The Polish-Arab Economic Forum

Appointed as Secretary of State in the Ministry of Economic Development, Labour and Technology on 19 January 2020. At the same time, served as Government Plenipotentiary for Foreign Investments.

Grzegorz Piechowiak has been a member of local governments, a diplomat and a deputy to the 3rd, 8th and 9th Sejm of the Republic of Poland. In 1992–1997, he worked as, among others, the Vice-Consul at the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Rome. In 2002–2006, he was a member of the Piła District Council as part of the Porozumienie Samorządowe [Local Government Agreement], and then served as Director of the Department of Transport in the District Starosty in Piła (2006–2007). For several years, he also ran his own business.

He is a member of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland in the 3rd, 8th and current term of office. He is the chairman of the Bilateral Polish-Italian Group and the Parliamentary Team for Police.

He graduated in sociology from the Faculty of History and Social Sciences at the Warsaw Theological Academy (currently Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University). He also completed post-diploma studies in Corporate Management in Crisis and Bankruptcy at the Higher Vocational School “Personnel for Europe” in Poznań. He holds a receiver’s licence and is qualified as a candidate for supervisory boards of sole shareholder companies of the State Treasury. He was decorated with the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (in 2000).

A manager with many years of experience in both government administration and the private sector, but also in non-profit non-governmental organizations.

In February 2021, he was appointed the Chairman of PAIH. Before joining the Agency, as the Director of the Department of Supervised and Subordinate Units, he was in charge of entities subordinate to the Ministry of Development, Labor and Technology.

Previously, he was a member of the board of the Wałbrzych Special Economic Zone, where from 2016 he was responsible, inter alia, for investments, finances and controls, as well as cooperation with institutes of higher education and universities. Over the four years of his tenure, more than 90 companies joined the Wałbrzych zone, including such significant investors as: Mercedes-Benz, Umicore, GTHR, LS, and Hongbo Clean Energy. During this time, the expenditure incurred in the zone increased by PLN 6 billion, exceeding PLN 30 billion in total.

In the past, Krzysztof Drynda was an advisor to the Minister for the economy. He was also professionally related to the financial sector and ran his own business in this field. Moreover, for many years he has been an active member of non-governmental organizations.

Krzysztof Drynda is a graduate of the Faculty of Electronics from the Wrocław University of Technology and is a Master of Business Administration (MBA).

He was awarded the Silver Cross of Merit of the Republic of Poland.

Beata Daszyńska-Muzyczka graduated from economic universities with majors in corporate finance management and completed the Advance Leadership Programme at the ICAN Institute of the Harvard Business Review. She is an alumna of the Cambridge University.

Since 1994 till 2016 she worked for the Bank Zachodni WBK (part of Santander Group). She was in charge of the implementation of strategic projects, including the New Branch Model, electronic banking - MiniBank24 and optimization and rationalization of bank processes. Since 2005 she headed the Logistics and Real Estate Area and since 2008 became a member and then the chairman of the Supervisory Board of Bank Zachodni WBK Property. Since 2012 she was in charge of the organizational culture transformation - project Next Generation Bank and she was appointed as a head of the HR Partnership Area. After accomplishing a number of strategic projects she became a member of the Management Board of Bank Zachodni WBK in 2015. Since 2016 she was promoted to the President of Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego (BGK) - a state development bank that initiates and implements programs serving the economic growth and improving the quality of life in Poland. She launched a new BGK Strategy, focused on the implementation of actions planned in the governmental Strategy for Responsible Development of Poland. From June 2019, she`s chairman of the supervisory board of the 3SI Investment Fund. The task of the The Fund is aimed at financing infrastructure needs in the 3S region to support integration and strengthen economic cohesion in the EU.

He is a manger with many years of experience, both in financial institutions and public administration. In the years 2018–2020 he was the Deputy and then Director of the Department of Trade and International Cooperation at the Ministry of Entrepreneurship and Technology, and then at the Ministry of Development. At that time, he was responsible for bilateral economic relations with EU countries and third countries, cooperation with international organizations (OECD, WHO, UNIDO), identification and elimination of trade barriers, trade policy as well as customs and protective measures. He represented Poland in the Trade Policy Committee at the European Council, he was also responsible for economic promotion in the international arena and foreign expansion of Polish enterprises, implementing the state’s strategic activities defined in the Strategy for Responsible Development. Before his appointment to the Ministry of Entrepreneurship and Technology, in 2004–2018 he was associated with Bank Zachodni WBK SA, where he was responsible for product creation, sales strategy and its execution, management of the product and customer retention process, building relationships with the distribution network and external partners and organization events. In the years 2012–2018, he held managerial and director positions. A graduate of international relations with a specialization in European studies of the University of Economics in Poznań.

