Akshay Jayaprakasan

Akshay is Associate Partner with Redseer Strategy Consultants, based out of their Dubai office. He is a seasoned strategy consultant with close to 10 years of experience in Technology, Analytics and Consulting. His experience spans across emerging markets including India, Southeast Asia and MENA. He has advised clients on a wide array of mandates covering growth strategy, due diligence, competitive positioning.

Akshay currently heads the delivery of strategy consulting mandates for Redseer’s Middle East office. He is frequently quoted by leading media houses in the region on emerging themes in the digital economy.

He has previously worked with Goldman Sachs and Samsung and is an alumnus of IIM Kozhikode and NIT Raipur.

Mohammad Alawi

Mohammad Alawi is a board member & CEO – Red Sea Markets Co. He comes with over 25 years of experience in creating successful developments and renovating existing retail properties in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He chairs the Shopping Malls Committee at JCCI and is a member of the National Saudi Tourism Board in Riyadh.

Mohamed Galal

Mohamed Galal is a pioneering global executive in asset & shopping centers management; Galal is the Chairman & MD of TSM AlSanad; Galal successfully lead several mixed use projects in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, France, Erbil, and Uzbekistan.  Galal is a market leader in innovative commercial development and real estate management successfully bridging technical expertise with local markets.

Somaia Basha

Somaia is a Research Manager at Euromonitor International with a focus on FMCG in MEA. Based in Dubai, She has more than ten years of experience in the industry. ​

Somaia manages an international team of seasoned analysts and is responsible for Euromonitor’s engagements with the leading players across the space of her industries. She has a deep understanding of corporate activity in the region and the current state of each industry.​

Somaia advises clients across a range of industries on the impact of local and global trends and has a special interest in healthy living, e-commerce, delivery apps, sustainability and inflation in emerging markets.

Amal Alameh

Amal is the Head of Consulting in MEA and India at Euromonitor International. Based in Dubai, she has more than 16 years of experience in custom research and consulting solutions.

Amal oversees custom research operations in MEA and India and is highly active in the design, development and execution of research-based solutions provided to regional and global clients. Her support of and involvement in over 200 projects has expanded her experience in different verticals such as trade and export, investor services, retail, packaging and others. Her focus within Euromonitor has been on consumer and B2B payments, covering product strategy and innovation within B2B and B2C offerings, sector dynamics and the competitive landscape.

Prior to joining Euromonitor, Amal worked as a senior consultant with a local boutique consultancy in Dubai. Her role was managing projects with local and regional government agencies to develop and enhance their performance management and strategic planning systems. Another focus for her was process and quality management and helping organizations set up ISO 9001 quality management systems.

Shahid Ali

Ali Shahid is a Senior Manager with Kearney, a global strategy consulting firm with 12+ years of experience in consulting as well as industry. He is part of the Consumer and Retail Industry leadership with in depth expertise in retail, apparel and beauty & personal care sector. Kearney is a leading management advisor to leading consumer and retail firms. In the Middle East, Kearney advises across both private and public sector clients and is also one of the few strategy consulting firms with a dedicated Consumer Industries and Retail Practice.

Abhishek Rajput

Abhishek is a Senior Consultant with Redseer Strategy Consultants, based out of their Dubai office. He has ~4 years of experience in research and consulting with expertise in Due Diligence, Market Sizing, Analytics and Competitive benchmarking.

He has successfully delivered projects in Consumer Internet, Retail, EdTech, Healthcare, and Logistics across geographies. He is an expert in Online retail and FoodTech and has been quoted by media houses in the region on these topics.

He is an alumnus of IIT Hyderabad.

Kalika Tripathi

Kalika Tripathi is the Head of Marketing at Amazon Payment Services for the Middle East & North Africa (MENA). In this role, Kalika leads the marketing department in alignment with strategic business objectives, focusing on driving brand preference, establishing content strategies, and taking new payment product launches to scale. An experienced marketing and research leader, Kalika follows a data-driven approach, and has proven her ability to drive business results by utilizing customer insights.

She played an instrumental role in the successful launch of the re:Imagine Payments thought leadership forum by Amazon Payment Services, and continues to work with team members to increase the impact of forum engagements throughout the year. Kalika also worked intimately with research agencies Euromonitor International and Sixth Factor Consulting to create the forum’s first whitepaper, “What’s Next for Digital Payments in the Middle East and North Africa.”

Kalika has over 20 years of professional experience spanning the industries of market research, banking, and payments, having specialized in payments for the past eight years.

Prior to joining Amazon Payment Services, Kalika was Vice President of Marketing at VISA Middle East, where she successfully led the regional marketing function across over 20 countries. Kalika has also occupied the role of Regional Lead – Marketing Planning at HSBC Bank Middle East, as well as Associate Director at The Nielsen Company, UAE.

Kalika has served as a jury member at the coveted Effies MENA Awards, and is also a member of the Toastmasters International WFA (World Federation of Advertisers) and The Marketing Society.
Underlining her credentials in the research field, Kalika co-authored two research papers presented at the European Society of Market Research in Berlin and Paris, which analyzed topics related to marketing and design thinking.

Fittingly, Kalika earned her master’s degree in sociology – the parent science of customer insight methodologies. More recently, in 2022, she completed an Accelerated Marketing Leadership Program from Northwestern University – Kellogg School of Management, Illinois.