Chief Executive Officer

Hesham Wahby is Co-Founder and CEO of Innoventures. Based in Cairo, he is responsible for the company's strategy and organization, creating and maintaining partnerships, access to potential ventures, and coaching entrepreneurs. In addition, Hesham is also Principal, Egypt & Middle East for Mercator XXI, a professional services firm helping clients engage the global economy. He represents Mercator XXI in the Middle East, and supports a platform for the firm’s programs in the region.

Hesham has a background of 10 years in the technology industry, as well as experience with entrepreneurial ventures. At Human Network Labs, he took part in developing a market entry strategy, and seeking strategic partners, for a novel wireless location technology. At Scenario Design Services, he provided consulting services for clients in the semiconductor industry. His earlier career also includes 5 years with Mentor Graphics as a Software Development Engineer.

Hesham has also been involved since 2002 in economic development initiatives in Egypt and the Arab region through his affiliation with the IEEE activities in the Middle East, as well as the Global Entrepreneurship Week. In 2004, he acted as Chairman for the Egyptian Engineering Day, and has since served in a marketing and public relations capacity for the annual event and its related programs, which promote entrepreneurship and industrial development in the region. In 2009, he also started the BusinessNEXUS, a platform for business matchmaking for start-ups and SMEs. Hesham obtained an MBA from the Wharton School in 2009, with a major in Entrepreneurial and Strategic Management, and also holds a bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering from Cairo University.


Ashraf El-Sharkawy
Chief Communications Officer

Ashraf El-Sharkawy is Co-Founder and CCO of Innoventures. In this role, he is mainly responsible for the company's branding and public relations campaigns, and relationships with investors and partners, and he is the official spokesperson for the company. Ashraf is also the entrepreneur for two of Innoventures' portfolio companies, the Children's Day Care, and Nile Egypt for Animal Feeds. In addition, his main location in Munich, Germany provides access to a wider range of entrepreneurs and strategic partners.

Ashraf previously, held the position of Global Head of Marketing and Communication at Allianz Global Corporate and Specialty, the industrial insurance arm of Allianz Holding Company, one of the biggest financial services provider in the world. He was responsible for internal and external communication, strategic marketing and market research. He also held positions at IBM and at a Internet Start-Up called portax.com.

He holds a degree in International Business from FH Reutlingen, one of the leading business schools in Germany.


Sameh Shaheen
Chief Operating Officer

Sameh Shaheen is Co-Founder and COO of Innoventures. Based in Cairo, his deep business management expertise, and 14 years in the technology industry, are valuable resources for maintaining the business support center, coaching entrepreneurs, and general operational issues. Sameh is also the Managing Director for Scenario Design Services, a consulting firm which he founded in 2004, and one of Innoventures' portfolio companies, providing knowledgeable solutions and unique services in the area of IC design & EDA to clients across the globe.

Prior to these roles, Sameh worked as a Senior Digital Designer at Infineon Technologies in Munich, from 2001 to 2004, where he contributed in the project management, planning and design of cryptography modules and memory products. Earlier in his career, in 1998, he was chosen by Mentor Graphics among a team of two engineers to form the nucleus of the Mentor Consulting team in Cairo. As an acknowledgment to his efforts and the role he played in establishing good business relations through notable communication and high quality services he was announced the Best Employee in Mentor Graphics Egypt in 2000. From 1997 until 1998, he was the CAD department's Senior Engineer at IEP, one of the largest consumer electronics companies in Egypt.

Shortly after his graduation from the Electrical Engineering School at Cairo University in 1996, he joined IBM as an external vendor for a 6-month program where he gained a notable experience in Enterprise Resource Planning systems.