World Entrepreneurship Forum Members


British by birth, Ms. Rachael Hughes graduated in Economics and Finance from the University of Leeds (UK) and the Le Havre-Caen School of Commerce (France) in 1993.
After university, she started her career with the British manufacturing company GKN, before moving on quickly to CHEP, a joint venture between GKN and the specialist Australian logistics company, BRAMBLES. She was entrusted with the General Management of CHEP Argentina between 1999 and 2001.
In 2001, she joined HomeServe, a purely English company founded in 1993 in the United Kingdom, provider of assistance in domestic emergencies as a supplement to traditional house insurance. Her task was to expand the company internationally.
She launched the first subsidiary in France, Doméo, of which she was Managing Director between 2001 and 2008. In 2005, HomeServe appointed her as head of the European Division and she continued to expand the Group into Spain in 2006, Belgium in 2009, and Italy in 2010, combining both organic and external growth with acquisitions in Spain, France and Belgium between 2007 and 2009.
The European businesses nowadays generate €138m revenue and employ 970 people.
In 2010, Ms Hughes and her team were presented with the Aderly ONLYLYON award for the greatest growth for their double contribution whilst with Doméo and HomeServe Europe.


Mrs Anneli Hulthén is the Mayor and Chairman of the City Executive in Gothenburg. In this role, and as former Chairman of the Traffic and Transport Committee and the Housing and Planning Committee in Gothenburg, she has for a long time been deeply committed to the task of further developing and transforming Gothenburg into an urban sustainable city and to strengthen the city as an attractive centre of the western region of Sweden. In close collaboration with local, regional and national level, she recently launched the West Swedish infrastructure package; a transport strategy for the hole of the Gothenburg region which consists of large investments in infrastructure for the future. In her work as a Mayor, Mrs Hulthén promotes cross-border collaboration and cooperation, both within the city, but also with external parts such as the businesses and the civil society of Gothenburg. Through her chairmanship in the public company Business Region Göteborg, she drives the entrepreneurship development in the city and Gothenburg region.


Mr. Pekka Huttunen is Business Director at Koodiviidakko. His specialities include digital marketing software, social media and ecommerce. He holds M.Sc.(econ & business adm.) degree in marketing.
Prior joining Koodiviidakko he served as an officer in peace keeping troops in Kosovo and later in Afganistan. During his studies in university he spent several years as entrepreneur as well as headed the economics and business administration students association.
Koodiviidakko develops and provides cloud -based software for digital marketing and communication, especially developed for advertising agencies. Koodiviidakko is one of the fastest growing high tech companies in Finland and in top 250 in EMEA according to Deloitte technology fast list.


Aiman Jamal is the entrepreneur in media sector from Saudi Arabia. He is currently the Founder and Managing Partner at Visualizit, the creative communications & production house that recently was ranked 1st in Saudi Fast Growth 2011 Award.
Aiman also founded Al Tariq Venture Captial, the companies specialise in the development and investment in venture capital deals.
Beside his professional work, Aiman is head of Jeddah Young Business Committee, Board Member of Jeddah Council for S&M Business Development – Chamber of Commerce & Industry in Jeddah. He is also EO member (Entrepreneurs Organisation).
Aiman is keen on developing the Entrepreneurship model in KSA and encouraging it within the society. He is also into developing and participating in Social responsibility programs that focus in Education and behaviour change.


Dr Colin Jones coordinates the Entrepreneurship program at the University of Tasmania (Australia). Prior to joining academia, Dr Jones had extensive experience starting up and operating a range of service related businesses, with varying levels of success and failure. Previously a very poor student academically, Dr Jones is a strong advocate for student centred learning approaches in higher education. He has been recognised nationally and internationally for his research and teaching and learning achievements. He has published more than 60 peer-reviewed journal and conference papers and recently published his first book titled ‘Teaching Entrepreneurship to Undergraduates’. Dr Jones’s current research is focused on small firm survival, specifically looking at the interaction between independent firms and franchised firms.


