leading online programming environment and community. Before Replit, Amjad worked at Facebook, overseeing the JavaScript infrastructure team and building some of the world’s most popular open-source developer tools. Before that, he was a founding engineer at Codecademy, the world’s leading online coding school.

Sriram Krishnan is a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz where he invests in early stage consumer startups. Today, Sriram serves on the board of Hopin. Prior to joining a16z, Sriram held numerous senior product roles. Most recently, he led core consumer teams at Twitter where he was responsible for products including the home timeline, new user experience, search, discovery, and audience growth. Before this, Sriram created and oversaw various mobile ad products for both Snap and Facebook, including Snap’s Direct Response ads business and the Facebook Audience Network, one of the largest networks in display advertising. Sriram started his career at Microsoft where he touched numerous projects related to Windows Azure. He is the author of “”Programming Windows Azure”” published by O’Reilly. Sriram writes actively at @sriramk on Twitter and at sriramk.com. Along with his wife, he also co-hosts The Good Time Show on Clubhouse, a nightly show through which they interview innovators around tech and culture.

Dean, Mohammed Bin Rashid School of Communication at American University of Dubai (AUD) Group TV Director, Middle East Broadcasting Corporation, MBC. Ph.D. (in progress) Arab Satellite Television, King’s College, University of Cambridge, UK M.S. Communications, Syracuse University, USA B.B.A. Business Administration, American University in Beirut, Lebanon Born in Lebanon in 1961, Mr. Jaber completed his Bachelors in Business Administration at the American University of Beirut in 1984 before going on to earn his Master’s degree in Communications at Syracuse University in the US in 1986. Upon returning to Beirut, Ali joined the Fine Arts faculty of Beirut University College. There he helped set up their Broadcasting Department and for eight years taught a range of courses in television production. Concurrently, Ali worked as a Journalist covering the war in Lebanon and Iraq between the years 1987 to 1999, he was the correspondent of New York Times and The Times of London between 1989 and 1994, and Chief Correspondent for Lebanon and Syria for the German Press Agency (DPA) from 1987 to 1999. In 1992 he was approached by then Prime Minister Rafic Hariri and was asked to set up, from the ground up, a privately owned pan-Arab television station. Ali founded and managed what later became Future TV till 2003. While with Future, Ali oversaw the building of Future’s satellite broadcast and also started and managed a youth-oriented sister channel, Zen TV, which he ran for five years. In 2004, he was approached by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, and brought in as a consultant to head Dubai Media Incorporated (DMI), to revamp and re-launch its seven national and pan-Arab satellite channels. In 2006, after 2 years in which Ali successfully managed to restructure the channels’ on-air branding and their content as well as re-organize the company’s out of date management structure, Ali was appointed DMI’s managing Editor. Working closely with now UAE Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, DMI’s Board Members and the Chairman of Dubai’s governmental organizations, his responsibilities are wide-ranging and have grown to include the development of the media sector in the UAE. In 2008, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum instructed Ali to set up a Communication School at the American University of Dubai. In July 2008 Ali was named Dean of Mohammed Bin Rashid School of Communication (MBRSC) and this year MBRSC graduates fifty students with degrees in Journalism and Digital Storytelling. One of the unique characteristics of the School is that it teaches all media writing courses in the Arabic language and its curricula focuses on Digital Media and Multi-platform Storytelling. In 2011 Ali was approached by Middle East media leader, MBC Group for a different type of challenge – this time in front of the camera, as a judge for the internationally mega-successful format, “Arabs Got Talent”. The show was a ratings hit, and raised the profile of MBC 4 to the #2 channel in the region. During that same year, and in parallel, Ali closed a deal with MBC to become Group TV Director of MBC’s 20 channels. In that capacity, and as of October 2011, Ali oversees content planning, acquisition, and programming for all the Group’s general entertainment and niche channels. Ali Jaber serves on the Dubai government Council for Design and Fashion, he also helped set up thenon-governmental organization: Young Arab Leaders (YAL) and was on the Advisory Board of American University of Beirut, School of Architecture and Design, in Beirut, Lebanon. Ali currently spearheads the Dubai government initiative the set up the Dubai School of Design in association with Massachussets Institute of Technology (MIT) and the New York based Parsons school of design and Fashion. Ali is also the goodwill ambassador for Sanad, the home hospice organization in Lebanon which offers free physical, psychological and spiritual support for terminally ill patients.

