Team
T. Tunc Uyanık, PhD
CEO
T. Tunc Uyanık, PhD - CEO
Experience: Financial and private sector development, financial sector policy and regulation; financial sector assessment and reforms, banking sector restructuring, lines of credit and guarantees; financial inclusion, asset recovery and management.
Dr. Uyanik joined the World SME Forum (WSF) as its CEO in November 2015, after being a key contributor to its founding. Before this appointment, Tunc was the Special Envoy and Chief Adviser to the President of TOBB and B20. He was also the Chair of the Turkish B20 Steering Committee.
Stefano Negri
Associate Director
Stefano Negri - Associate Director
Experience: Corporate and Industrial strategy, City Competitiveness, Innovation.
Stefano joins WSF as Associate Director, with a focus on WSF’s strategy & operations, partnerships and e-WSF. He joins from the World Bank Group, where he has been working for 5 years as Practice Manager and Lead in several technical areas including industrial and city competitiveness, value chains, innovation, technology and entrepreneurship.
Before joining the World Bank Group, Stefano worked for over 9 years at McKinsey & Company in Italy and China, managing projects on business development, capacity building, innovation and competitiveness strategies for governments, economic development agencies, and private firms in the manufacturing, e-commerce, airline and telecom industries.
During his professional career, Stefano also worked as an independent consultant for NGOs in Europe, Africa and Latin America, where he was responsible of setting up SME and entrepreneurship development strategies and economic development plans.
Stefano is a co-author of the report “Competitive Cities for Jobs and Growth” (forthcoming, WBG, 2015). He also authored “Preparing for China’s Urban Billion” (McKinsey Global Institute, 2009) and other reports, articles and blogs on economic transformation and city competitiveness. He featured as guest speaker and panelist in conferences and international events on industrial policy, innovation, entrepreneurship and city competitiveness organized by the World Bank Group, NDRC and DRC China, the European Community, The Global Institute Russia-India-China, CEIBS Shanghai, TEDx, World Free Zones Convention, and Doosan Leadership Institute amongst others.
Stefano holds a Bachelor and a Master of Science in Environmental and Land Planning Engineering from the Politecnico di Milano and a Master in Business Administration from INSEAD Singapore.
Berna Ozsar Kumcu, PhD
Secretary General
Berna Ozsar Kumcu, PhD - Secretary General
Experience: Financial Services, Insurance, EU & International Relations, Corporate & Public Relations, Trainings
Berna Ozsar Kumcu is the Secretary General of the World SME Forum. Reporting directly to the CEO, Berna shapes and scales World SME Forum’s agenda, staff, partnerships and collaborations.
Berna has vast experience in the insurance sector. Prior to joining WSF, she was the Deputy Director of SEGEM, Turkey’s leading insurance training organization, where she managed a team to develop and execute training programs, professional examinations, local and international projects, programs, symposiums and workshops; as well as serving as a leader in the development and launch of an e-learning platform, to provide e-learning trainings for over 100,000 professionals in the financial services sector. Previously, she worked as the EU & International Affairs Coordinator of the Turkish Insurance Association, where she followed insurance market developments both at the EU and global levels; worked on the harmonization process of the Turkish insurance market with the EU; represented the Association in international platforms such as Insurance Europe, the European Commission, the World Bank and OECD; followed up and managed EU and international funded projects and programs.
Before joining the insurance sector, Berna had also worked as a Consultant on EU Affairs at a Brussels based consulting firm, CPS Advisory Group, for the EU harmonization process of Turkey’s leading Fortune 500 companies in various sectors including but not limited with the telecommunications, pharmaceuticals and financial services sectors. In this position, she provided strategic advice in public affairs and business and investment development to public and private sectors.
Berna completed her undergraduate studies in International Relations (major) and Political Sciences (minor) at the Middle East Technical University. As a Jean Monnet scholar, she received her LL.M. (Master of Laws) degree in European Law from the University of Nottingham, UK. Berna completed her Ph.D. studies in 2009 at the Marmara University, Institute for Banking and Insurance, where she’s been lecturing since then. Berna has authored many books, as well as articles published in national and international journals.
