Dr. Mohamed ENNABLI

Dr Mohamed Ennabli has a PhD in Science.
He joined the Ministry of Agriculture in 1964 as a hydro-geologist.
He was successively Head of the Hydro-geological division, Lecturer and Professor at INAT, Director of Center for Science and Water Technology and coordinator of the National Water Research Program, CEO of National Agency for Environment Protection, Managing Director of the National Institute of Scientific Research and Technology.
He is currently:
• Member of the National Advisory Council for Scientific Research and Technology
• President of the Mediterranean Water Institute (Marseilles)
• Vice-Chairman of the Blue Plan (Nice)
• President of the National Committee for the Assessment of Activities of Scientific Research
• Chairman of the High Level Committee for Science and Technology.

Dr. Mongi HAMDI

Dr. Mongi Hamdi is the Head of the Science, Technology and ICT Branch at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and Head of the Secretariat of the United Nations Commission on Science and Technology for Development. Prior to joining UNCTAD in 1998, Mr. Hamdi worked for 10 years in the Department of International Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat in New York. 

Dr. Hamdi holds a Master of Science and a Ph.D. in Engineering from the University of Southern California at Los Angeles. He also holds a post graduate degree in Macroeconomic Policy and Management from Harvard University and an engineering degree from “Ecole Nationale d’Ingénieurs de Tunis”.

His areas of interest are science, technology and innovation policies, foreign direct investment and technology transfer and information and communication technologies. He has written widely on science, technology, ICTs and development.

Dr. Marouane El ABASSI

Dr. Marouane El ABASSI holds a Doctorate in Economics from the University of Paris I Pantheon Sorbonne, a MS degree in Economics- Mathematics & Econometrics from the University Paris 2 and a MS degree in Agro- Economics, Paris I Pantheon Sorbonne- INRA PARIS. 

He has been teaching several disciplines in Economics and International Trade since 1987. He is the founder of a Master Program of Information Technologies and e-Commerce at the Institut des Hautes Etudes Commerciales “IHEC” Carthage and Director of a Master Program in Management of Hostelry and Tourism.

Dr. El ABASSI has published several research articles in leading academic journals and conference proceedings, and was awarded several teaching and research excellence awards. He has taught extensively on MBA and executive programs. He was invited as a visiting professor at Tsukuba University in Tokyo and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Albany -New york.
He has been for many years: Senior Economist at the Institut Arabe des Chefs d’Entreprises  “IACE”, Advisor to the Minister of Trade and Handicraft and General Coordinator of  EPDI and EPDII ( Export Development Project I and II, for Tunisia launched since 2000) sponsored by the   Ministry of Trade and Handicraft  and  the  World Bank.

Since January 2008, he joined the World Bank Group as a Senior Economist and Country Program Coordinator for Libya.

SPEAKERS

Mr. Mohamed Larbi ROUIS

Mr. Rouis, 45 years old, gained a scholarship from the Tunisian Government after achieving in the baccalaureate degree. He got an Electrical Engineering Master’s Degree from University of the Arkansas majoring in Robotics. Freshly graduated he was appointed as a Computer Sales Engineer in charge of maintenance and assistance at Fry’s Electronics in Silicon Valley San José in California from 1991-1993.  

Then he came back at the end of 1993 and was recruited as a Manager of Engineering Department within COFAT, a joint venture with Delphi.

Mr. Rouis moved to LEONI Sousse in 1996 where he was responsible of managing 450 employees within a production segment.  

After a remarkable performance, Mr. Rouis was sent by LEONI AG to South Africa where he was appointed as a Technical and Production Manager. Then he was involved in establishing a site that got the best Site honor both from LEONI head quarter and from Mercedes Benz in South Africa.

In 2001, Mr. Rouis was then selected to lead LEONI Port Elizabeth in South Africa which was ailing. In one year, he succeeded to restructure it and make the turn around. As a result, the LEONI Port Elizabeth site gained the 2nd best site honor within LEONI sites worldwide.   

LEONI AG decided to target a break event in its site in Mexico that was making a considerable yearly Loss. Mr. Rouis was designated as a Managing Director and had a 2 years mission to save the situation.
Mr. Rouis succeeded to reverse the situation and make a significant profit in a record time of 14 months.

In 2003, Mr. Rouis came back to Tunisia and was appointed as a managing director of LEONI Sousse with a 2300 employees. The company size increased since then and reached 6000 in 2009.

