
Hamad Al Fahad
CEO - Ascentech"Hamad Al Fahad has over 15 years of experience in the IT & Telecom industry as an executive, consultant, entrepreneur, and investment adviser. He founded one of the first private licensed telecom companies in the GCC with the deregulation of the Bahrain Telecommunications market in 2004. He spearheaded the launch of WOWIndia International Calling Card, which was the top calling card in the country for three years in a row, with an annual gross revenue of over $25 Million. In 2010, he founded Wowcall.com, the first licensed VoIP operator in the GCC, growing it to over 350,000 customers by 2013. In 2010, he hosted the first Digital Voice Forum, which aimed to blur the lines between Voice & Technology. He claimed, ""The future of telecom will not be about per-minute charges and rates. It will be about providing a value-added service on top of free, unhindered communication."" Today, Hamad does what he enjoys the most; he helps start-ups and tech companies establish a foothold in an ever-competitive market. He has helped several start-ups ranging from sports-tech to fintech, and supported setting technical goals and forming teams. As a graduate of UPenn and an engineer at heart, Hamad has 15 years of hands-on development of full-stack web and mobile applications, telecoms network, and systems design and applications. He also is a hands-on ML/AI programmer and a Blockchain tinkerer and enthusiast."