Ahmed Bin Sulayem

Ahmed Bin Sulayem is the Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of DMCC and has driven its growth from a start-up of 28 member companies in 2003 to the world’s leading international business district in 2025 with over 26,000 member companies from 180 countries, employing over 90,000 people. 

Tasked with enhancing commodity trade flows through Dubai, DMCC has introduced to the market a number of value-added products and services under Mr Bin Sulayem’s leadership. In 2023, DMCC was named ‘Global Free Zone of the Year’ by The Financial Times fDi Magazine, for a record ninth consecutive year.

Mr Bin Sulayem oversaw the exponential growth of the DMCC Free Zone master development in Jumeirah Lakes Towers (JLT), a 200-hectare business and residential community in Dubai of over 100,000 people living and working in 87 towers. Mr Bin Sulayem also oversees the development of DMCC’s latest real estate project, the Uptown Dubai district.

Mr Bin Sulayem currently serves as the Chairman of the Dubai Diamond Exchange (DDE) and the Dubai Gold & Commodities Exchange (DGCX).

The Kimberley Process officially appointed the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as the first and only Arab country to Chair the Kimberley Process (KP) in November 2015. Shortly after, the UAE Ministry of Economy appointed Mr Bin Sulayem as the UAE’s Chair of the KP for 2016. Mr Bin Sulayem was reappointed as Chair of the KP for a historic second term in 2024, and again in 2025 as Custodian Chair, marking an unprecedented third term.

Tushar Shetty

Tushar Shetty is a venture builder and ecosystem leader serving as the CEO of Ideas to Impacts (I2I) Hub, one of Pune's leading technology incubators. With over a decade in IT, SaaS, and startups, he has worked closely with founders, enterprises, investors, and government bodies to build innovation-driven businesses and strengthen India's technology landscape.

Tushar has been instrumental in helping startups scale from inception to successful exits while also investing in and mentoring high-potential software companies. His expertise spans venture building, open innovation, enterprise partnerships, and global market expansion.

At I2I Hub, he leads initiatives that connect emerging SaaS and AI startups with Fortune 500 enterprises through open innovation programs, enterprise collaborations, and industry-focused hackathons. He also heads the Regional Landing Pad program, enabling international technology companies to establish and expand their presence in the Indian market.

Beyond I2I Hub, Tushar has played an active role in shaping the broader technology ecosystem. He previously served as an Executive Committee Member of the Software Exporters' Association of Pune (SEAP) and is a Board Member of the NIBM Incubation Centre, an initiative established by the Reserve Bank of India to foster innovation in the BFSI sector.

Having started his journey with a Silicon Valley accelerator, Tushar continues to work at the intersection of startups, enterprise innovation, and public-private collaboration. Today, he advises founders, CXOs, and ecosystem stakeholders on venture growth, innovation strategy, and technology-led transformation while building platforms that accelerate the next generation of global technology companies.

Salman Amiri

Salman Amiri serves as the Manager at DMCC’s AI Centre, the region’s leading hub for pragmatic Artificial Intelligence (AI) innovation.

Salman leads strategic operations at DMCC's AI and robotics innovation hub, where he drives the development of specialized services, programs, and partnerships that foster ecosystem growth. His work focuses on building strategic relationships with government stakeholders and industry leaders while championing AI adoption initiatives across the organization.

Before joining DMCC in October 2024, Salman was an Autonomous Robotics Researcher at the Technology Innovation Institute, where he specialized in guidance, navigation, and control systems. His background combines technical expertise in AI and robotics with operational leadership experience.

Salman holds a Master's degree in Intelligent Robotic Systems from the Universitat de Girona and a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Arizona State University. As an Emirati national, he is committed to advancing the UAE's position as a global hub for technological innovation.

Siddharth Shah

1. India Head of DMCC & Founder of SP Shah Consultants (Dubai) along with Director on board of several Small Medium Enterprise (SMEs) in consulting & retail sectors

2. Management consultant and ex-banker for past 18 years

3. Engineer from IIT-Bombay, MBA from Wharton Business School. 

Paresh Shah

Educational & professional Qualifications:

• A Science Graduate of 1981, with Chemistry as the principal subject & qualified as Chartered Accountant in the year 1984.
  
• One of the top consultants in FEMA & Taxation in India since 39 years, with a special focus on.
  •  Cross border transactions & its taxation.
  • Inbound and Outbound Investment in India.
• Successfully launched India’s first ever International Tax Journal of the Chamber of Tax Consultants and designated as the First Editor of the prestigious Journal, for the first time in India.
• Past Chairman of The Chamber of Income Tax Consultants
• Chairman of International Taxation Committee of The Chamber of Income Tax Consultant during the year 2013-14 and 2016-17
• Faculty and chief panelist for various courses in trade and industry bodies in India & UAE.
• Author of 5 books and articles covering diverse topics of FEMA, Customs & Global Taxation

Akash Sureka

Akash Sureka, currently founder of TheNoah.ai, is been a global strategic advisor for Growth/ IPO/ transformation and AI, also an angel investor in many technology startups with a few soonicorns in the portfolio, was a former MD at JP Morgan handling multibillion dollar business growth, and a serial AI entrepreneur with exits to public listed companies like Persistent Systems, etc. He is also an ex Nvidia/ Microsoft/Motorola/Nokia leader at global stage. He is passionate about creating new AI driven businesses, drive global products and technologies, scale technology driven digital organizations, build business strategy and growth, and P&L as the key central force globally for global companies, with a strong innovation platform and digital transformation capabilities.