Berna is at the same time an accredited coach, working with her teams primarily on change and professional development.
Güven Sak, PhD
Senior Adviser
Güven Sak, PhD - Senior Adviser
Experience: G20, T20, Political Science, Public Economy, Private Sector Development, Entrepreneurship.
He worked as a senior reearcher at the Capital Markets Board of Turkey, as a faculty member of the Department of Public Finance at the Faculty of Political Sciences, Ankara University and as an external founding member of the Monetary Policy Council of the Central Bank of Turkey. He became Professor of Public Economics in 2003. In 2006, he was transferred to the newly established TOBB University of Economics and Technology (TOBB ETÜ).
He was the founding managing director of Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey (TEPAV) in 2004 which is the first and only economic policy think tank in Turkey. Area Studies Program of TEPAV has been active in private sector development projects, entrepreneurship and SME support programs in the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia. Güven Sak co-chaired the Forced Migration Task Force of Think 20 (T20) during the German Presidency of G20.
He is currently the executive director of TEPAV and teaches at TOBB ETÜ.
Janamitra “Dev” Devan, PhD
Senior Adviser
Janamitra “Dev” Devan, PhD - Senior Adviser
Experience: public and private sector collaboration, finance and private sector development.
Janamitra Devan joins the World SME Forum as Senior Adviser, after being a key contributor to its founding. Dev’s geographic expertise stretches from China, Southeast Asia and South Asia to Central Asia, the Middle East and Turkey, and Africa.
Dev is the Senior Adviser to the Chair of the Turkish Business 20 (B20) and a member of its steering committee. Dev is a member of the World Economic Forum’s (WEF/Davos) Global Agenda Council on Competitiveness. He is also a member of the Global Dean’s Council of the Indiana University Kelley School of Business and Senior Adviser to the premier Turkish think-tank, the Economic Policy & Research Foundation of Turkey (TEPAV). Dev is a frequent speaker at high-level events and he is widely published, having authored several influential reports on competitiveness; the financial sector after the crisis; urbanization; and talent and leadership development.
He was until recently the combined Vice President of the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation’s (IFC) Financial & Private Sector Network (2009-2013). In this role, he oversaw a network of 1,000 professionals and managed a lending portfolio of over $10 billion. At the height of the financial crisis, Dev represented the WBG at the Financial Stability Board (FSB) in Basel, Switzerland. Dev was also the Chairman of the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor—CGAP (2009-2013) and the Chairman of the G8’s Global Remittances Working Group (2009-2013).
Prior to that, Dev was the Director for Asia at the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) in Shanghai (2006-2009). Earlier in Washington DC (1999-2006), he served as McKinsey’s Director of Operations of its flagship Global Strategy Practice, and before that as Principal Consultant at Standard & Poors DRI/McGraw-Hill (1992-1998).
Dev obtained his PhD in Business Economics & Public Policy, and International Business from Indiana University, Bloomington, USA.
Gaiv Tata
Senior Adviser
Gaiv Tata - Senior Adviser
Experience: Financial Inclusion, Financial Infrastructure, Investment Climate, Anti-money laundering, SME development.
Gaiv is Director at Growth Solutions for Development LLC, where he works on furthering the financial and private sector development agenda in developing countries. He is also a Visiting Fellow at the Center for Global Development, where is currently serving as a member on their Working Group on the Unintended Consequences of Anti-Money Laundering Policies on Poor Countries.
Gaiv has three decades of experience in development including a distinguished career at the World Bank where he worked on several countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East and North Africa. He has held various senior positions including simultaneously being the Director for the Financial and Private Sector Development for Sub-Saharan Africa and the World Bank’s Global Practice on Financial Inclusion and Infrastructure. He also served as the Deputy Director for the 2005 World Development Report on improving the investment climate. He was also part of the management team which negotiated two highly successful replenishments for the International Development Association.
Vinod K. Goel
Senior Adviser
Vinod K. Goel - Senior Adviser
Experience: Financial and private sector development, SMEs, R&D, innovation and competitiveness.
