Boardroom Media (CEO News)
At CEO (Boardroom Media) we track over 1,000,000 startups and over 5,000,000 people who hold key positions in these companies. We use this directory of startups to highlight top employees, founders and board members we think deserve more appreciation than they are currently getting.
This list showcases the top United Arab Emirates based CEO’ operating in the Payments space. If you think a CEO’ is missing from this list, feel free to contact our editor on [email protected].
The individuals on this list have been included because of exceptional performance in one of the following categories:
- Innovation – Operating as a key part in an extremely innovative business or startup.
- Growth – Operating as a key figure in the growth and upscale of a market leading business or startup.
- Management – Showing exceptional management skills.
- Societal impact – Putting their business on the map for their positive societal or environmental impact.
Our Data – We source our data from OSINT (open source intelligence) and public directories such as Crunchbase, SemRush and many more. The data from these sources should be treated with a degree of caution and verified yourself.
Saeid Hejazi
Founder & CEO of Wally
Founder at Wally
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About Wally: The easiest and fastest way to manage your financial life in one place. Get clarity. Get smarter. Get in-control.
Khalil Alami
CEO and Founder of Telr
Khalil Alami is the Chief Executive Officer of a leading online payment gateway Telr. Khalil has more than two decades of experience in the financial services sector, including 17 years in the payment and card industry, with a focus on payment infrastructure and system implementation. He brings deep knowledge of industry structure, with emphasis on card processing and settlement, the four-party system, international payments architecture, electronic and mobile payments, consumer touch points, and network security. Khalil has an MBA from the American University of Beirut and a Bachelor of Science from Purdue University in Economics.
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About Telr: An award-winning, Dubai-based start-up offering payment gateway solutions.
Ahmed Abdelaal
Head of Corporate and Investment Banking Group and Group Chief Executive Officer of Mashreq Bank
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About Mashreq Bank: Mashreq is a banking and financial services platform.
Omar Kassim
Founder and CEO of Nomod
Omar Kassim is the Founder and CEO at Nomod.
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About Nomod: Nomod creates a financial operating system for forward-thinking companies in emerging countries.
Mohan Karuppiah
Co-founder & CEO of IppoPay
Mohan Karuppiah is the CEO and Co-Founder of IppoPay.
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About Foloosi, IppoPay: IppoPay is a fintech startups that provides digital payment, gateway, and payouts solutions for SMEs, homeprenures, and freelancers.
Ramana Kumar
CEO of Magnati
Ramana Kumar is the CEO at Magnati and he is also the former SVP & Head of Payments for First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) responsible for building lifecycle solutions for corporates encompassing Merchant acquiring, Government solutions, Prepaid solutions, Remittances and UAE’s first fully featured digital wallet -Payit. Previously, he was Head of Global Transaction Banking (GTB) and was instrumental in building Middle East regional proposition for the Bank including products and channels across cash, trade and cards. Ramana has special interests around innovation/ fintech/ financial inclusion /blockchain and the impact on the payments space. He was instrumental in first live implementation of Blockchain with Ripple for cross border payments. He has participated in many forums focusing on future of payments, financial inclusion, digital wallets, KYC and Identity, fintech / blockchain.
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About Magnati: Magnati provides payment services and solutions to businesses in a variety of fields, including retail, hotel, government, and e-commerce.
Ola Doudin
Co-Founder & CEO of BitOasis
Ola Doudin is the Co-Founder and CEO of BitOasis, a bitcoin consumer wallet and instant exchange focused on cash-based emerging markets. BitOasis aims to change the way people transact and send money by making it easy and secure to use bitcoin. She is also the co-founder of Yellow, a bitcoin payment processor, and currently serves as an advisor. She holds BEng in Electronic Engineering from the University of Birmingham and previously worked in IT Advisory for financial institutions at Ernst & Young London. Moving back to the Middle East, She was involved in various entrepreneurship initiatives supporting and mentoring tech startups and social entrepreneurs.
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About BitOasis: BitOasis is a cryptocurrency trading platform offering a digital asset wallet and exchange to buy, sell, and trade.
Pradeep Kumar
Deputy Chief Executive Officer & Chief Financial Officer of UAE Exchange
Pradeep serves in the dual capacity of Deputy Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer at UAE Exchange. In this double role, Pradeep leads the organisation’s global finance, retail operations, Wholesale Bank Notes division and business shared services network. Deftly he drives operational excellence, innovation and continuous improvement across retail channels. Pradeep also manages the day-to-day operational performance of UAE Exchange’s global retail operations keeping new revenue opportunities, overall profitability and corporate growth firmly in his sight. He is credited with bringing a structure to business planning, budgeting and financial forecasting, which are now automated and extended to include all business units and functions, including strategy and human capital planning. A Chartered Accountant and an industry veteran with over 15 years of experience, Pradeep’s journey with UAE Exchange began in 2005, after a three-year stint with Dhanlaxmi Bank and Axis Bank. Pradeep holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration, and also a Diploma in Information Systems Audit from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI).
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About UAE Exchange: UAE Exchange is the leading global remittance, foreign exchange and payment solutions brand.
Omar Onsi
Founder and CEO of NymCard
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About NymCard, NYMGO: NymCard is a cloud-based issuer processor enabling financial institutions to build virtual and plastic card programs for their customers.
