MEET THE SPEAKERS

Women's Networking Breakfast Speakers

Chairman of the Board of Directors of the International Company for Food Industries, and Founder and MD of the Special Food Industry International.

Dr. Yomna El Sheridy is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Special Food Industry International, a leading manufacturer and exporter of table olives, pickled vegetables and sun-dried tomatoes. She has over 20 years of experience in food processing, and has worked in the export and marketing of food products at a global level. Dr. Yomna has contributed with her expertise to the growth of major global brands including Procter & Gamble, Mead Johnson, Bristol Myers, and Gerber Baby Food. She is also the president of Business Women of Egypt 21, and the co-chairperson of “Career Women”, an establishment at the American Chamber of Commerce.

Corporate Affairs & Comms Director, Beyt

Born and educated in Egypt, Ghada graduated at Faculty of Arts, majoring in French literature at Cairo University. She followed her bachelor’s degree reading for an Executive Masters in Corporate & Marketing Communication and Digital Strategies from IE University in Madrid, Spain.Prior to 2000, Ghada joined Mobinil, currently Orange Telecom Egypt, as an auditor then moved to Kuwait in to enter the Public and Media Relations world as an Officer at Nissan El Babtain.For 8 years, Ghada joined L’Oréal Group in Egypt as their Corporate Communications & Public Affairs Manager. She helped build L’Oréal’s first corporate strategy & public affairs mapping, developing internal communication channels, and marketing communication plans for numerous brands such as Lancôme, L’Oréal Paris, and Vichy among others.In August 2018, Ghada moved back to Egypt to join Mars as Corporate Affairs Manager for Egypt and North Africa stepping up their government engagement profile and boosting the company’s external and internal comms.In September 2022, Ghada proudly Joined Beyti, as their first Corporate Affairs Director, to act as part of Beyti’s Management Committee team.

Founder of Gogo Jams

 

 

Vice president of WPO

Soha Atallah is an international packaging expert, with extensive experience in industrial development, packaging, marketing, branding and food safety throughout the Middle East, North Africa, and Asia.

Over the past 20 years, she has provided packaging and labeling design services to more than 200 industrial companies around the w orld.

Ms. Atallah has partnered for more than a decade with UNIDO (United Nations Industrial Development Organization) as an international expert on packaging and marketing in numerous countries, including Mongolia, Morocco, Pakistan, Jordan, Oman, Egypt, Bahrain, Lebanon, and Tunisia. Her global expertise led to Ms. Atallah’s appointment in 2017 as Vice President of the WPO (World Packaging Organization), for which her mandate includes the group’s Exhibitions, Conferences, and WorldStar international packaging competition.

External Communications Director at Juhayna  

In 2015, Passant Fouad Joined Juhayna as Head of Communication. Her vast expertise spans over 17 years, and encompasses the following areas; Media, Sponsorships & Activations, Public Relations, Corporate Social Responsibility & Sustainability, Call Center, and finally Factory Visits. Over the course of Fouad’s career, she worked at various multinationals, starting by Motorola, at which she was part of the Sales & Marketing department. Later, she joined Nokia as Head of Marketing, where she was overseeing North East Africa, planning, and implementing campaigns in Egypt, Sudan, and Libya.  

Consultant and Founder of AgraAfrica

Christine L Blackledge earned her MSA in International Business Administration from Central Michigan University and her Master of Public Health (MPH) and Master of Science in Food Safety (MSFS) from Michigan State University along with certificates in HACCP and International Food Laws & Regulations.  Christine comes from an agricultural background and has traveled around the world, independently and with USAID to build food safety cultures from farm to plate. She has traveled and worked in over 45 countries, including 14 African countries. She draws from all available resources to coordinate and facilitate programs and services for a comprehensive approach.  She is skilled at translating complex technical concepts into innovative and coherent messages that resonate. Her expertise has helped farmers, processors, and governments improve their food safety and increase food export opportunities.

Founder of Tekeya App

Menna Shahin is an Egyptian entrepreneur. She is a regional executive in a multinational pharmaceutical company in Dubai, UAE. She is actively involved in social and community work and was an active member of Giza horizon Rotary Club. She has more than half a million followers on her various social media platforms. She is also among the first Egyptian women who started a Travel Business Exclusively for women, where she organized her travels in collaboration with certified life coaches to incorporate self-development coaching in the travel plans. 

Economist and Founder
of TradeSmart Consult Ltd

Rose is an award winning and passionate Kenyan trade economist with over twenty years work experience drawn from public, private and development sectors in Africa. She hasextensive experience in international trade, trade facilitation, cross border trade, regional integration gender mainstreaming women economic empowerment, food security, customs and ICT for trade. Rose has been involved in negotiation, design and implementation of tradeand gender equality initiatives supporting development partners such as UNECA, CBI Netherlands, GIZ, Expertise France, USAID amongst many others. Rose is the founder of TradeSmart Consult Ltd a development consultancy firm based in Nairobi, Kenya providing innovative trade solutions to private sector, government and development partners in Africa inthe area of women economic empowerment and international trade. Rose is a BusinessManagement PhD Candidate at Moi University. She holds a Masters in Business Administration (MBA), BSc in International Business Administration, a Post Graduate Diplomain International Trade Law and Trade Policy and a Professional Certificate in International Trade

Chairperson of Ramsco Egypt and Oasis Technology Monaco

Rawya Mansour is the Founder and Chairwoman of RAMSCO Trade and Distribution, which she created in Egypt in 2007. She then founded the RAMSCO for Sustainable Agricultural Development in 2009, and in 2012, she established the Organic Agriculture for Social International Solidarity (OASIS) in the Principality of Monaco. Rawya studied Commerce and Law at Cairo University before beginning a career in interior design and in 1999, she created RAMSCO for Refined Architecture and Interior Design. Rawya’s is an honorary member of the Egyptian National Women’s Committee for Foreign Affairs, a member of the Clinton Global Initiative Foundation, a member of UNDP’s IDSC, and a member of The Earth Institute at Columbia University. 

Director of the Agriculture and Natural Resources Program, CARE Egypt.

As part of her role, Marwa is responsible for leading and managing the implementation of CARE’s strategy for the development of the agriculture sector in Egypt. She manages and monitors relations with donors, sector key stakeholders and government authorities. Marwa joined CARE in March 2019 to support the organization’s growing agriculture development portfolio where she found her passion in working with small farmers specially females and allow them to have equal opportunity as big farms in the market.

General Manager of POD Egypt

Basma Shams is a Corporate Affairs and Communications professional with more than 18 years of experience in the PR & Communications field who is currently the General Manager of the leading Public Relations agency in Egypt, POD Egypt. Prior to joining POD Egypt, Shams worked Head of Corporate Affairs at Danone Egypt and North East Africa, and used to be Manager of External Communications at Philip Morris International, and before that, she worked in Dubai as Head of Brand & Integrated Marketing Communications for Philips Middle East. In 2005, Shams headed the Public Communications Division for the office of the Minister of Communications. 

Executive Director at The Engineering Export Council of Egypt

BasmaOver 18 years of professional experience in Marketing activities, Corporate Communication, Managing International Exhibitions, Business Development, PR activities, CSR activities, Events Management,
Business Promotion, Branding, Marketing Campaigns.

Deep experience in setting & implementing Export Strategies to increase the export volume.