Vinod is currently a Senior Consultant at the World Bank; Head of Global Knowledge and Innovation Practice at Centennial Group; President of G2 Group Ventures, and CEO and President of Lagom Group, an advisery firm specializing in international development. Outside his work in international development, he has served as a senior adviser, board member and investor in several startups and small businesses. Vinod is globally recognized for his pioneering work on R&D and innovation, including “inclusive innovation,” a set of strategies increasingly adopted by policy makers, multinationals, and development professionals worldwide to integrate the world’s largest socio-economic group – the so-called “Bottom of the Pyramid” – into national innovation systems and promote shared prosperity and growth.
Representative experience during his career at the World Bank Group includes:
- Design and implementation of national R&D and innovation policy: enhance intellectual property rights (IPR) regimes, devise inclusive innovation strategies, develop technology parks and venture finance programs; upgrade metrology, standards, testing and quality systems; and reform public and university R&D systems to promote applied research and technology commercialization (Turkey, India, Vietnam, Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia, Albania, Moldova, Ethiopia)
- Reform of wide-ranging public and private sector (including banking) institutions: regulatory reforms, privatization, restructuring and consolidation, and other management and policy efforts to improve efficiency and impact while reducing fiscal burdens. (Philippines, Turkey, Russia, Croatia, Kazakhstan, China, Zambia, Albania)
- Design and implementation of national development programs targeting micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME), inclusive businesses, cooperatives, micro- and rural-finance institutions, and agro-processing (Korea, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, India, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Lao PDR, Croatia, Macedonia, Albania)
- Improve fiduciary management, monitoring & evaluation, and conduct industrial surveys, impact assessment and capacity building across a wide range of public, private & NGO sector institutions (Turkey, Croatia, China, Lao PDR)
Vinod regularly presents at conferences and facilitates workshop discussions involving senior public and private sector officials, and has published numerous books and reports in his areas of expertise.
Vinod holds an MBA and a PhD from Cornell University, USA, and a Masters from NDRI, India.
Hormoz Aghdaey
Senior Adviser
Hormoz Aghdaey - Senior Adviser
Experience: Financial sector policy, regulation, reform, and development; Banking sector development, lines of credit, restructuring and privatization; Private sector development; State-owned enterprise restructuring and privatization.
Prior to joining the WSF, Mr. Aghdaey was the Sector Manager of the Financial and Private Sector Development Department in the East Asia and Pacific Region of the World Bank.
He brings in over thirty years of policy and operational development experience in private and financial sector development and reforms in the Europe and Central Asia and East Asia and Pacific regions in the client countries of the World Bank. He has managed policy, technical assistance, and investment operations in both sectors and has led many Financial Sector Assessment Programs for a diverse selection of countries including Tajikistan (low income IDA), Bosnia and Herzegovina (post conflict), Slovenia (high income), and Indonesia (MIC and G20). Mr. Aghdaey has a BS in Electrical Engineering and an MBA.
Ece İdil Kasap
Director of Online Solutions
Ece İdil Kasap - Director of Online Solutions
Kakha Baindurashvili
Director of Eastern Europe and Central Asia
Kakha Baindurashvili - Director of Eastern Europe and Central Asia
Kakha Baindurashvili previously served as the Georgian Minister of Finance in 2009 – 2011, where he was responsible for fiscal and monetary policy, public finance management, tax and customs, debt management, internal audit, among other critical financial and economic decisions of the Government of the Republic of Georgia. He is currently the Chairman of the Board of Georgian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Managing Director/Owner of a single family office Willsfort LLC (investment management services company) with branches in Georgia, Turkey, Azerbaijan and Armenia. Until November 2012, he was also Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Georgian Lottery Company and Chairman of the Supervisory Board at Georgian Post Ltd. Mr. Baindurashvili served as the First Deputy Minister at the Ministry of Finance, and, until 2007, Chairman of the Tax Department of the Government of Georgia. Amongst other issues, he is an expert in matters relating to Georgia, Public and Corporate Finance, Turnaround Management, Macro Economy, Political Outlook, Deregulation, Anti-corruption Reforms, Trade and International Relations, and Tax and Customs. He is also on board of Georgian International Arbitration Centre. Born in Tbilisi, Baindurashvili earned a master’s degree in Economics at the Tbilisi State University in 2000 and Master’s degree in Economics from Williams College, Massachusetts, USA, in 2006. Baindurashvili is awarded with the highest order of honor – The Presidential Order of Excellence in 2011.