Mr. Vikas Joshi is the founder, Chairman and Managing Director of Harbinger Group, a company known for its innovative software products in over forty countries.
Mr. Joshi is passionate about making our lives more effective through interactivity. His vision has inspired a global market for interactivity software. As founder, Chairman and Managing Director at the Harbinger Group, he leads an international organization building cutting-edge technology products and services.
Thousands of trainers, educators, presenters, web designers and other dialog creators worldwide rely on Harbinger’s award-winning products for engaging users more effectively.
Recognized as a thought leader in interactivity, Vikas has spearheaded Harbinger’s leadership in that space. Harbinger has also emerged as a provider of software product development services to several technology companies including Microsoft.
A member of TiE (The Indus Entrepreneurs)- a global network of entrepreneur forum, Mr. Joshi is also an adept speaker at industry events, elearning conferences across the globe and the author of “Strategic e-Learning Mantras” – a comprehensive guide that distils the best practices in corporate e-learning. After IIT Bombay, where he completed his B.Tech., he got his MS from Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY on a Graduate Fellowship, working on artificial intelligence. He enjoys creative reflection on work and life through his writings and speeches. Through these he discusses the state-of-the-art of interactivity, interactive learning and innovative entrepreneurship. He lives in Pune, India and hangs out in the Silicon Valley a few months every year.


Born in Zurich in 1959, Francis is Professor of Finance. After multidisciplinary studies in France covering economics, law, accounting and Sc.Po Paris, he began his career in structured finance and taught at the same time at several universities and « grandes écoles ». Later, he joined the world of real world of finance and co-directed a private bank in Zurich before setting up banking and financial learning centres in Geneva as well as wealth and asset management companies. Francis is a founding partner of a group which operates in three main activities:
Education:
1927, St-Georges School Switzerland; leading boarding school in Switzerland
1994, IFGP (Institut de Formation de Gestion de Patrimoine), leading on-going education in finance
2001, Geneva Business School, leading private Business School specialized in Finance and International Management
Finance:
1999, Kahn & Cie Financial Experts, global financial planning+ independent asset management
2002, Profinance Services, global advisory for pension funds + independent economic and financial research company
+ 6 others financial companies (IAM)
Capital Development:
Diversification of the FK estate in media, telecommunication, steam cells, etc


Dr. Dafna Kariv holds degrees from the Technion, Haifa, Israel (Ph.D.) and the Tel-Aviv University, Israel (BA and MA). She is tenured at the School of Business Administration, the College of Management, Rishon Lezion, Israel and a member of the Chair of Entrepreneurship at HEC, Montreal, Canada. Dr. Kariv is a vibrant researcher, an enthused teacher for MBA students and an entrepreneur. Her research focus is in the areas of entrepreneurship, multinational entrepreneurship and gender. She is the author of the books: "Entrepreneurship: An International Introduction", Routledge, UK, 2011, and "Female Entrepreneurship and the New Venture Creation", Routledge, NY (forthcoming); she has published and presented many papers in these areas in peer-reviewed journals and international conferences. Dr. Kariv is the recipient of several prized funds, including of the European Commission, the Tempus fund on the topic ‘fostering entrepreneurship in higher education'.
In the practical side, Dr. Kariv is a consultant for the Israeli Ministry of Education on fostering entrepreneurship in schools; she is the Easy Start national representative for the entrepreneurial competition; and initiated and directing a students' incubator-practice.
She is in the midst of developing an internet-based startup aimed at facilitating 'focused interactions' for knowledge transfer between entrepreneurs worldwide.


Ms. Karen Kerrigan is one of the world's leading experts on policies and initiatives that benefit entrepreneurs. She is widely known for developing collaborative relationships with business associations, public policy groups, media, government, advocacy organizations and the private sector that have led to substantive reforms and initiatives to help encourage and sustain entrepreneurship across the globe.
Ms. Kerrigan is President & CEO of the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council, a prominent and respected advocacy and research organization. She is Founder of Women Entrepreneurs Inc., an organization dedicated to helping women business owners succeed through education, networking and advocacy.
Her commentary, analysis and written work have appeared in many of the nation's leading newspapers. For more than a decade she wrote a regular column for the American City Business Journals - an influential network of weekly business newspapers in 50 major markets. She has appeared on ABC`s Nightline, The McLaughlin Group, CNN, CNBC, and Fox News Television among others. She has been a guest on hundreds of radio talk shows.
Ms. Kerrigan is a native of New York, and holds a BA degree in Political Science from Cortland College (SUNY). She resides in Northern Virginia.