In 2010 and after the acquisition of the Tunisian ex Valeo sites by LEONI, a new structure is created called LEONI Operation Area Tunisia, LEONI OAT. This new company is by now the first Employer in Tunisia with almost 12000 employees. Mr. Rouis is assigned as the managing Director of LEONI OAT.

Pr. Bahri REZIG

Pr. Bahri Rezig is, since 1992, Professor of Higher Education at the National Engineering School of Tunis (ENIT). He has a Ph.D. in Physics awarded by the University of Science and Technology of Montpellier, France, in 1986 after his works on new semiconductors used in alternative photovoltaic cells. Since 1987, he has been supervising research in the fields of photovoltaics and photonics.

At ENIT from 1994 to 2001, he was successively director of the Department of Industrial Engineering and academic dean & internship supervisor. Besides, he was from 2001 to 2003 Vice-President of the University Of Tunis El Manar and from 2003 to 2008 Director of ENIT.

Since October 2008, he is the executive chairman of the newly created Agency for Promotion of Research and Innovation at the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research.
Pr. Bahri REZIG is, since 2004 Vice President of the Mediterranean Network of Engineering Schools and founding chairman of the Scientific Association of ENIT.

Dr. JELEL EZZINE

Pr. JELEL EZZINE holds a Ph.D in Electrical Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA.

He was successively appointed Associate Professor at the Electrical Engineering Department, ENIT in 1995- 2001, Deputy Director/Director of Studies, ENIT in  2001/2008, Deputy Director of Laboratories, Research Units and Graduate Schools, DGRSRT, Ministry of Higher Education in 2003- 2005, Director of Doctoral Schools and Research Valorization, DGRSRT, Ministry of Higher Education-2005-2006, Professor at the Electrical Engineering Department, ENIT 2006-2009, Director of Doctoral (Graduate) Studies, DGRS, Ministry of Higher Education, Scientific Research and Technology in Mai 2009.

He is a distinguished speaker, researcher and expert. Received many honours, awards and recognitions over 1989-2009 period from international institutes and organizations (Austria - Cairo - France - Japan -South Korea -Sweden- USA  -Saudi Arabia-Tunisia…).
 
He is currently:

• Director General of International Cooperation at the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research
• Prof. of Systems Theory and Control, Electrical Engineering Department at Tunis National Engineers’ School
• Member of the "Comité d.Orientation Scientifique de LEAD (Leadership for Environment and Development) Afrique Francophone", http://www.lead.org/, (since 2004).
• National Higher Education Quality Expert "Programme d'Appui à la Qualité," since 2006
• Founder and General secretary of IEEE Tunisia Section,
• Founder and Counselor (since 2004) of ENIT-IEEE Student Branch (ENIT-IEEE SB).
• Founder and Vice-President (since 2004) of Association Scientifique de l'ENIT (ASENIT)
• ICTP Senior Associate Member, until 31/12/2010, (http://assoc.ictp.it/),
• Editor of the Journal of Advanced Computational Intelligence and Intelligent Infor-matics (JACIII), (http://www.fujipress.jp/JACIII/JACIII_editors.html)
• IEEE CEB Associate Editor. (http://www.ieeecss.org/about/rosteradd.pdf)
• Consulting Editor of "The Contemporary Who.s Who".
• Peer Reviewer for:
• IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control.
• The French Academy of Science.
• International Journal of Robust and Nonlinear Control.
• International Joutnal of Control.
• International Journal of Systems Science.
• Journal of Advanced Computational Intelligence and Intelligent Informatics (JACIII)
• The ASME Journal of Dynamic Systems, Measurement and Control.
• Asian Journal of Automatic Control.
• Journal of the Operational Research Society (JORS).
• Complexity International.
• The Arabian Journal for Science and Engineering.
 ACC, CDC, ECC, MED, etc.

Mr. Ndiamé DIOP

Ndiamé Diop is currently the World Bank’s resident representative in Tunisia. He joined the World Bank Headquarter 11 years ago (through the Young Professional Program) as economist and has worked in the MENA (Tunisia and Morocco) and the South Asia (India and Bangladesh) regions before spending close to 4 years doing applied research at the trade department of the Bank.

In July 2007, he joined the Tunis office to lead the economic program on Tunisia and head the country office. Mr. Diop has published extensively in the areas of trade, growth and poverty, competitiveness and macroeconomics.

