0100 Conference Cyprus 2021

George Panteli has been appointed as the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance on 15th October 2019. Prior to his appointment as Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance he held the position of Director of the Economic Research and European Union Affairs Directorate, Ministry of Finance, since 2014. The main areas of responsibility under his capacity as a Director were the analysis of macroeconomic developments, the determination of sectoral and economic policies, the formulation of fiscal and wage policies as well as of taxation policies, including international taxation issues. In addition, another area of responsibility was the coordination and supervision of economic and financial issues stemming from Cyprus’ obligations as a member of the European Union and specifically, issues related to the proceedings of the Eurogroup and the ECOFIN Council. In this context, he had a leading role in the successful implementation of the Cyprus’ economic adjustment programme during the period of 2013-2016. His professional career started in the private sector at KPMG (Cyprus) Ltd. He was then employed in the public sector at the position of Economic Officer. During the period of 2005-2015, he held the position of Senior Economic Officer at the Budget Directorate. His responsibilities included, amongst others, contribution to the preparation of the Strategic Framework for Fiscal Policy and the Medium-term Budgetary Framework, the preparation of the state’s budget, monitoring fiscal developments and prospects, including the formulation of policy responses. Currently, at European Union level, he is the Cyprus’ representative in the Economic and Financial Committee and the Eurogroup Working Group and he participates in the Eurogroup and ECOFIN meetings. In addition, he is a member of the Board of Directors of the European Stability Mechanism. At national level, he is a member of the Board of the Cyprus Asset Management Company, President of the Board of the Cooperative Asset Management Company and a member of the Board of the Economic and Competitiveness Council. He is also the Head of the Economy Working Group established for negotiating the economic aspects of a settlement to the Cyprus issue. In his professional career, he also served as a member of the Board of Cyprus Airways. He studied Economics at the Queen Mary College of the University of London, UK, and subsequently obtained a Master degree in Public Sector Management from the Cyprus International Institute of Management.

Sami has over 18 years of technology investment experience in Venture Capital and with Family Offices and was named one of the Top 100 University of Chicago Alumni in Tech in 2021. His expertise lies in the commercialization of innovative technologies for Defense and Industry with a strong focus on, Artificial Intelligence and Quantum technologies. Sami currently sits on the Advisory Board of Imperial College’s Climate-tech accelerator and Cambridge Future Tech’s accelerator and is an advisor to numerous Family Offices and Fortune 100 companies in the fields of next-generational technologies in industry and in Defense. Sami founded the venture capital firm ATMOS Ventures in 2018 which specializes in the commercialization of scientific R&D through its global partnerships with Universities, Governments, and Multinational Corporations. ATMOS Ventures was awarded the “European Venture Capital Fund of the Year” in 2019 by M&A Magazine.

Ertan Can Ertan is a venture capital fund of funds pioneer in Europe, and Founder and Managing Partner of Multiple Capital. He has a combined 20 years’ experience of asset management, fund of funds, VC and information technology operating roles. In 2018 he launched Multiple Capital, Europe’s first tech-focused fund of micro funds, which is building a portfolio of over 500 companies. His driving ambition is to democratize diversified access to early-stage tech funds from all over the continent. He is an unorthodox and influential investor, keynote speaker and lecturer. Ertan completed a degree in International Finance and Law in Frankfurt and London and has an M.B.A from ESCP in Paris. Multiple Capital Multiple Capital is Europe’s first tech-focused fund of micro funds. Launched in 2018, it democratizes diversified access to early-stage tech funds from all over the continent. Its mission is to enable multiple limited investment partners to benefit from this unique venture capital asset class. Multiple Capital offers this by providing access to a best-in-class fund of funds portfolio. Launched by Ertan Can – a VC fund of funds pioneer – Multiple Capital is building a portfolio of over 500 tech companies. Ertan and his team screen hundreds of funds to identify the rising stars in their tech subsets, and to date Multiple Capital has invested in 20 funds. The focus is on generalist regional and vertical Pan-European seed funds to build a portfolio of European early-stage and micro VC funds.

Michiel Boorsma is a partner with Beechbrook Capital, co-heading the private debt strategy and a member of the Investment Committee. Michiel joined Beechbrook in 2010 and has been instrumental in the firm’s growth to more than €800m capital raised and c. 80 transactions completed. He has c. 20 years’ of extensive experience in financings, investments and M&A. Before Beechbrook Capital Michiel was with Nordic Mezzanine, ING and KPMG Corporate Finance.

