MARIE LOUIS BISHARA

President of the Apparel Export Council of Egypt

President of The Egyptian Apparel Export Council, Fashion designer, Partner, Vice Chairman, and CEO of Bishara Group, a group with an invested capital of $32 million; employing more than 800 workers and 150 salesmen in the Fashion & Apparel Retail Business.

Furthermore, Marie Louis designed and manufactured seven in-house brands under BTM and Marielouis, sold in 7 owned showrooms.

As of 2022, she is a Designer, Vice Chairman, and CEO of Bishara Textile & Garment Manufacturing; President of The Egyptian Apparel Export Council; Board Member at The Holding Company of Cotton, Spinning, & Weaving; Board Member in The National Council For Women; Board Member in The Egyptian French Business Council; Founder & General Secretary of “I The Egyptian - أنا المصري ” Foundation; Founder & Board member of the Egyptian Foundation of Design & Fashion Association (EFDC); Founder & Technical Operator of the Asmarat Training Center, the first public-private center in Egypt.

SARA MARIANI

Chief Sustainability Officer at OTB Group

Sara is a sustainability expert with an international background, focused on building meaningful business cases for corporate sustainability.

Sara applies her business and leadership experience from her 17-year career in corporate, university and non-profit organizations to engage the business community in capturing opportunities and proactively avoiding risks by using smart environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices.

For the last nine years Sara has worked in the fashion and luxury sector, as a consultant for many Italian and international fashion and cosmetics Brands and has served as Social and Environmental Responsibility Director at Christian Dior Couture before joining the OTB Group as Chief Sustainability Officer.

KHALID KAIROUCH

Production manager at EVLOX

Mr. Kairouch graduated in physics and textile engineering, he is Director of Quality and Sustainable Development at EVLOX (a Denim maker since 1846). He joined its Moroccan facilities in 1995 where he led various certification projects and continuous improvement in terms of quality and environment after a period of 5 years at a major manufacturer in the automotive sector, he returned to the parent company to launch new upgrade projects by aligning himself with various international referentials.

The evolution of fashion and the trend towards sustainable products has catalyzed the changes and strengthened the orientation of projects in this direction. In this context, and as part of the SwitchMed initiative, he leads a project to build an ecosystem for the recovery of post-industrial waste in Morocco.

FERDA ULUTAS ISEVI

Sustainability and Circular Economy expert

Ferda Ulutas Isevi has over 20 years of experience in the fields of sustainability and circular economy. Currently she is the technical advisor for the Turkey Circular Economy Platform. She also provides consultancy and expertise for public and private organizations both at national and international levels, including the project “Assessment of Turkey's Potential on Transition to Circular Economy”.

She previously worked as a coordinator at the Technology Development Foundation of Turkey, managing financial support schemes and other activities in the fields of environmental technologies, eco-innovation, resource efficiency and industrial symbiosis.

She has several publications including articles in peer-reviewed journals and holds a Master's degree in Environmental Engineering from Middle East Technical University.

OMAR ITANI

CEO and Founder at Fabric Aid

Omar Itani is the general manager of FabricAID, a social enterprise working to establish a socially and environmentally conscious value chain for the apparel industry. Omar's entrepreneurial journey started at high school when he created with friends a waste management student company.

Itani is the winner of numerous competitions and awards including the Global Social Venture Competition (GSVC), Denis Pietton Award by the French Institute and Young Champion of the Earth by the United Nations.

Itani has succeeded in growing FabricAID from an idea into a full-blown company with more than 100 employees and several millions in revenues within 4 years.

MAGALI OUTTERS

Team Leader Policy Area at MedWaves, the UNEP/MAP Regional Activity Centre for SCP (Former SCP/RAC)

Magali is an Engineer in “Materials: Economics and Environment” from the University of Technology of Troyes (France). She also holds a Master of Industrial Ecology and a Post-graduate degree on International development.