Jacek Markusiewicz is an architect who graduated from Warsaw University of Technology and Master in Advanced Architecture at IaaC Barcelona. He specialises in the fields of parametric architecture, programming, machine learning and responsive design. He has been working on different projects combining parametric approach, interactivity and design in international offices in Barcelona, Warsaw and Beirut.
In 2018, together with Ander Gortazar Balerdi, he founded the design consultancy RAZ. He remains in close relation to academia, giving classes at Warsaw University of Technology and IaaC.
RAZ designed a series of interactive installations in San Sebastián: Tesseract, Aurora Boreal and Abbott. Along with ScienceNow, Stellar Fireworks Tellart, RAZ was the lead designer of the Polish Table - a central interactive installation in the Poland Pavilion.

Dr Nasser H. Saidi heads Nasser Saidi & Associates a niche consultant and advisor to the banking & financial sector, governments, central banks, regulators, multi-national and regional companies. He is the former Chief Economist of the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) from 2006 to 2012, where as a senior executive he built & promoted the centre and its strategic development and developed the links with governments, central banks, IFIs, banks & financial institutions and international financial centres. Dr Saidi is the Founder and former Executive Director of the Hawkamah-Institute for Corporate Governance and the Mudara Institute of Directors, 2006-2012. He was senior adviser to the UAE Minister of Finance, 2004-2006.

Dr Saidi was the Minister of Economy and Trade and Minister of Industry of Lebanon between 1998 and 2000. He was the First Vice-Governor of the Central Bank of Lebanon for two successive mandates, 1993-1998 and 1998-2003, a period of spanning reconstruction of Lebanon’s economy & its banking and financial sector. He was a Member of the UN Committee for Development Policy (UNCDP) for two mandates over the period 2000-2006, a position to which he was appointed by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, in his personal capacity.

Dr Saidi is Chairman of the regional Clean Energy Business Council, promoting clean energy solutions & policies in the MENA countries. He is a member of the IMF’s Regional Advisory Group for MENA and a member of the Advisory Board of the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum (OMFIF) and a member of the Private Sector Advisory Group of the Global Corporate Governance Forum, an institution of the IFC/World Bank driving global corporate governance reforms, and Co-Chaired OECD MENA Corporate Governance Working Group. He is active in FinTech, crowdfunding, and seed funding in MENA.

In 2013, he was named among the 50 most Influential Arabs in the World by The Middle East magazine, for the fourth consecutive year and named among the 500 Most Powerful Arabs in the world by Arabian Business for the second consecutive year.

He is the author of numerous articles and has written a number of books and publications addressing macroeconomic, capital market development and international economic issues in the MENA region, the GCC countries and Lebanon. His research interests include macroeconomics, financial market development, FinTech, payment systems and international economic policy, corporate governance, climate change and digitalisation.

Prior to his public career, Dr Saidi was a private banker and served as an economic adviser and director to a number of central banks and financial institutions in Arab countries, Europe and Central and Latin America. Dr Saidi was an academic, serving as a Professor of Economics in the Department of Economics in the University of Chicago, the Institut Universitaire de Hautes Etudes Internationales (Geneva, CH), and the Université de Genève. He also served as a lecturer at the American University of Beirut and the Université St. Joseph in Beirut.
Dr Saidi holds a Ph.D. and a M.A. in Economics from the University of Rochester in the USA, a M.Sc. from University College, London University and a B.A. from the American University of Beirut.

Eng. Wail Bamhair is the CEO of Taqnia Energy and board member in Fuel Cell Innovation in South Korea, leading a technological startup and grew business and designing the business ecosystem of the company's industry value chain whereby several components go into a finished product with a large number of companies partnering to create more added-value.

In 2015, He led the development of the first solar Independent Power Producer (IPP) project in the country, Layla solar plant with the lowest worldwide tariff at the time.

Previously, He worked for King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy (K.A.CARE) as Renewable Energy Researcher, under the Research, Development, and Innovation Division. He participated in developing the infrastructure of the national program including national strategy, value chain, local content, R&D, technology development and human capacity building. In 2013, he was in charge of first of kind intuitive in the kingdom, the National Renewable Energy Atlas which supports of achievement of a sustainable energy mix.