He has also contributed to numerous world Bank-edited books and is a reviewer in 2 international academic journals. Mr. Diop’s most recent publication (co-editor) is a book on trade and competitiveness in MENA forthcoming in June 2010.
Mr. Diop is married and has two children.

Mr. Saïd AÏDI

Saïd Aïdi has joined HR Access Solutions in September 2006 as Managing Director for Tunisia. In addition to this responsibility, he is one of the Executive Committee members.

As Managing Director for HR Access Tunisie International, Saïd Aïdi is tasked with managing the company’s roll-out in Middle-East and Africa and with building up a large and strong added value team in Tunisia to support the global development and the services activities of HR Access.

Saïd Aïdi created ATLASYS in 2004. ATLASYS became quickly one of the largest strategic partners for HR Access. Mr Aïdi joined HR Access when the company acquired ATLASYS.

Before creating ATLASYS, Saïd Aïdi held senior positions in major global companies.
He was one of the leaders in charge of the development of HR Access within CGI. Therefore he has a long experience of operations and management in HR Solutions.

He joined IBM and was Director of “Human Capital Management” for the Africa and Middle East region. He played a key role in the creation of an offshore services team for IBM in Tunisia.
Mr Aïdi is graduated from the “Ecole Polytechnique” (Paris).

Pr. Brahim BESSAÏS

Pr. Brahim BESSAÏS holds a Doctorate in Science Physics, a PhD in Condensed Matter Physics, and an MS in Atomic and Molecular Physics from the Faculty of Sciences of Tunis.

Pr. Brahim BESSAÏS’s scientific work consists essentially in conducting research in the field of Semiconductor Physics and Materials Science having direct or indirect applications in Photovoltaic (PV) and optoelectronic devices.

He successively occupied positions such as: Assistant Professor in the PV and Semiconductors Unit at the National Institute of Scientific and Technical Research (INRST), 1992 – 1999. Associate Professor, Head of the Photovoltaic and Semiconductor Group, Head of the information and Documentation Unit, 1999 –2004 at the National Institute of Scientific and Technical Research (INRST). Full Professor, Head of the Photovoltaic and Semiconductor Group, Head of the Information and Documentation Unit, National Institute of Scientific and Technical Research (INRST), 2004 – 2007. Head of the Nanomaterials and Energy Systems Laboratory, Research and Technology Centre of Energy, 2007 – 2009.

He published several research articles with More than 70 publications in leading international journals.

He is currently:

• Full Professor, Head of the photovoltaic Laboratory, Research and Technology Centre of Energy, Borj Cedria Science and Technology Park
• Member of the International Advisory Board of the “International Conference on Porous Semiconductors Science & Technology (PSST)” (http://www.the-psst.com/).
• Member of the Materials Research Society (MRS)
• Member of the Tunisian Physical Society.
• Reviewer in several journals related to PV energy conversion and materials sciences applied to optoelectronics and environment.
• Reviewer or member in several PhD thesis or habilitations in physics.
• Expert - reviewer of national and international projects.
• Coordination of national and international projects.
• Organization and coordination of seminars and conferences.

Mr.Cyril GRISLAIN

Mr.Cyril GRISLAIN holds a “Grandes Ecoles” Diploma from ESCP Europe.

He is a Global Partner in premier international consulting firm McKinsey & Company.
He has led consulting projects in a number of emerging markets for private companies, public institutions, national and local governments as well as NGOs.
He was part of McKinsey's leadership group in Latin America.
Recently, he moved back to Maghreb to take on the leadership of McKinsey's activities in Tunisia.

Mr. Mohamed FRIKHA

Mr. Mohamed FRIKHA holds two Engineer degrees from the "Ecole Polytechnique of France" and the "Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Télécommunications of  Paris."

He was successively assigned as a Consulting engineer at Général Service Informatique (France) in 1987-1989, Director in the Alcatel Group, 1989-1994. He occupied major positions within the Group:  Director at ALCATEL CIT France in the networks integration division: Value added Telecom networks, Director at ALCATEL Tunisia: Founder of the software development center, the first offshore center in Tunisia., Director at ALCATEL DATA NETWORK  (AND- world leader in the supply of networks for data transmission): a company born from a joint venture between ALCATEL and the American operator US-SPRINT.