She has a significant expertise in sustainable consumption and production (SCP) and circular economy in the Mediterranean region with 15 years advocating for this approach and by being actively involved in numerous capacity building projects, technical studies, developing specific tools and pilot initiatives with governments, private sector organizations and CSOs. She is currently coordinating the Policy Area for MedWaves, a Regional Centre of the UNEP/Mediterranean Action Plan/Barcelona Convention and the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs).

MARIEM KHARROUBI

Research Director and Head of the CVSTPM (Centre Spécialisé de Valorisation des Produits de la Mer) of the INRH (National Institute of Halieutic Research)

Mariem Kharroubi has an International Master in Environmental Ingeniering and a Biochemistry Doctorate from the University of Cadi Ayyad, Marrakesh, Morocco. Dr Mariem Kharroubi is a Research Director, Head of Specialized Center of Sea Product Valorization and head of Biotechnology Laboratory at the National Institute of Fisheries Researches in Morocco. She is also a Head of Research and Development Biotechnology commission in the AHP Cluster Agadir, Industrial Cluster of 40 companies specialized in fishing and seafood processing. She is an expert of intellectual propriety.

Dr Kharroubi has over 30 scientific papers, patents and projects either presented or published; 4 PhD thesis supervisions. She is an expert in many areas of Sea Product Biotechnological upgrading in several fields of application (Biomedical, nutraceutical, cosmetic, …).

CHARLES DELANNOY

CEO and General Manager at Procidys

Charles DELANNOY is the managing director of the company Procidys (France) he created 10 years ago.

He is a chemical engineer and has 38-year of experience in the field of agro-food processing.

PROCIDYS is a French consulting and research company in food processing with sound and recognized expertise in seafood products and manage projects from the lab studies until the industrial scale up.

He has developed for 25 years, processes and products in the valorization of fish by products.

He has participated in several international research programs in the field of marine products and has filed 4 patents and participated in several scientific publications.

MOHAMED SALAH AZAZA

Senior research scientist and Director of the Aquaculture Laboratory at the INSTM

Full Professor and Senior research scientist and Director of the Aquaculture Laboratory at the Tunisian National Institute of Marine Sciences and Technology (INSTM).

He joined the INSTM 20 years ago. He has a vast experience in fish nutrition and physiology area, focusing on growth, feed formulation and feed management of aquaculture marine and freshwater species. He has received a PhD and HDR in aquaculture from the University of Tunis El-Manar.

He has published over 30 peer-reviewed research papers in international and indexed journals resulting from his research activities. He has participated in several EU-projects e.g. FP7, H2020, IEV It-Tu and Prima programs.

BENOÎT WUATELET

Project coordinator and Team leader Blue Economy Component – UNIDO SwitchMed

Benoît graduated a master’s degree in industrial engineering and environment from the National Institute of Applied Sciences (Toulouse, France) specialized in water resources management.

Prior to joining the UNIDO to manage technical cooperation projects in agri-business, eco-industrial parks, river basin water management and skills development, Benoît worked 10 years in the private sector for the company SUEZ, to manage the implementation of water and wastewater infrastructure in several countries of Africa, Asia and the MENA region. Throughout these years, he has been in the forefront of large-scale environmental projects, cooperating with a wide range of national and international private and institutional stakeholders towards resource-efficiency and eco-industrial challenges. Since 2020, Benoit is team leader of the Blue Economy component of the UNIDO SwitchMed programme, responsible for the implementation and the development of blue economy initiatives in the Mediterranean region.

ROBERTA DE PALMA

Chief Technical Advisor at UNIDO

Roberta De Palma is acting as chief technical advisor of the SwitchMed initiative at the UNIDO Industrial Resource Efficiency unit. She is responsible for the strategic oversight and technical delivery of a regional programme focusing on promoting resource efficiency in the manufacturing sector and advancing circular business solution along textile and plastic value chainsin the North African and Middle East countries.