Ferdane Altiokka
Financial Affairs
Ferdane Altiokka - Financial Affairs
Experience: Finance, financial reporting, accounting.
Ferdane completed her undergraduate study in Economics at Marmara University. She received her masters degree from Marmara University Institute of Middle East Studies in Economics of the Middle East. Following her graduation she started working for a public accountant company and she became a certified public accountant (CPA) in 2012.
Ferdane is also acting as the Accounting Manager of TOBTİM International Business Centers since 2013.
Fadi Saab
Senior Adviser
Fadi Saab - Senior Adviser
Experience: Private Equity, Investment Banking & Corporate Finance (20 years); Aviation, Tourism & Hospitality (18 years); and Financial, Strategic & Management Consultancy (3 years).
Fadi professionally traveled to more than 50 countries in pursuit of business opportunities as Chairman, CEO, and Executive Board Member of a number of companies based in USA, United Kingdom, France, Luxembourg, Germany, Spain, Denmark, Switzerland, Gibraltar, Egypt, Turkey and Lebanon.
Fadi is also a dedicated activist in leading organizations promoting SME Development & Entrepreneurial Leadership; Corporate Governance & Business Ethics; Transparency & Access to Information; Anti-Corruption & Accountability; and Quality Principles & Procedures.
Holder of a MBA in Finance from INSEAD, Fontainebleau, France and a BA in Economics-Statistics from AUB, the American University of Beirut; Fadi is a frequent speaker at major universities, conferences & roundtables, with several articles on socio-economic issues. (http://fadinabihsaab.com/)
Jeffrey Anderson
Senior Adviser
Jeffrey Anderson - Senior Adviser
Jeffrey Anderson, Senior Advisor to the World SME Forum, also serves as Senior Advisor to the SME Finance Forum, managed by the International Finance Corporation on behalf of the G20, which founded the Forum in 2011. Mr. Anderson supports the SME Finance Forum both in policy advocacy and membership expansion. He was previously with the Institute of International Finance, where he directed economic and financial analysis for emerging Europe and the Euro Area periphery and led a well-received study conducted jointly with Bain & Company on impediments to small business finance in the Euro Area. He has a master’s degree from the John Hopkins University’s School for Advanced International Studies and bachelor’s degrees in economics and international studies from Miami University.
Korkmaz Ilkorur
Senior Adviser
Korkmaz Ilkorur - Senior Adviser
Mr.Korkmaz İlkorur is a banker who served full time in various major Turkish banks including Industrial Development Bank of Turkey, Chemical Mitsui Bank and Yapı Kredi Bank between 1971-1995. Since 1995 he served in boards of various Banks, Insurance Companies and Non-Financial Firms and acted as member of Oliver Wyman’s Senior Advisory Board for EMEA until 2015. Presently he is an independent member of the Supervisory Board of Credit Europe Bank NV in Netherlands and its subsidiaries in Russian Federation, Romania and Ukraine. Between 2001 – 2009 he served as Chairman of Regulatory Governance Committee of BIAC at OECD; and, presently he is the Vice – Chair of Finance Task Force at the same Organization. In 2015, he was Deputy to the Chair of B20 Enhancing Growth Task Force under the G20 Turkish Presidency.
Mr. İlkorur obtained his BA in Economics from Robert College of İstanbul, Turkey in 1967 and his MA in Economics from University of Pittsburgh, USA in 1968.