Promoth Manghat
Chief Executive Officer of Finablr
Promoth Manghat serves as the Group CEO of Finablr a leading global platform for full service payments and foreign exchange solutions. The Finablr network of companies hosts a portfolio of category-leading global financial services brands including Travelex, UAE Exchange, Unimoni, Xpress Money, Remit2India, Ditto and Swych. As Group CEO of Finablr, Promoth is responsible for the execution of strategy and management of operations across Finablr group entities. Finablr has a network reach spanning 170+ markets and handled over $115 billion in volumes in 2018 on behalf of its customers. Promoth began his career with UAE Exchange in 2001. Over the next decade, he held various leadership positions spanning Finance, Sales and Marketing, Product Development, and Operations. Under his stewardship, the UAE Exchange evolved into truly global player with market leadership across various segments. In 2014, Promoth spearheaded the acquisition of the Travelex which won the ‘Deal of the Year Awardfrom The Banker Magazine in the Mergers and Acquisitions category. In 2015, Promoth was appointed the Chief Executive Officer of the UAE Exchange Group and was elected as a member of its Board of Directors. Further on Promoth led the formation of Finablr bringing together the various global brands of the group under one umbrella and was appointed the Group CEO of Finablr in 2018. An acknowledged expert and thought leader in the Remittance, Fintech and financial inclusion domains, Promoth is a sought-after speaker at industry forums and conventions. He is a regular contributor to various Industry and business publications and is a keen commentator on technology innovation in Financial Services and has been featured amongst the “100 Inspiring Leaders in The Middle East” by Arabian Business, and as a “Top 50 Fintech Influencer in the Middle East”. A tireless champion of innovation and entrepreneurship, Promoth also serves as a corporate mentor to numerous startup’s that are being nurtured under Finablr’s institutional partnerships. He also serves on the World Economic Forum’s Global Steering Committee for Financial Inclusion that seeks to drive sustainable financial Inclusion through digital channels. Promoth is a graduate of the Mahatma Gandhi University and is an Associate Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants. of India (ICAI).
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About Finablr: Finablr is a global platform for Payments and Foreign Exchange solutions underpinned by modern and proprietary technology.
Raghad Mukhaimer
Chief Executive Officer of golfscape
Raghad is a multi-disciplined technologist, systems designer, and businessman. He graduated from Middlesex University with a B.Sc. Honors in Business Information System with Information Technology. Since then, he has pioneered solutions fusing technology and design with various industries he’s serviced, including finance, hospitality, marketing, and events. Today, he combines his talent, experience, and entrepreneurial passion to lead a revolution in the antiquated online golf landscape.
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About golfscape: Bukit is an aggregator that connects service providers to people, offers a SaaS to businesses.
Abdulaziz Fahad Al Jouf
Founder & CEO of PayTabs
Abdulaziz Al Jouf is a self-driven and passionate Entrepreneur, who is also the founder and CEO of PayTabs. His love for entrepreneurship and innovation stems from his childhood and university days where his studies mostly focused on technology and eCommerce. In addition to his love of entrepreneurship and innovation, Abdulaziz is committed to giving back to society through mentoring young and budding entrepreneurs to reach their full potential. According to Abdulaziz, the idea of developing a payment gateway came when he realized how difficult it was for MENA SME merchants to get a payment gateway. This in his view hindered the MENA market from reaching its full potential from an online payments and ecommerce perspective, so he proceeded to develop a simple and secure payment platform known today as “PayTabs”. PayTabs was under the wing of Saudi Aramco’s Entrepreneurship Venture “Wa’ed” when it first established after the idea caught the eye of top institutions in KSA. Since then, Abdulaziz and PayTabs gained multiple industry related awards and recognition in renowned magazines such as Entrepreneur and Forbes, and gained exposure in top media outlets such as CNN Arabic, and Sky Arabia.
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About PayTabs: World’s simple and trusted payments since 2014. PayTabs is an award winning, global, B2B online payments Solution Provider.
Waleed Sadek
Founder and CEO of PaySky
Waleed Sadek is the Founder & CEO of PaySky, the disruptive payments platform with a vision of “Democratizing e-payments”, founded in Egypt where it has redefined the whole e-Payments ecosystem in less than 18 months and now expanding into the rest of MEA region & beyond. Prior to founding PaySky, Mr. Sadek founded, co-founded and led multiple startups in FinTech & Enterprise Solutions domains, before starting his entrepreneurial pursue, Mr. Sadek had different management roles at different multinational companies, the latest of which was Visa Inc where he managed New technologies and Innovations for MEA region out of Cairo and Dubai offices and then moved to Visa’s London office to manage Visa’s Strategy for Central & Eastern Europe, Middle East & Africa (CEMEA) region.
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About ARMADA USA LLC, BITEL EMEA DMCC, PaySky, Wind Integrated Solution: Next-generation electronic payment solutions provider
Mohammad AlMunaikh
Chief Executive Officer of Ajar
Mohammad AlMunaikh is the Chief Executive Officer at Ajar.
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About Ajar: Ajar is a platform empowering landlords and tenants with seamless property management and rent payments.
Bashar Saleh
Founder and CEO of PointCheckout
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About PointCheckout: A digital payment method for reward points and miles
Kasper Jakobsen
Founder/ CEO of LupUp
Kasper is a Masters in Management graduate from IE Business School, Madrid, where he specialised in Sales and Marketing. Upon completion of his Masters, Kasper relocated to the Cayman Islands to found two tech-startups at the Cayman Enterprise City (a hub for technology enterprises). He now heads up LupUp’s operations from its office in Dubai.
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About LupUp: Hyperlocal venue based (Tinder) with live (Groupon) style offers
Jamil Shinawi
CEO and Co-Founder of AHOY Holding LTD
Jamil Shinawi is the CEO and Co-Founder at AHOY Holding LTD.
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About AHOY Holding LTD: SaaS, PaaS, e-commerce solutions, logistics, lastmile, mobility, spatial planning, IoT
Aditya Anand
Co-Founder, CEO of Swiftch
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About HCL Nordic, Swiftch: Swiftch is a payment company that provides a mobile application for point of sale.