PAOLO SANDRI

Senior Policy Officer at EURATEX

Paolo Sandri joined EURATEX – the European textiles and clothing association - as senior advisor for trade, energy and EU internal market regulation. In this context, Paolo advocates for an ambitious European trade policy that combines a free circulation of goods with a level playing field on social and environmental sustainability. International supply chains must operate freely and smoothly in a context where all the economic actors are subject to the same rules and standards.  Prior to this role, Paolo worked at the European Commission where he was a policy officer responsible for the EU chemicals legislation, circular economy and sustainability for chemicals and plastics. Paolo holds a M.A. degree in International Relations and Diplomacy at the University of Trieste-Gorizia. 

MAYA KARKOUR

Founder of EcoConsulting and Environmental Consultant

Maya Karkour is an Environmental and Circular Economy Specialist, an Eco-Entrepreneur, and the Managing Director of EcoConsulting, a specialized sustainability consultancy which she founded in 2003 in the UK and in 2007 in Lebanon.

Maya has directly worked on numerous projects aiming at reducing their environmental footprint. She has been a keynote speaker or moderator at various sustainability/environmental conferences in Lebanon and other countries; and has organized and conducted numerous sustainability, green building, circular economy, and environmental seminars & workshops. She has been coaching environmental start-ups with innovative entrepreneurial solutions and is mentoring eco entrepreneurs to help them establish themselves and scale up. Maya has been actively promoting the Circular Economy and sustainable practices in Lebanon, more recently by launching the Circular Hub.

Maya holds an MSc in Environment & Sustainable Policies from LSE, she is a Circular Economy Specialist with the Circular Economy Club, and holds the Permaculture Design Certificate, first level.

JOUMANA BRIHI

Team Leader & Strategic Communication Expert at EU Neighbours South 

Joumana Brihi is a strategic communication and market research consultant with more than 15 years of experience in providing analysis to a broad variety of clients. She has worked with SMEs, start-ups and established companies, as well as public institutes and international organizations. She started working as an independent consultant in 2009, and created a consulting network called ‘remark’.

In the past ten years, she has been mostly working with international organisations, governments, donors and public institutes. Her latest and most significant project consists of leading a team of experts in charge of running the EU-funded regional communication programme : EU Neighbours South. The programme creates communication campaigns, develops and nurtures a network of journalists, media and influencers, carries out opinion polls and provides strategic communication consulting services to EU Delegations in the South Mediterranean region.

ALESSANDRO MIRAGLIA

Team Leader of Networking and Communication Facility at MedWaves 

With 15 years’ experience in sustainable development, gained working in 10 different countries, Mr. Miraglia has a strong expertise in advocacy and capitalisation strategies.

He focuses on mainstreaming Circular Economy in the Mediterranean via networking and local ecosystem building, developing impact communication tools to increase awareness and policy uptake of international best practices.

MICHAEL J. SCOULLOS

Team Leader of Water and Environment Support (WES) in the ENI Southern Neighbourhood region

Prof. Scoullos (Prof. Emeritus, Univeristy of Athens) is an Environmental/Water Chemist (MSc, DSc, University of Athens) and Oceanographer (PhD University of Liverpool), founder of the Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry and Oceanography at the University of Athens. Today he is the Director of the UNESCO Chair and Network on Sustainable Development Management and Education in the Mediterranean.

In his forty-year career, he has combined advanced scientific research and academic teaching with active participation in drafting and piloting environmental and water related policies, while stimulating and coordinating team work of different stakeholders. Since 2019 he is the Team Leader of its follow-up project Water and Environment Support in the ENI Neighbourhood South region.

From 1992-2018 he represented, as an expert, the European Parliament on the Management Board and the Executive Bureau of the European Environmental Agency (EEA), the lead knowledge hub of the EU on environmental and water issues. As Chairman (2005 – today) of the Global Water Partnership-Mediterranean (GWP-Med) he has strategically led and facilitated a series of regional water cooperation mechanisms, processes and projects.

MAI HOSSAM

Founder and Managing Partner at Darjee

Mai Hossam launched her startup “Darjee” that focuses on using technology in the fashion field. Throughout her experience, she accumulated knowledge in using technology to accelerate business growth, developed products that proved to be market fit, designed new business lines in response to Covid-19 to sustain her business.