Kati Suominen
Senior Adviser
Kati Suominen - Senior Adviser
Kati Suominen is Founder and CEO of Nextrade Group, LLC (nextradegroupllc.com), a research firm on trade and digitization, and TradeUp Capital Fund (tradeupfund.com), a data-driven growth capital platform for globalizing, export-driven companies. Nextrade Group helps governments, multilateral development banks, and Fortune 500s optimize public policy and investments to accelerate trade, ecommerce, and digitization worldwide. Nextrade is also building new data tools for B2C and B2B ecommerce merchants. TradeUp enables globalizing companies to raise $2-50m in growth capital, providing critical financing for companies looking to scale their production and international sales.
Kati is also Adjunct Professor at UCLA Anderson School of Management, and Adjunct Fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a leading Washington think-tank.
She has published over 80 articles and 9 books on trade and globalization with leading academic presses, and is now finalizing her 10th,Globalization 4.0: How Disruptive Technologies Reshape Business and Policy in the Hyperconnected World. She has provided commentary in such media as the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, BBC, CSPAN, CNN, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Time, and US News and World Report.
Kati previously served as Fellow at the German Marshall Fund (2010-12) and Trade Economist at the Inter-American Development Bank (2003-10). She is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations, serves on the advisory boards of four trade-related organizations, chairs a global expert group on regional trade agreements for the International Center for Trade and Sustainable Development and World Economic Forum, and is a member of the ICTSD-WEF global expert groups on global value chains and on the global digital economy, and of the T20 working group of thought leaders on the Internet.
A business and policy entrepreneur, Kati is the idea-woman behind three global initiatives in the nexus of trade and digitization – RTAexchange.org, a forthcoming global forum on trade agreements sponsored by the Inter-American Development Bank and Asian Development Bank; Aid for eTrade, a global multi-donor initiative to accelerate the adoption of ecommerce worldwide now championed by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, and eTrade Track, a new pilot program for customs to fast-track imports of small ecommerce merchants now assessed as a pilot by a major advanved economy. She is currently spearheading the generation of new data, investments and policy innovation in ecommerce, trade facilitation, and small business trade – such as her idea, based on a social impact bond model, for a Global Fund for Ecommerce.
She received her MBA from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, PhD in Political Economy and International Affairs from the University of California, San Diego, MA from Boston University, and BA from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, where she held a full tennis scholarship in an NCAA division I team.
Anil Sood
Senior Adviser
Anil Sood - Senior Adviser
Anil Sood is a Principal and Chief Operating Officer of Centennial Group International. Prior to joining the Centennial Group, he held many senior positions at the World Bank, including Vice President responsible for Strategy, Change and Resource Management. He was responsible for the World Bank’s seminal work on enterprise and private sector development with a focus on the enabling environment for the entry and growth of SMEs. His expertise is on a wide range of development issues, including entrepreneurship, innovation, productivity and technology development. He has advised chief executives and senior management of a large number of multilateral and UN development organizations including the Asian Development Bank, the African Development Bank, the Development Bank of Latin America, Islamic Development Bank, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, UNDP and the UN Economic Commission of Africa. Mr. Sood current focus includes donor support to private sector development, including through targeting SMEs, as well as evaluation of the development impact of such support.
Alexander R. Malaket
Senior Adviser
Alexander R. Malaket - Senior Adviser
Alexander R. Malaket, CITP, is President of Canadian consultancy OPUS Advisory Services International Inc., established in 2001, focusing on international business, trade and investment with a specialism in trade finance/supply chain finance and an interest in trade-based development and inclusiveness. Alexander has undertaken a range of consultancy assignments around the world, for government, international institution and private sector clients in various sectors. Alexander has authored thought leadership reports, program assessments and reviews, public and international policy reports and has participated in or chaired numerous international initiatives for industry bodies and other institutions, in addition to developing and delivering training materials and seminars on international trade and trade finance.