Karim is the CEO & Founder of Changelabs, the MENAs pre-eminent social enterprise ecosystem builder and also a partner in $100m Africa-focused VC Ambo Ventures. Karim spent the first 15 years of his career working for large multinational companies like General Electric Capital (renewable energy investments), Barclays Capital, and Booz & Co (in New York and Cairo, working with global and MENA clients including the Egyptian Ministry of Finance). He then made a career transition in 2014 and joined the Hult Prize Foundation as its global Chief Operating Officer, to help build and grow the platform in partnership with the United Nations and the Clinton Global Initiative. Being originally from the Middle East, he took a special interest in the region, and eventually relocated to Beirut. From there, he helped launch successful Hult Prize programs in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and Africa. He built long term partnerships between public and private sector players, local and International, to finance educational opportunities for thousands of youth, and to fund some of the region’s most exciting impact startups. He also ran the foundation’s startup accelerators in Boston and London, and in the process helped coach 200+ startups across multiple countries and sectors. After six years with the Hult Prize, he left to found Changelabs, a dedicated platform for the Middle East and from the Middle East to make sure as many entrepreneurs as possible receive training, inspiration, and funding. The company now runs accelerators, festivals, incubators, and learning programs for young people in multiple countries and provides funding for early stage startups and scale ups. Karim leads the company’s investment activities and helped evaluate and negotiate stakes in OTO Courses, Youspital, Askova, Lifelabs, and more. He’s coached and helped more than 96 additional startups in the last 3 years, across MENA markets, both directly and through Changelabs. Following the COVID crisis and Lebanon’s political instability, Karim recently cofounded Beatbox design, a company that aims to provide employment opportunities to Lebanese and Arab creative professionals by offering simple, scalable, and affordable design to startups and established companies around the world. In addition to being a recognized mentor to startups globally and a regular speaker at regional conferences, he also invests in early stage companies through Ambo Ventures and sits on a number of boards across the healthcare, education, and energy sectors. He works closely with development organizations, the private sector, and MENA governments to help design and deliver cutting-edge impact entrepreneurship programs that help ignite and develop local startup ecosystems. He holds a B.A. in History from Boston College, and an M.B.A in Accounting and Marketing from NYU’s Stern School of Business, where he was a merit-based scholarship recipient.

Sebastian is a Founding Partner at First Momentum Ventures. Educated as an industrial engineer and mathematician, he is responsible for the firm’s investments in robotics, energy and fintech. Prior to founding first momentum during his studies at KIT Karlsruhe, Germany, Sebastian co-founded the first student-run incubator in the country that became the breeding ground for more than 20 startups creating more than 1,000 jobs and raised capital in excess of 250 m€. Furthermore, he acts as an advisor on innovation financing to the German Federal Agency for Disruptive Innovation. First Momentum Ventures is a Germany-based VC dedicated to pre-seed, investing in deep tech, software and B2B in the DACH region. With their maiden fund, started as the first student-run VC in the region in 2019, First Momentum built one of the best performing pre-seed portfolios in Europe with 22 investments to date. Its investments includes areas such as robotics, HR, logistics, engineering, advanced materials, high performance computing and fintech. The firm established a unique ambassador network in universitie cities across DACH with more than 75 members, adding to its venture sourcing activities.

Christos Vasiliou is the Managing Director of KPMG in Cyprus since 2019. He worked with KPMG UK between 1991 and 1994. He joined KPMG in Cyprus in 1994 and became a Partner in 1999. Christos has been involved with the audit of large financial institutions including major banks, insurance companies and investment funds. He also headed several advisory projects in the financial services sector. He was appointed as the Deputy Managing Director of KPMG in Cyprus between 2016-2018. He also heads the Advisory Unit of the Firm. He is heavily involved in the set-up and advisory of various Cyprus investment funds and fund managers. He has delivered a number of seminars on the funds industry in Cyprus. He is also a founding member of CIFA and a member of the board of directors of ICPAC.

Dimitris Kalavros-Gousiou is a 33yo entrepreneur and investor who works at the intersection of technology culture and new media. He serves as Co-Founder and General Partner at Velocity.Partners, a pre-seed and seed Venture Capital Fund active in Greece and SEE. He is best known as the Founder and Curator of TEDxAthens, the most impactful platform for ideas, dialogue and talks in Greece. Prior to his role at Velocity.Partners, Dimitris co-founded Found.ation (a leading startup acceleration and innovation hub in the Balkans), TechTalent School (a coding school) and TechTalent Pool (a recruiting SaaS for developers). From 2011 to 2013, Dimitris served as a Referrer for pre-seed investment firm HackFwd, leading its pipeline in Greece and Southeast Europe. DKG holds a Law degree from the University of Kent at Canterbury and an LLM (Master of Laws) in Computer and Communications Law from the Queen Mary University of London. He is a 2X alumnus of U.S. Department of State "International Visitor Leadership Program", classes of 2013 and 2017, the latter under the prestigious "Gold Stars" program, and a member of the Global Shapers Community of the World Economic Forum. Dimitris regularly speaks on the topics of entrepreneurship, technology, design thinking, digital storytelling and leadership