Before that, Mai was providing tailored support and mentoring to hundreds of startups as an officer in one of the national incubators in Egypt. Mai is so passionate about social entrepreneurship, social-business ventures and synergies between social and business sectors in search for alternative solutions.

Mai aspires to digitalize the fashion industry in Egypt, provide more quality jobs to people working in the fashion industry and support local designers by bringing their designs to light. Also Mai aspires to have an environmental impact through instructing the concepts and practices of sustainable fashion to the Egyptian market.

ILIAS MAVROEIDIS

Programme Management Officer at UNEP/MAP

Dr. Ilias Mavroeidis is a Programme Management Officer in UNEP/Mediterranean Action Plan (MAP) since June 2016, where he is responsible for governance issues including partnerships. Ilias has a long experience on environmental management and sustainable development. Before joining MAP, he has served as a scientific expert in the Ministry of Environment and Energy of Greece and as Environment Attaché at the Permanent Representation of Greece to the European Union. He holds a PhD in Environmental Technology from the University of Manchester, United Kingdom, and has published more than 80 scientific articles, mainly in the field of environmental management and technology

ALMOTAZ ABADI

Deputy Secretary General at UfM

Almotaz Abadi is the UfM Deputy Secretary General in charge of Water, Environment and Blue Economy since September 2022.

He was UfM Acting Deputy Secretary General for the same division between September 2015 and August 2016. At the UfM, he had led the initiatives to revitalize the water political process in the Mediterranean, including achieving a Ministerial Declaration and approving a regional water strategy.

Before the UfM, he was the director of the Aid Coordination & Management Unit with the donor community and the Government of Palestine in the water and related sectors. 

Mr Abadi has been building his career during the last 20 years working with international donors, international and regional organizations as well as policy advisers to governments in the region. He has a Master degree in water resources management and another in Governance, and post graduate in leadership and multilateral cooperation on resources.

STEPHAN SICARS

Director of the Division of Circular Economy and Environmental Protection at UNIDO

Mr. Sicars has worked for, and later managed, the Research Centre for Refrigeration and Heat Pumps in Germany. Later, he headed his own consultancy undertaking research for international industries, NGOs and governments. He implemented projects in India and China, and provided policy advice on environment matters. He served as a technical expert on several international panels.

In 2004, he started work in the United Nations as Senior Programme Officer with the Multilateral Fund for the Implementation of the Montreal Protocol. Joining UNIDO in 2014, he became Director of the Department of Environment in 2015. In that role, he focused the department on the reduction of emissions of Greenhouse Gases, on minimizing industrial pollution, and on advancing circular economy. In addition, between 2020 and 2022, he oversaw UNIDO’s Energy portfolio. He has also been responsible for managing climate action across all of UNIDO and advancing programmatic work with several strategic donors, including the Green Climate Fund.

He was recognized for his contribution, as coordinating lead author for IPCC, to the Nobel Peace Prize 2007, and has received an US-EPA Ozone Award. Mr. Sicars holds the equivalent of a Master’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Hanover, Germany.

ANNA IBAÑEZ

PROJECT MANAGER AT MEDWAVES

Ms. Anna Ibañez, B. in Law (UBBarcelona), PGCert in Cultural Management and Policies (UOCBarcelona), MSc in Corporate Social Responsibility (UOCBarcelona). Project Manager at MedWaves, she coordinates the ENI CBC MED funded STAND Up! project aiming at enhancing circular textiles ventures in the Mediterranean and manages the centre's sustainable consumption-related activities.

Ms. Ibañez has more than 9 years of experience in the field of sustainability. Anna specializes in supporting sustainable business development and fostering sustainable consumption the Mediterranean with a special focus on the intersection between the role of companies as drivers of circular consumption models and the change in consumer behaviour as lever for charge towards a circular economy.

