SPEAKERS
MEDEA NOCENTINI
FOUNDER
C3 - COMPANIES CREATING CHANGE
Medea Nocentini is Senior Partner at Global Ventures. She is also Founder of Companies Creating Change (C3), a UAE-based social enterprise helping impact-driven entrepreneurs in the Middle East and Africa unlock their growth potential and maximize their positive impact on the community. Before joining Global Ventures, Medea served as Chief Strategy Officer at the AW Rostamani Group, an international and diversified family group, as well as Senior Vice President, Strategy and Corporate Development at OSN, a leading Pay TV platform in the MENA region.
Earlier in her career, she spent several years at Booz Allen Hamilton developing strategies for TMT, consumer, and public sector’s clients across Europe, the United States, and the Middle East. She holds an MBA from Columbia Business School (New York, USA), an MSc in Mechanical Engineering from Politecnico di Torino (Italy) and an Engineering Diploma from Ecole Centrale Paris (France).
DAN DIMMOCK
CHIEF BRAND ADVISOR & FOUNDER
FIRSTWATER
Dan Dimmock, FRSA is a cultural and institutional brand architect, impact strategist, fractional CBO, advisor, and educator. Best known for his work as a consultant, Dan has championed purpose-driven brand development as a vehicle for change for over two decades and has built a career helping public and private sector organisations improve self-awareness and empower transformation through brand clarity, purpose, and impact. His advisory work includes extensive destination and place branding experience working with the governments of Bhutan, Singapore, Malaysia, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia.
In 2015, Dan founded Firstwater Advisory as a specialist strategy and execution consultancy focused on building sustainable brands in underserved markets. Before establishing Firstwater, Dan led teams for two of the world's leading consultancies — FITCH (now Landor (WPP)) and Futurebrand (IPG) — where he held key leadership positions across the Middle East and Asia Pacific regions.
Dan co-created The Brand Clarity Assessment measurement framework and The Sustainable Brand Model Canvas. Furthermore, regularly commenting on issues shaping business and brand, his perspectives have been featured in Arabian Business, Branding Strategy Insider, CNN, Fast Company, The Financial Times, and The New York Times. He is an outside lecturer at Middlesex University's Institute for Sustainable Development, Strathclyde Business School, and other forums. He is also a subject-matter expert for several organisations, including C3 - Companies Creating Change Accelerator Programmes, and an advisor to several impact-driven tech startups.