Mr. Malaket serves on numerous boards and advisory bodies, including as Deputy Head of the Executive Committee, ICC Banking Commission (France), Member of the Nominating Committee of the Board, Forum for International Trade Training, (Canada), Co-Chair of the Academic Committee (Trade Finance), ICC Academy (Singapore), Member of the Board, World Trade Symposium (UK), Member of the Board of Advisors, Tin Hill Capital (Singapore) and Member of the International Affairs Committee, Canadian Chamber of Commerce. Alexander is a member of the Asia Pacific Finance Forum and a Delegate and Task Force Member, B20 2015 and 2016, in addition to being a member of the World Economic Forum/ICTSD E15 Experts Group on Trade, Finance and Development (Switzerland) and a Nominated National Expert (Trade Finance) for UN/CEFACT (Switzerland).
Alexander contributes to industry press on topics in international trade and trade/supply chain finance, and has chaired global initiatives including the ICC lobal Risks in Trade Finance (Trade Register) initiative, as well as a multi-association initiative aimed at developing standard terminology for techniques of supply chain finance. A frequent speaker and panel chair at top-level events around the world, Alexander is the author of “Financing Trade and International Supply Chains”, Gower/Taylor & Francis, UK, 2014.
Mr. Malaket is a graduate of the University of Toronto in Economics and Political Science, and holds the Designation of Certified International Trade Professional.
Valentina Zhukovska
Senior Adviser
Valentina Zhukovska - Senior Adviser
Experience: Financial sector policy, regulation, reform, and development; banking sector development, access to credit, restructuring; Private sector development.
Valentina Zhukovska is an Honorary Economist of Ukraine. She brings to the WSF experience of field work in developing access to financing under challenging circumstances and in-depth understanding of the modern financial market architecture. During the crisis of 2008-2009, she was appointed by the central bank of Ukraine to manage one of the largest bank, which was failing. For restoring its operations, Ms Zhukovska was selected the best crisis-manager in the country. Prior to the crisis, Ms. Zhukovska led the largest financial transaction of Ukraine – sale of JSCB Ukrsotsbank to Unicredit Group.
Ms. Zhukovska has an MBA degree, as well as MA in Engineering.
Ahmad Al-Sayed
Senior Adviser
Ahmad Al-Sayed - Senior Adviser
H.E. Mr. Al-Sayed is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the private family office Sharq-Capital for Investment LLC, where he invests or co-invests and advises business groups, institutional investors and Ultra High Net worth on Strategic Finance and Investment.
Mr. Al-Sayed served as Chief Executive Officer of Qatar Investment Authority and Qatar Holding, where he played a critical role to build, oversee and manage Qatar Sovereign Wealth Fund. During his tenure, he executed, among many others successful deals, a mega deals such as the QIA/QH’s investment in Credit Suisse and Barclays Bank, engineered the Merger of VW and Porsche as well as Xstrata and Glencore, the take-over of Songbird and Canary Warf Group, and the acquisition of Harrods Group.
Prior to QIA, Mr. Al-Sayed held key roles in various local and international institutions, including the Supreme Council for Economic Affairs and Investment. Mr. Al-Sayed has also served as board member for Qatar National Bank, Canary Wharf Group and Volkswagen, Vice Chairman of Qatar Exchange and Executive Chairman of Harrods LHD.
H.E. Mr. Al-Sayed holds his MBA with Trium Global (from LSE, NYU Stern, HEC Paris), and a Master of International Banking and Financial Law from Boston University, and an LLB from Qatar University.
Derya Pamuk
Junior Specialist
Derya Pamuk - Junior Specialist
Prior to joining WSF, Derya was e-Commerce Assistant Specialist at Ülker where she was designating seasonal campaign scenarios, commanding visual order within internet site and making advertisement management as Google adwords and SEO, planning site layout as use-friendly, controlling payment channels and reporting sale process and administering total control of period that pass from the product’s preparation to delivery.
Derya holds a Bachelors degree in Political Science from Istanbul Bilgi University; graduated as a highest ranked student; completed her 3rd year in Science Po Grenoble (Institut d’Etudes Politique de Grenoble) as an Erasmus student, participated the programme of International Relations/Political Science and Sociology. At the end of the year she awarded Excellence of Political Science Certificate. In her Erasmus period she examined cultural differences in business sphere and comperative Middle East political regimes