2026 Growth Summit – 14 April

Name: 2026 Growth Summit – 14 April
Start: 2026-04-14T13:00:00+04:00
End: 2026-04-14T21:00:00+04:00
Location: In-person

Date

Apr 14 2026

Time

GST

9:00 am - 5:00 pm

Location

In-person

Cost

Free for members, $200 for non members

Event Overview

We are thrilled to invite our members to the 2026 edition of the Growth Summit after the success of the inaugural 2025 edition.

The Growth Summit is an exclusive in-person, event designed to highlight the areas of growth potential for the MENA Digital industry and provide practical discussions on overcoming barriers and leveraging opportunities.

This summit offers a unique platform to gain valuable insights into industry trends, hear from thought leaders, and engage in meaningful networking with the region’s top professionals.

This year we will theme the sessions into 4 core topics and have a number of high profile global speakers lined up:

Adtech and AI
Getting Closer to Consumers
Ecosystem Health
Streaming & AV Revolution

We look forward to welcoming you to an event full of inspiration, collaboration, and innovation!

Please note that the agenda below is subject to change.

Agenda

Hourly Schedule

April 2026 - Agenda

09:00
Registration
Registration starts. Tea, coffee and pastries will be available until the opening of the event. Networking sponsored by TXT-Media

10:00
Welcome & Introduction

Speakers: Ian Manning, Nisrine Ghazal

10:15 - Adtech & AI
Growth through Adtech
Rachel Smith - CEO, Exchangewire

11:00 - Adtech & AI
Navigating New Frontiers: Trusted Servers, Programmatic CTV and the Agentic Web
Join us for a strategic look at how the IAB Tech Lab is fortifying the open web. We’ll break down the shift toward server-side execution to enhance publisher control and growth, the Agentic Roadmap for autonomous, high-performance buying and selling based on existing standards, and the initiatives enabling the rapid evolution of Programmatic CTV. These are the standards ensuring a secure, interoperable, and high-growth future for advertisers and publishers alike.
Speakers: Shailley Singh

11:30 - Adtech & AI
Fireside Chat
Shailley Singh, Rachel Smith

12:00 - Getting Closer to Consumers
Creators, Podcasts & WhatsApp
Panel
Speakers: Konstantin von Wedel, Lemya Soltani

12:30 - Getting Closer to Consumers
Retail Media & Outcomes planning
Panel
Speakers: Sulagna Kapoor

13:00
Lunch & Networking
Light Lunch and Networking. Networking sponsored by Stackadapt

14:00 - Ecosystem Health
(Quality+Transparency=Trust) X 2
Addressing issues of Content development, packaging , distribution and Audience development leading to greater engagement and crucially advertising revenue growth
Speakers: Constantine Kamaras

14:30 - Ecosystem Health
The value of content and trust
Panel
Speakers: Daniel White, David Do Rosario, Farshad (Fash) Dabeshkhoy, Hala Lababidi

15:00 - Streaming Revolution
pDOOH in MENA
Panel
Speakers: Yasmine Al Turk

15:30 - Streaming Revolution
Living Room of the Future research
RTL
Speakers: Aurélie Brunet de Courssou

16:00 - Streaming Revolution

Panel

Ian Manning

Executive Director, IAB MENA

Ian is currently the Executive Director of the IAB MENA, having worked with other industry leaders to establish it in MENA. He has had the privilege of working in multiple roles across multiple markets over his 20+years. This included leading global clients for Agencies in London, as CEO for an Agency in South Africa and recently as Head of Agency Partnerships for Facebook in the MENA region.

Nisrine Ghazal

Chief Business Officer, Rotana Media Services

Nisrine is a multi-award-winning business leader with over 20 years of experience in sales, marketing, media, management, and content (production, acquisition & distribution) in MENA region and has worked in leadership positions for some of the region’s leading brands. She has turned around under-performing companies by evaluating their value proposition, their marketing and branding efforts and their go-to-market strategies and has worked on launching, relaunching, branding, rebranding and repositioning some of the regions most loved brands, delivering outstanding results in record timings.

Shailley Singh

COO - IAB Tech Lab

Shailley brings several years of product management experience in digital advertising at Yahoo and Say Media building products for mobile advertising, ad operations, targeting solutions, and integrating data platforms. Shailley has supported and worked with multiple IAB initiatives in the past, namely MRAID and Mobile Rising Stars specifications. At Yahoo, he worked on creating innovative ad experiences for mobile and tablet platforms as well as native formats. Shailley has a diverse background as a product leader, consultant, and entrepreneur building and sustaining high performing teams at both large organizations as well as venture funded startups like Paypal, Yahoo, Say Media, Serus, Accenture, and PwC. Shailley has an MBA and Chemical engineering degrees.

Konstantin von Wedel

Chief Strategy Officer - Platformance

Konstantin is Strategy Director at Platformance, a local AdTech player in MENA, where he leads strategy, shapes compelling narratives for Platformance and its sister ventures, and supports commercial teams in driving better brand outcomes and business growth. With 8+ years of programmatic and advertising experience across DACH, SEA, and MENA, he has helped clients run effective media campaigns from strategy to execution.

Lemya Soltani

Chief Commercial Officer - Next Audio

Lemya Soltani is CCO and Co-Founder of Next Audio, leading global podcast advertising growth. She advises brands and agencies on audio advertising strategies including always-on, dynamic targeting & creative, host-read sponsorships and branded content across international markets

Sulagna Kapoor

Senior Director - Omnicom Media (Flywheel)

Since joining Omnicom Media as Senior Director, Sulagna has led ecommerce and retail media innovation for a diverse portfolio of regional and global CPG brands, consistently driving online growth, marketplace performance, and technology-enabled retail media effectiveness aligned with core business objectives.