Associative activities:
• Was Chairman of ATUGE (Tunisian Association for the Alumni of the French Grandes Ecoles) from 1994-1995.
• Member of the Technological Watch Committee of the  Communication Ministry
• Member of the committee of experts for the strategic study on “Tunisia and the information society” at the Tunisian Institute of Strategic Studies
• Member of the strategic planning committee “Internet” of Tunisie Télécom
• Member of the Arab Federation of Engineers
• Participated in the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in 2005 in Tunis
• Member of the French Competitiveness clusters: Secured Communicating Solutions (SCS) of Sofia Antipolis et SYSTEM@TIC of the Paris area in view of the introduction of new technology in Tunisia.

He is currently:

• Chief Executive of TELNET (sinceDec.1994): this company is expert in product engineering and consultancy in innovation and high technology. It operates in the sectors of telecommunication & multimedia, transport & automotive, defense & avionics, security & chip cards, electronics & industry and mechanical engineering. (TELNET concluded partnership agreements with major multinational groups such as ALTRAN, SAFRAN, DASSAULT SYSTEMES, and PATTON ELECTRONICS).
• Vice-Chairman of the Tunisian High Level Committee for Science and Technology.

Mr. Chekib NOUIRA

Mr. Chekib NOUIRA holds a Master’s degree in Economic Sciences from the University Panthéon-Sorbonne, Paris, and accomplished Engineering studies at the George Washington University, Washington D.C., USA
He was successively assigned as Manager in the Chase Manhattan Bank, 1974-1975, Advisor at the Banque de Développement Économique de Tunisie 1975-1976, Assistant Managing Director of the Union Tunisienne de Banque, Paris, 1976-1978, Administrator Managing Director of the Banque de Développement Économique de Tunisie, 1978-1989, Chief Executive Officer of the UNITEC - FHA Group, 1989-2000,Chief Executive Officer of the Banque Internationale Arabe de Tunisie , 2001 – 2007.

He is currently:
• Chairman of the CN Group (Since 2008).
• Chairman of Cotusal
• Administrator of various firms
• Chairman of the Arab Institute of Business Managers (IACE)
• Honorary President of the Tunisian Italian Chamber of Commerce and Industry
• President of the Tunisian Sailing Federation and of the Mediterranean sailing Union 
Masters Arabic, French, English and Italian languages.
• He is decorated with the Grand Officer of the ‘Ordre de la République Tunisienne’ and the Commander of the ‘Ordre de la République Tunisienne’. 
     
• He is born on May 20th, 1950 in Tunis, married and father of 2 children.

Mr. Mohamed Nejib KARAFI

Mr. KARAFI holds an MS in Economic Sciences from the Faculty of Law and Economic Sciences of Tunis (1980 – 1981).

He was successively appointed as Head of Department /Vice Manager at the General Commissariat of Regional Development, 1982-1985 and 1991. Attaché to the National Defence Ministry Office, 1986-1990. Training and Human Relation Manager at the Textile Technical Center /CETTEX, 1991-2003.
Coaching and Technical Assistance to the Jordanian Enterprises of the T/W sector at Amen Jordan Textile Technology Center, 2003-2005. Permanent Expert in charge of the Textile/Clothing sector to the Program of Modernization of Industry PMI in Thales / France, 2004-2005. General Manager of the Textile Technical Center CETTEX, in charge of the reorganization and  development of the  Centre, assistance to  textile and clothing enterprises and the promotion of the sector in  Tunis and abroad 2006-2010.
He is currently:
• Chief Executive Officer of the Management Company Borj-Cedria Science and Technology Park.

Mr.Badreddine OUALI

Mr. Badreddine OUALI holds an Engineer degree from the “Ecole des Mines of Saint-Étienne”.
Before founding and managing BFI,1993-2001, Badreddine OUALI was European chief executive officer of DIAGRAM (then part of France Telecom group, later acquired by Reuters), managing a profit centre of 300 people with US $ 30 Million turnover. He was also responsible for product strategy for the whole of Europe ranging from trading room, front and middle office, as well as asset and liability management solutions. He was also in charge of mergers and acquisitions in the group: he established and managed the subsidiaries in Spain and in Portugal, 1988-1993.

Mr. OUALI was a consultant in charge of developing and implementing a fund management product in 25 financial institutions, while working for McDonnell Douglas Information Systems, 1986-1988.

He is currently:
Chairman of VERMEG GROUP (Since 2002). This company provides software solutions and added value services to financial institutions.