Israel Pons is the CEO and Partner of Angels Nest LATAM, Angels Nest is an Angel Investment Network operating in Mexico and LATAM. It has been named “One of the most active Angel networks in Latin America” by XCALA.
Israel, a co-founder of Pitch at the Beach, a global startup and investor event across stunning beaches in over 38 countries. He serves as the President of the WBAF Angel Investment Fund, uniting 50+ angel investors from 32 countries. He’s a Partner at BillioNeurons, a US-based AI-focused venture with a $1 billion valuation. Additionally, Israel presides over the board of investors at “E-Uno,” a VC fund in Agro-tech. He also advises Brickhouse Ventures Ltd in Canada and a Luxembourg-based Blue Forward Bio-marine VC fund in the blue sea economy. With 24 years in the UK, including 5 as Operations Director for Europe’s largest leisure company, he founded four UK companies. Israel’s expertise extends to delivering training in mentorship, social impact investing, and investor management in various institutions.
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Maryam Najafi is the head of the Global Mentorship Department at the WBAF Business School of the World Business Angels Investment Forum. , As a faculty member, she delivers a course in investment readiness for startups and scaleups. A certified prize assessor of the European Foundation for Quality Management EFQM, Maryam serves as an international jury member for the WBAF Global Fundraising Stage. In addition, she conducts one-on-one mentoring sessions for WBAF Senators and International Partners and organizes business mentoring programs for selected startups of the Global Fundraising Stage. Maryam was head of the WBAF project proposal team for the Fintech Hub Centers Project of the Qatar Development Bank. She is the designer of the WBAF Angel Investment Fund structure. She was previously the executive manager of Karaya Angel Investors and a business development advisor to the Kaarmaan Business Club. She is currently CEO of Nik Venture Capital. Maryam graduated with a degree in industrial engineering from the Iran University of Science and Technology and also holds an executive MBA degree. She is currently pursuing a PhD in marketing management. Department of the WBAF Business School.
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Harry ‘Tomi Davies (TD) is Chief Investment Officer (CIO) at Greentec Capital Partners, Frankfurt, Germany, a venture building firm specializing in Africa. He is also “Collaborator-in-Chief” at TVC Labs, an entrepreneurship support organization in Lagos, Nigeria. TD is co-founder of the Lagos Angel Network (LAN), Chairman of the Diaspora Angels Network (DAN) and ccHub Syndicate, founding President of the African Business Angel Network (ABAN), and a board member of the Global Business Angel Network (GBAN). After graduating from the University of Miami, TD led innovative technology-led transformation initiatives for influential global brands Elf Aquitaine, Marks & Spencer, Ernst & Young, and Sapient across Europe, the United States, and Southeast Asia. In 2000, his focus shifted to Africa where he led various innovation initiatives using his goal-oriented approach to project delivery, which inspired his 2014 book “The African Project Manager”. TD is Chairman of TextNigeria (Telecoms) and Non-Executive Director at MBO Capital (Private Equity) and sits on the boards of Big Cabal Media (Media & Entertainment) and Laptops4Learning (L4L) Nigeria (Edutech NGO), and Chairs the Innovation Committee of the Lagos State Science, Research and Innovation Council (LASRIC). He is a thought leader with insights gained from a growing portfolio of tech-enabled startup ventures originating from Africa.
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Dwayne Samuels is a venture-backed founder focused on creating AI-powered, action-based in-product survey platforms. Skilled in user research, product development, and growth, Dwayne loves building innovative products that solve real problems. At Samelogic, he’s focused on agility, adaptability, and a customer-first mentality. They use advanced AI algorithms to shift how businesses understand and respond to user behavior – pure impact, zero frills. Dwayne has raised institutional VC funding from top-tier VCs for Samelogic. With over 10 years of experience founding startups like Grikly and AI Video Surveys, Dwayne has extensive knowledge in his field. Dwayne was awarded Most Influential Person of African Descent by the United Nations for his impact on entrepreneurship and mentorship in the Caribbean. He shares his passion for helping founders succeed through his involvement with $100+ million early-stage VC firm Grishin Robotics and as a mentor to startup founders and entrepreneurs. Dwayne believes the key to success is staying agile, leveraging data, and keeping the customer at the center. As a technical founder himself, Dwayne loves supporting other founders with technical backgrounds who want to make an impact through technology and raise institutional VC funding.
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Valerie Fox is best known for the co-founding and execution of The DMZ, launched in 2010, which by 2015 was named the number one University Business Incubator in North America and number 3 in the world. She left soon after to found The Pivotal Point where she helps grow community-based incubators worldwide through coaching, mentoring, and co-creation. Val’s passion is enabling thriving entrepreneurial communities of communities locally, nationally, and internationally based on new economy practices of partnership and intentional diversity. Val has over 30 years in the digital world, where she started a graphic design business and then had the fortune of being sought by IBM, to be part of their senior innovation network, where she led design teams for enterprise software design, was creative director for large online experiences such as the Sydney Olympics, and was awarded 5 patents, including the Universal Shopping Cart for the Web. Other awards include the Sara Kirke Award for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, the 2016 CNE Woman of Distinction award, and the honor of being part of the 2016 Canada Innovation Leaders team.
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Tanya has spent the last 28 years in the financial services field with the last 19 years in various senior and leadership roles within the Banking industry.
She started her journey with PricewaterhouseCoopers, where she worked extensively in the areas of corporate finance, insolvency, business turnarounds, and the design, planning and implementation of strategy, subsequently transitioning into the area of venture capital and private equity where she held a senior management role for a multi-jurisdictional equity fund. Tanya entered the Banking field in 2004, where she held senior and leadership roles in the areas of corporate, commercial & retail lending, and credit risk, and led on the development and implementation of a range of business strategies and policy and process changes to drive business growth, profitability, efficiencies and improvements in service delivery. She joined NCB in 2020 to lead and transform the SME Business segment, with a mandate to conceptualize, develop, and drive implementation of a comprehensive set of strategies and solutions to effectively and seamlessly deliver value to SMEs and support their business aspirations for growth. She holds a BSc in Management Studies from the University of the West Indies, an MBA (Finance) from the City University Business School (London) and was successful in completing the CPA.
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