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Her Royal Highness Princess Reema bint Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al Saud was appointed Ambassador to the United States on February 23, 2019 by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz. She is the first woman in the country’s history to serve in the role of Ambassador. She presented her credentials to President Donald Trump on July 8, 2019. From 1983 to 2005, Princess Reema lived in Washington, DC, while her father Prince Bandar served as Saudi Ambassador to the United States. She attended George Washington University where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Museum Studies. Princess Reema returned to Saudi Arabia, where she focused on private sector initiatives and the empowerment of women in the Kingdom. In 2000, She co-founded Yibreen, a women’s gym. From 2007 until 2015, Princess Reema was the Chief Executive Officer of Alfa International Company Limited – Harvey Nichols Riyadh, a multi-brand luxury retail company, where she collaborated with leading female recruitment agency, Glowork, and commissioned a study on Obstacles for Women in the Workplace, which set the tone for female inclusion in retail, and resulted in opening the first workplace nursery in a retail store, enabling more women to work while caring for children. In 2013, she founded Alf Khair, a social enterprise aimed at elevating the professional capital of Saudi women through a curriculum developed to enable financial self-sufficiency. In 2016, Princess Reema left the private sector to begin a career of public service as Vice President of Women’s Affairs at the Saudi General Sports Authority where she developed policies and programs that benefited women and children throughout Saudi Arabia. After a successful year, she was promoted to Deputy of Development and Planning in January 2018. In October 2018, She was also appointed President of the Mass Participation Federation, making her the first woman to lead a multi-sports federation in the Kingdom, a role that she occupied until her appointment as Saudi Ambassador to the United States. Princess Reema is excited to take her leadership role to the world stage as Saudi Arabia’s Ambassador to the United States. As part of her philanthropic work, Princess Reema became a founding member of the Zahra Breast Cancer Awareness Association in 2007, which set a Guinness World Record by forming the World’s Largest Human Awareness Ribbon at the Princess Noura University in Riyadh in 2015. Princess Reema has served as a member of the World Bank’s advisory council for the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative since 2017. She has been a member of the Saudi Arabian Olympic Committee since 2017, and a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Women in Sports Commission since 2018. In 2014, Fast Company recognized Princess Reema as the Most Creative Person of the year for “Inviting Women into the Workforce.” Foreign Policy Magazine recognized her as a Leading Global Thinker for the same year, placing her high up in the “Moguls” category. She was featured on the Forbes lists of the 200 Most Powerful Arab Women and Most Powerful Arab Women in Saudi Arabia lists for 2014.

H.E. Dr. Ahmad Belhoul Al Falasi has been named the Minister of State for Entrepreneurship and SMEs under the new UAE Government structure approved in July 2020. Under this role, H.E. Dr. Al Falasi is at the fore of designing national initiatives to strengthen the UAE’s small and medium enterprise (SME) sector, one of the engines of the national economy, and promote entrepreneurship in various industries. H.E. is also tasked to set a strategic direction and develop a general national policy for the country’s tourism sector. Before his present position, he was the Minister of State for Higher Education during which he supervised the development of higher education and scientific research in the UAE. He also formulated new policies for the sector as well as streamlined the work of higher education institutions to ensure quality outputs that match the requirements of the labor market. In October 2017, pursuant to the ministerial amendment to the UAE Government, he took on the responsibility of equipping UAE nationals with skills of the future. H.E. is also the former Chairman of the Federal Authority for Human Resources and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the UAE Space Agency. He represented the space sector at the National Committee for Science, Technology and Innovation. Other positions he previously held included CEO of Masdar Company; Executive Director of Strategy and Tourism Sector Development at Dubai Tourism; Vice President of the Mubadala Industry Unit; and Consultant for the management consulting firm McKinsey & Company. H.E. Dr. Al Falasi holds a PhD from Monash University, a Master’s degree from the University of Melbourne in Australia, and a Bachelor’s degree in Communication Engineering from Khalifa University in the UAE.

Alex Bouaziz is the co-founder and CEO of Deel, the fastest-growing global compliance and payroll solution that helps businesses hire anyone, anywhere. Founded in 2019, Deel’s technology offers payroll, HR, compliance, and benefits needed to hire and manage a global team. In just under three years, the company has grown to 500+ employees worldwide in 60 different countries and has 6000-plus customers, including Shopify, Coinbase, and Cloudflare. Alex grew up in Paris and graduated from Technion and then MIT with a Masters in Civil and Environmental Engineering. Prior to Deel he co-founded investment fund Sarona Ventures. In 2020 he was featured on Forbes’ 30 Under 30 Finance list. Outside of Deel, Alex enjoys cheering on Paris Saint-Germain Football Club.