The Rise of Entrepreneurship in Turkey and the Middle East: Successes, Failures, and the Future

Conference Agenda

Introduction

• Robert Price, Professor & Associate Vice Chancellor for Research, UC Berkeley
• Pierre Olivier Gourinchas, Director of the Clausen Center for International Business and Policy and Professor of Economics at UC Berkeley

Special Speaker: Ilker Ayci, President Republic of Turkey Prime Ministry Investment Support and Promotion Agency

Panel One: Entrepreneurship and Innovation
Financial Reform, Improved Governance, and Economic Development

• Abdullah Celik, President and  CEO, Bank Aysa
• Jeffrey Gedmin, President and CEO, Legatum Institute and former President of Radio Europe
• Ahmad Abdulkader, Partner Architect, Microsoft

Moderated By: Dariush Zahedi,  Director, Berkeley Program on Entrepreneurship and Development in the Middle East

Panel Two: Rise of Entrepreneurship
Cross-Borders Collaboration, Joint Ventures, International Expansion

• Ossama Hassanein, Chairman, TechWadi
• Abderahman Salaheldin, Egyptian Ambassador to Turkey
• Moderated By: Atef El Toukhy, Chairman, Aurum Capital Management

Keynote Speaker: Goli Ameri, President and CEO, The Center for Global Engagement and former
Assistant Secretary of State

Panel Three: The Road Ahead
Political Awakenings, Constitutional  Rearrangements, and Economic Impact

• Allen Collinsworth, President, Fara Group
• Noosheen Hashemi, President, The HAND Foundation
• Ali Ezzatyar, Executive Director, UCB Program on Entrepreneurship  & Development in the Middle East

Moderated By: Steven Fish, Professor of Political Science at UC Berkeley

Panel Four: Success Factors
Strategic Partnerships, Corporate Platforms, and the Role of High Technology

• Mustafa Kilicaslan, Director, Public Private Alliances at Microsoft Corp
• Babur Ozden, CEO, Maana  Big Data
• Dilawar Syed, CEO, Yonja  Media

Moderated By: Deena Shakir, Business Development, Tech. for Social Impact, Google

Conversation: Turkey and the Middle East
Successes, Failures, and the Future

• Hossein Askari, Professor of International Business and Affairs, George Washington University
• Ahmad Ghoreishi,  Professor of Political Science at the Naval Post-Graduate School

Moderated By: Harry Kreisler, Executive  Director, Institute of International Studies at UC Berkeley and Executive Producer of Conversations with History
Special Speaker: Dr. Ibrahim Turhan, Chairman and CEO of Borsa Ä°stanbul