Wail received his master’s degree in Solid State and Microsystem from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), and a Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering from King Abdulaziz University (KAU).

Maciej Frej holds a masters degree in Intellectual Property Rights with a focus on contemporary art in global markets. For 10 years he has represented contemporary artists globally both in international art fairs such as Art Basel Miami; as well as public art commissions, his latest being Dandelions at the base of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. He has no qualms about mixing art and commerce, exemplified by his current curatorial project; a travelling exhibit of top international street artists under the patronage of Dictador Rum. The exhibit will begin in an abandoned 19th century rum distillery deep in the Amazon Jungle and finish in Brooklyn New York after travelling the globe for two years. Master planning projects include a comprehensive public art component featuring 50 international artists for a new city in Kuwait, scheduled to be completed in 2020. He has experience in curating and creating private art collections. He has cooperated with governmental and private institutions in implementing the public art around the world.

Based in the UAE as Head of Cyber Security Strategy, creating innovative essential cyber security strategies and practices required for teams to securely function. Heide is also a Founding Partner of Women in Cyber Security Middle East (WiCSME), established in March 2018 by nine women. Previously based in Australia, she was part of the leadership team for Australian Women in Security Network (AWSN) while also being a FITT (Females in IT&T) Mentor.

Her career path evolved from chasing her diverse passions and not being afraid of change. Resulting in over fifteen years' experience spanning across three continents within varying fields across diverse cultures, organically transpiring to where she is today.

Heide’s own journey into the cyber security field arose from pursuing the field later in her career. Shewas not made aware of the importance of cyber security nor presented with opportunities in her youth education, nor her early career to engage in the field; Heide sought out and pursued these opportunities herself. Using her own experiences within the gender imbalanced cyber security field, she is dedicated to increase female presence in cyber security through her mentoring, volunteer activities and outreach programs she champions. She is committed to demystifying cyber security and the careers within, so that young girls and women have the opportunity presented to them on how to get involved in cyber security, contribute and be heard.

Outside of cyber security, one of her other passions is learning foreign languages and encouraging others to learn. This led Heide to write the first Arabic children’s book written in Arabic, English, and phonetic Arabic. Meaning that even if you cannot read the Arabic traditional words, you can still read the phonetic words and learn how to speak Arabic. Speak in Arabic Together, available in major bookstores across the UAE.

With over 20 years of experience, Jamil brings a unique blend of technical and business acumen when focusing on operational excellence and business impact through digital disruption. As a ‘techie’, Jamil has hands on experience in ubiquitous computing, data centers, IoT, machine learning and artificial intelligence working for Fortune 500 companies (Apple, IBM, HPE, E&Y) across the globe. Throughout his career, Jamil has identified gaps stalling innovation, organizational integration and growth pre and post M&A deals. He has also led the development of long-term global technology partnerships within government and private sector organizations. He has held several executive positions, managed special and secret projects including more than 20 M&A deals. Jamil’s recent work experience focused on developing ubiquitous computing service initiatives to shape privacy and security policies for government and consumer entities. In addition, Jamil worked as an Executive Director of Investments and Technology partnerships managing $3.5 Billion to invest in start-ups, large companies, and VC funds.

Sonia is Senior Advisor in McKinsey's Dubai office. She is a transformational business and technology leader in transactional and consumer banking, with 25 years of experience across Europe, Asia and USA with passion, high energy and commitment levels, who managed change, innovated and restructured businesses and put them on the path of growth triggered by technology innovation.
Prior to joining McKinsey in January 2020, Sonia has served as Head of Technology Transformation at JPMorgan Chase in New York City, COO of digital bank at DBS in Singapore, Head of Consumer Bank in SCB Malaysia.
Prior to moving to Asia Sonia spent 18 years working for Citibank at Poland, for the last 6 years holding position of the bank’s deputy CEO.

Sonia holds a M.A. in Foreign Trade from Warsaw School of Economics, Poland and a B.A. in European Business Studies from Brunel University of London, U.K. Sonia is a distinguished and passionate public speaker with large experience at conferences and universities in Europe, Asia and USA.