BARUCH DACH

CO-FOUNDER OF AlgaeCore

An inventor, entrepreneur, marine biotechnologist and bio-based materials specialist with over 14 years of expertise is the fields of microalgae and alternative proteins.

He founded AlgaeCore technologies in 2013 and served as the company's CTO since. AlgaeCore is a global pioneer in the production and commercialization of spirulina and spirulina-based food products, aiming for completely disrupting the field with it's proprietary tissue bio-mimicking technology based predominantly on Spirulina cell matrices.

ELISABETH TUERK

DIRECTOR OF THE ECONOMIC COOPERATION AND TRADE AT UNECE

Ms. Tuerk is Director of the Economic Cooperation and Trade Division (ECTD) at UNECE and leads the Division’s work across its four Sections: Cooperation and Partnerships, Innovative Policies Development, Market Access and Trade Facilitation.

The Division works to support closer economic relations among UNECE’s 56 member States in the pursuit of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the 2030 Agenda. It assists member States in better integrating their economies into the world economy and in promoting a better policy, financial and regulatory environment conducive to inclusive economic growth, innovative and sustainable development and higher competitiveness in the ECE region.

Prior to that, Ms. Tuerk acted as Chief of the Section on International Investment Agreements (IIAs) in UNCTAD’s Division on Investment and Enterprise (DIAE), where she led the Section's work across the three pillars of UNCTAD activities: research and analysis, capacity-building and consensus-building. Ms. Tuerk also coordinated the Section's contribution to other UNCTAD products, such as the joint UNCTAD/OECD monitoring of G20 countries' investment policy changes, the annual World Investment Report (WIR), and the biennial World Investment Forum (WIF), including key events such as Ministerial Roundtables.

BURCU TUNCER

CO-LEAD CIRCULAR ECONOMY AT ADELPHI

Burcu Tuncer is Senior Manager + Co-Lead Circular Economy at adelphi. Burcu has 20 years of experience in developing and implementing sustainable consumption and production (SCP) projects in South and South East Asia, Middle East and North Africa. She has engaged with national and local governments, multi-national companies, small businesses, entrepreneurs and non-governmental organisations on policy instruments, hot-spot analysis, business model development and capacity building for SCP. She currently works on promoting and monitoring circular economy practices in global textile, agro-food and plastic value chains. Lately, she has been acting as the Team Leader of the GIZ Green Action in Enterprise (GAIN) textile waste reduction and revalorisation project at El-Hassan Industrial Estate in Irbid, Jordan.

SYRINE CHAALALA

FOUNDER AND MANAGING DIRECTOR OF NEXTPROTEIN

With 10 years experience with FAO as an emergency operations officer and coordinator, seeing first hand the devastating results of climate change, Syrine co-founded nextProtein in 2015. 

Through this pioneering and innovative process created by nextProtein, not only would she be able to feed animals (Fish, Poultry, Swine) with natural ingredients, producing healthier animals requiring less antibiotics, but she would also be able to have a positive impact on the environment with an eco-friendly business model, using inconsumable fruits and vegetables that would otherwise end up in landfills by reintroducing them into the food chain, using one of the least exploited natural resources we have: insects. Syrine is also passionate about building motivated and ambitious teams that, like the founders of nextProtein, want to change the world for the better!

MÜGE DOLUN

INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT OFFICER AT UNIDO

Müge Dolun is a development practitioner, with expertise on trade, gender and the environment. She has over 20 years of experience in strategic research, technical assistance projects and programme evaluation.

Since mid-2021, she has been managing a large portfolio of UNIDO projects on circular economy and resource efficiency. Immediately prior to taking up duties at the Division of Circular Economy and Environmental Protection, she served as the ad-interim Gender Coordinator at the Office for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. Between 2016 and 2019, she was responsible for managing independent evaluations, mostly focusing on the energy and environment portfolio of UNIDO. In her previous roles, she has managed technical assistance projects in trade and standards as well as agri-business development. Ms. Dolun is a development economist by training, with a Master in Public Administration in International Development degree from Harvard Kennedy School and a BA in Environmental Studies.