Constantine Kamaras

Daniel White

Regional VP MENA, DoubleVerify

David Do Rosario

Head of Digital, Havas

Farshad (Fash) Dabeshkhoy

Head of Partnerships, TTD

Fash is Head of Partnerships and Inventory Development for MENA at The Trade Desk, where he leads strategic relationships with premium broadcasters, streaming platforms, publishers, DOOH operators and data owners across the region. He is responsible for expanding access to high-quality inventory, accelerating programmatic adoption across digital channels, and bringing greater transparency and performance to the regional advertising ecosystem.

Hala Lababidi

Doubleverify

Yasmine Al Turk

Advanced DOOH & Digital Supply Lead, GroupM

Aurélie Brunet de Courssou

Senior Marketing Director, RTL Ad Alliance

Our Speakers

Speakers

Ian Manning Executive Director, IAB MENA

Ian Manning

Executive Director, IAB MENA

Ian is currently the Executive Director of the IAB MENA, having worked with other industry leaders to establish it in MENA. He has had the privilege of working in multiple roles across multiple markets over his 20+years. This included leading global clients for Agencies in London, as CEO for an Agency in South Africa and recently as Head of Agency Partnerships for Facebook in the MENA region.
Nisrine Ghazal Chief Business Officer, Rotana Media Services

Nisrine Ghazal

Chief Business Officer, Rotana Media Services

Nisrine is a multi-award-winning business leader with over 20 years of experience in sales, marketing, media, management, and content (production, acquisition & distribution) in MENA region and has worked in leadership positions for some of the region’s leading brands.

She has turned around under-performing companies by evaluating their value proposition, their marketing and branding efforts and their go-to-market strategies and has worked on launching, relaunching, branding, rebranding and repositioning some of the regions most loved brands, delivering outstanding results in record timings.
Yasmine Al Turk Advanced DOOH & Digital Supply Lead, GroupM

Yasmine Al Turk

Advanced DOOH & Digital Supply Lead, GroupM
Shailley Singh COO - IAB Tech Lab

Shailley Singh

COO - IAB Tech Lab

Shailley brings several years of product management experience in digital advertising at Yahoo and Say Media building products for mobile advertising, ad operations, targeting solutions, and integrating data platforms. Shailley has supported and worked with multiple IAB initiatives in the past, namely MRAID and Mobile Rising Stars specifications. At Yahoo, he worked on creating innovative ad experiences for mobile and tablet platforms as well as native formats. Shailley has a diverse background as a product leader, consultant, and entrepreneur building and sustaining high performing teams at both large organizations as well as venture funded startups like Paypal, Yahoo, Say Media, Serus, Accenture, and PwC. Shailley has an MBA and Chemical engineering degrees.
Constantine Kamaras

Constantine Kamaras
Rachel Smith CEO, Exchangewire

Rachel Smith

CEO, Exchangewire

Rachel Smith is co-founder and CEO of ExchangeWire, leading the company’s global operations. Rachel has more than 16 years experience in the digital media, advertising and marketing technology industry.

Prior to this, she spent 10 years in the public sector working with policy advisors and elected politicians at both a local and national level in the UK & Australia. Amongst many other things, this included running media, communications & PR functions for local government authorities in London. Rachel holds a Bachelor of Arts in Politics from the Australian National University, and is on the Board of Trustees for the East London based charity, the Bromely-by-Bow Centre.
Sulagna Kapoor Senior Director - Omnicom Media (Flywheel)

Sulagna Kapoor

Senior Director - Omnicom Media (Flywheel)

Since joining Omnicom Media as Senior Director, Sulagna has led ecommerce and retail media innovation for a diverse portfolio of regional and global CPG brands, consistently driving online growth, marketplace performance, and technology-enabled retail media effectiveness aligned with core business objectives.
Lemya Soltani Chief Commercial Officer - Next Audio

Lemya Soltani

Chief Commercial Officer - Next Audio

Lemya Soltani is CCO and Co-Founder of Next Audio, leading global podcast advertising growth. She advises brands and agencies on audio advertising strategies including always-on, dynamic targeting & creative, host-read sponsorships and branded content across international markets
Konstantin von Wedel Chief Strategy Officer - Platformance

Konstantin von Wedel

Chief Strategy Officer - Platformance

Konstantin is Strategy Director at Platformance, a local AdTech player in MENA, where he leads strategy, shapes compelling narratives for Platformance and its sister ventures, and supports commercial teams in driving better brand outcomes and business growth. With 8+ years of programmatic and advertising experience across DACH, SEA, and MENA, he has helped clients run effective media campaigns from strategy to execution.
Farshad (Fash) Dabeshkhoy Head of Partnerships, TTD

Farshad (Fash) Dabeshkhoy

Head of Partnerships, TTD

Fash is Head of Partnerships and Inventory Development for MENA at The Trade Desk, where he leads strategic relationships with premium broadcasters, streaming platforms, publishers, DOOH operators and data owners across the region.

He is responsible for expanding access to high-quality inventory, accelerating programmatic adoption across digital channels, and bringing greater transparency and performance to the regional advertising ecosystem.
Aurélie Brunet de Courssou Senior Marketing Director, RTL Ad Alliance

Aurélie Brunet de Courssou

Senior Marketing Director, RTL Ad Alliance

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2026 Growth Summit – 14 April

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