Akash has been recently awarded as Top 10 Global AI leaders by MSN and Microsoft, listed in Forbes, Business Innovation, Enterprise World and similar global publications for artificial intelligence innovation in his current venture of TheNoah.ai

Akash comes with strong technology, product, and business background with more than 25 plus years of varied professional experience in Global product and solutions companies. In various leadership roles as a CEO, Managing Director, VP, etc, He has managed multimillion-dollar P&Ls and technology products and related budgets, built and scaled large scale products with businesses in marquee companies like JP Morgan & Chase, CxLoyalty, Icertis, NVIDIA, Bilcare, Persistent Systems, Nokia, Microsoft & Motorola in the areas of B2C Consumer Internet and B2B Enterprise SaaS solutions.

He has also been key instrumental leader in building world class technology business centers for JP Morgan & Chase, Eliott (one of the largest private equity companies) owned CxLoyalty and NVIDIA scaling from 100 to 1000 people companies with technology, product, delivery and operational excellence while building world class platforms and products with budgets of 50M+ USD and driving revenues to $100M+ and contributing to billion dollar plus top lines. He has worked with few marque venture capitalists and was also part of the leadership team while raising 100M USD for an AI powered enterprise contract management SaaS platform while heading global product development in Icertis. He has gone through global M&As of all sizes, including recent acquisition of CxLoyalty by JP Morgan & Chase, Motorola’s acquisition by Google, Nokia’s acquisition by Microsoft and including his own entrepreneurial startup which was acquired by a listed company Persistent Systems Ltd and more in both buy and sell side.

He has been key leadership in building a Global AI powered Enterprise Contract Management Platform and unicorns like Icertis. He has built businesses and digital products at scale for Commerce/ Travel/ Manufacturing/Retail/ BFSI/ Healthcare/ Telecom/ Media verticals. He has also been building AI powered SaaS platforms (like Integration automation, Productivity, Contractual and Supply Chain, Digital Banking, Loyalty), and large scale end to end consumer internet web solutions for millions of users, mobile applications for consumer internet and enterprise, AI and Machine Learning, AR/ VR/ AI/ Big Data/ Machine Learning/ Cloud/ Mobility/ IOT solutions, social/ digital marketing and advertisement solutions, telecom and vas solutions, smartphones, mobility and connected devices, Mobile Operating Systems, mobile devices with ODMs manufacturers. Akash has spent a lot of time delivering consumer and business solutions to companies like BestBuy, Apple, Citibank, CapOne, Satyender, US Bank, Air Canada, Wells Fargo, Mariott, Porsche, Exxon, Accenture, Adobe, BCG, Microsoft, Samsung, HTC, Toshiba, Sharp, Qualcomm, Intel, Microsoft, SONY, Cisco, Lenovo, AT&T, Bell Labs, Wells Fargo, Intuit, Salesforce, IBM, Agilent, Reliance, Govt. organizations, etc to name a few and had steered global partnerships with Intel, Qualcomm, Yahoo, Intel, Baidu, InMobi, Adobe, Netflix, Cisco, Oracle, SAP, Microsoft, GE, Zoho, Freshworks, Mulesoft, Google, Intel, Atlassian, Box, Salesforce, etc and many more globally.

He has been nominated for Young Entrepreneur by Business World, Top 100 Asian Companies, and nominated as Top Technology Pioneer by World Economic Forum for “Auto-Search and Content Discovery” technology for mobile internet. He recently was nominated as Corporate Game Changer by European Corporate Vision magazine for his new corporate thought leadership. Akash has co-authored international publications like “Everything Guide to Mobile Apps” published by International publishing agency Adams Media, bringing out his perspective on global mobile app ecosystem and trends. He has several patents applied in his name under AI, mobile software, digital advertisements, Enterprise IT, web applications, and consumer internet fields and is constantly sought after by global startups, entrepreneurs and investment ecosystem for his advice and mentor-ship. He has been featured in international books, publications, dailies on his thought leadership, advisory, and achievements. Akash has also been advisory in the past to many bodies like Nasscom 10K, TiE, and various Accelerators, and investment networks across the globe.

Akhil Gadgil

Akhil Gadgil is an Executive Director at P. N. Gadgil Jewellers, representing the third generation of a family business that has upheld a historic legacy in the jewellery industry while continuously evolving with changing customer expectations.

At P. N. Gadgil Jewellers, he leads initiatives across brand building, marketing, customer experience, retail strategy, and business expansion, with a strong focus on modernising traditional retail. His work includes driving technology adoption, strengthening CRM and customer loyalty initiatives, building contemporary brand positioning, and exploring strategic opportunities for domestic and international growth.

A strong advocate for balancing heritage with innovation, Akhil believes that traditional family businesses must look beyond historical norms and embrace new ways of creating value for the next generation of consumers. His approach combines the trust and craftsmanship of an established legacy with modern retail practices, data-driven decision making, and customer-centric thinking

Bassel Bitar

Bassel Bitar is the Senior Manager, Corporate Sales at DMCC, the world’s leading Free Zone and Government of Dubai Authority on commodities trade and enterprise.

Joining DMCC as a Team Leader in 2015, Bassel is responsible for promoting the benefits of doing business in Dubai and setting up companies in DMCC.

Prior to joining DMCC, Bassel held senior sales positions at both Etisalat Telecom and Emirates NBD in Dubai.

Bassel earned a Bachelor of Business administration degree in Hotel Management and tourism from the National American University in 2002.