Grzegorz Pawelec has joined Hydrogen Europe in May 2019 as Research, Innovation and Funding Manager where he is responsible for the coordination of the Maritime Working Group, focusing on decarbonisation of shipping as well as Finance and Funding Working Group with focus on future PPP on hydrogen under the Horizon Europe framework and the ETS Innovation Fund. Currently Grzegorz is a Manager in the Intelligence Department of Hydrogen Europe.

Grzegorz has 15 years of professional business consulting experience, focused on the energy market, and was involved in projects covering hydrogen and other alternative fuels, CHP, renewable energy, waste incineration, energy storage and other. He holds a MSc in Economics and Finance from Gdansk University of Technology.

Grzegorz joined PKN ORLEN in 2004, and he is currently a Director of Alternative Fuels Department. He has deep and broad experience in the oil, gas and energy production processes from an operational and optimization point of view. Grzegorz has a big experience with refinery and petrochemical integration, synergy identification between sites. Able to manage refinery and petrochemical processes with focus on margin maximization. Experienced in implementation of change and plant troubleshooting. Author of many improvement projects maximizing margin by hardware solution as well as digitalization of assets. Co-author of the Hydrogen Eagle project, one of the biggest hydrogen infrastructure project in Central Europe. Currently responsible for its implementation. He coordinates the carbon neutrality direction based on circular economy and hydrogen value chain implementation.

Business practitioner with many years of experience in the energy industry. Since 2012, he has been associated with the alternative fuels industry, in particular in the electricity (electromobility) and gas (gas-mobility) sectors. He worked, among others, in the implementation of the largest infrastructure investments in Poland and advised companies from the fuel, automotive, financial and FMCG industries. He is a practitioner in implementing corporate communication strategies, has extensive experience in the area of media relations and public affairs. A graduate of International Relations, specializing in Foreign Trade Policy at the University of Warsaw. He also has an MBA diploma. During the doctoral dissertation in the field of economics. Author of numerous publications in the field of energy and social communication. Speaker at many debates and industry conferences.

Seasoned leader with 15 years of international business experience in the software industry and growth markets across multiple disciplines. Following graduation in two master degrees from the Vienna University of Economics and Business as well as Lancaster University Management School moved to Dubai in 2009.

Marcin spent 14 years at SAP where he acquired the cross functional expertise in digital transformation, business development, product development, program delivery, technology adoption, sales process execution, business operations, go to market and P&L management. Marcin is passionate about technology and real world use cases. His focus is on how technology can change the way humans operate: automation, IoT and blockchain . Marcin has been involved in the technology start up investments and advisory since 2014. He participated in about 30 investment transactions in the “pre” and “seed” stage.

Currently Marcin helps polish companies to develop business in the MENA and APJ region. He is co-founder and non-executive board member at fintech startup Trefix. Marcin is the process launching a blockchain related project

Paolo brings 20 years of international experience in successfully leading the digital transformation of retail banking across different jurisdictions and governance frameworks.

Currently he serves as Head of Multichannel at Emirates NBD, one of the largest lender in the GCC, where he is in charge of leveraging the power of digitization to generate top and bottom line impact for Retail Banking and Wealth Management.

In 2014, he started up the role of Head of Digital for Central & Eastern Europe at UniCredit, an absolute first in the Group, where he served until 2018.

Before joining UniCredit in 2011, he worked with several financial institutions in continental Europe articulating their digitization strategies, and advised private equities and venture capital firms on investment opportunities in the digital domain.

Zbigniew has been working in the digital industry for over 20 years, advising market leaders and innovators. Co-owner of Bluerank, awarded the "Best Large Integrated Search Agency" in the European Search Awards 2017 competition. Founder of CEE Digital Alliance and Digital Alliance Int. - business partnerships of independent digital agencies in Europe. Pioneer of research on customer experience and user satisfaction, co-founder of the opiniac.com platform. Speaker at digital conferences in Poland and abroad. Privately - double happy dad, ultramarathon runner, keen on hard rock and Labrador Retriever dogs.

The founder of Hynfra and Hynfra Energy Storage. An entrepreneur and strategic advisor. He specialises in promoting and researching new, green technologies. He advises management boards of companies from various sectors, including chemical, energy, waste management, ICT and pharmaceuticals. He focuses on social communication, crisis management, investor relations, and B2B, B2G, B2E areas. He is also an expert and promoter of hydrogen technologies and large-scale renewable energy solutions. He is committed to accelerating market and technological progress towards climate neutrality. Member of Hydrogen Europe, European Clean HydrogenAlliance, co-founder and board member of the Polish association Hydrogen Poland and a lecturer at the Master of Business Administration (MBA) - Hydrogen Technologies Management at Collegium Humanum.

His professional activities encompass interior design, applied graphic arts and furniture. Under the wings of his design studio, B&B Design, Błażucki has completed over 200 designs in the area of residential premises, public utility facilities as well as exhibition venues. Laureate of competitions, winner of prizes and distinctions, juror in student competitions, participant in several design exhibitions, professor at the Academy of Fine Arts, promoter of MA and BA diploma projects. Co-founder of the Bozzetti furniture brand, author of several registered designs that were admitted for production.

Graduate of the Faculty of Interior Design at the Kraków Academy of Fine Arts; professionally affiliated to the Academy since his graduation in 1996. Between 2016 and 2020, Błażucki held the position of the Head of the Department of Furniture Design and Elements of Interior Design and in 2020 he accepted the position of the Dean. In parallel, Błażucki runs the Department of Interior Architecture Design at the Józef Tyszkiewicz Higher School in Bielsko-Biała.

Leopold Ajami is an integrator of Philosophy and Creativity. He designs programs, trains, and consults professionals to master integrative thinking. Drawing from his 15 years of experience in the creative industry as a Creative Director, Strategist, Cultural Designer, and Filmmaker, he discovered that creativity is the fruit of human potentiality, but philosophy is the root that makes the fruit possible. To that vision, In 2019, Leopold founded Novel Philosophy Academy to help individuals and companies build a philosophical system to guide their Creativity, design a harmonious Culture, and sculpt their Characters. Leopold is also a Speaking Coach and the host of "Ideas On Trial”, a podcast that challenges undisputed ideas in the culture to advance reasoning and problem-solving.

Mikołaj Różycki is responsible for supervising activities of the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development (PARP), a largest state owned business support organization in Poland.
The aim of the Agency's activity is to implement economy development programs, support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), stimulate export growth and use of new technologies. PARP is involved in the implementation of national and international projects financed from the state budget EU structural and multi-annual programs.
Mikołaj Różycki, as acting President of PARP, actively participates in the creation and implementation of state policy in the field of entrepreneurship, innovativeness and adaptability of human resources.
He also acts as vice president of supervisory board of Industry Development Agency, a key entity responsible for development and modernization of Polish industry.
Mikołaj Różycki is a graduate of the University of Warsaw and the Warsaw School of Economics. He holds an MBA degree.

Academic Professor, executive manager, investment & corporate banker with over 20 years’ experience gained in renowned financial institutions, i.e. HSBC Investment Bank, Santander Bank, Bank BNP Paribas.
Currently holding the position of Managing Director of Industrial Development Agency – in charge of implementation the strategy of corporate financing and foreign expansion.

Prof. Trzonkowski holds MBA degree and PhD in economics, he is the author of many publications on economics, finance and marketing.
He is the Chairman of the Supervisory Boards of Polregio (Polish Railway) and Vice-chairman of KEDI - Polish Financial Supervision Authority (KNF). Mr Trzonkowski also advices to Business & Science Poland in Brussels.

25+ years FMCG experience in multinationals across Asia, Middle East and Africa. Born in Morocco and has been in UAE for past 20 years. Currently working as a business consultant supporting companies across the region in driving efficiencies and growth.

Specialized in chemical engineering, water recovery and purification, construction and operation of machines, environmental protection, water and sewage management; lecturer at Bydgoszcz University of Science and Technology (Department of Technology and Engineering of the Food Industry); owner of the company Inventor Wojciech Poćwiardowski.

Currently professor of Economic History, New York University Abu Dhabi; previous affiliation European University Institute and at the University of Pisa; he published An economic history of the silk industry 1800-1938 (Cambridge 1997), The economic development of Italy, with Jon Cohen (Cambridge 2000), Feeding the world. An economic History of world agriculture (Princeton 2005) and was writing extensively on world trade, globalization and European market integration.

Specialization: animal health and production science; another affiliation: Alexandria University, Egypt; Business Development Manager at Arasco.

Graduated from Poznan University of Technology (Poland) and University of Utah (USA); UNIDO-ICS expert since 1998, owner of many Polish and international patents, and award-winning environmental technologies: water & wastewater management, water reservoirs restoration, removal of invasive mussels from water installations, waste management, site assessment and remediation.