Head of Digital Venture Partner | Endeavor Malaysia Mentor

Strategic Consultant specializing in ASEAN Cross-border Innovation & Regional Ecosystems. With deep expertise in ASEAN’s technological landscape, policy environment, and capital trends, I design sustainable growth models for businesses, governments, and investors. My practice focuses on three core pillars: Market Entry & Expansion Strategy for MNCs, Regional Innovation Planning for government agencies, and Capital-Enterprise Integration for investors. I am dedicated to bridging the gap between policy opportunities and corporate needs to drive high-growth regional cooperation.

Zehan T.

Qatar Insurance Group

Digital Venture Partners is QIC's venture builder, focusing on :
1- Investing in early-stage start-ups under an insurtech thesis. 
2- Building a first-of-its-kind Insurtech VC platform in the MENA region, enabling insurtechs, VCs, incumbents, and regulators. 
3- Building insurtech start-ups across the insurance value chain, and adjacent industries, in MENA. 
Founding partner of Digital Venture Partners (DVP), QIC's venture building and CVC.

Qatar Insurance Company/Group (QIC) is a leading insurance company in MENA, with global operations in the UK with a reinsurance arm and a Lloyds Syndicate. QIC's asset manager, Epicure, has $7bn asset under management (AuM).

SVP - Head of Corporate Venture Capital (CVC)

Allianz Trade

@Allianz Trade Group Transformation & Innovation. Looking after the Corporate Venture Capital fund with $110M AuM, and a global mandate. Investing in #Fintech, #Insurtech, and #Embedded Finance.

Head of Corporate Venture Capital (CVC), Digital Partnerships and Go To Market

Euler Hermes Digital Agency (EHDA) is the innovation arm of Euler Hermes, credit insurance's market leader. It aims to transform the group and reinvent Trade Finance. #Fintech #Insurtech

EHDA's mission is to incubate and accelerate breakthrough ideas and build new products & businesses at the intersection of the insurtech and fintech ecosystems.

Head of Digital Partnerships 

Forward Partners

Forward Partners (formerly Tango Start) is a team of passionate entrepreneurs who help corporate innovators and intrapreneurs innovate like startups. 

Tango founders have introduced and led the Lean Startup movement in France since 2012.

Within the VB, launched Level8app, an online startup accelerators built on the lean methodology.

Venture builder & Entrepreneur in Residence

École Polytechnique

Polytechnique's folks were part of XNode's wider ecosystem partners. I had the opportunity (and the pleasure) to get close to Polytechnique's Incubator & Accelerator. We formalized with management the X-Tech accelerator's strategy, under the new "Institut Polytechnique de Paris (IPParis) setup. 

The goal was to level up the accelerator's game, reaching MIT's and Stanford's startup acceleration levels.

École Polytechnique, also known as Polytechnique or l'X [liks], is a grande école located in Palaiseau, France. It specializes in science and engineering and is a founding member of the Polytechnic Institute of Paris. It ranks globally among the best higher education institutions according to the 2023 edition of the RUR (Round University Ranking), and holds the top position among French institutions.

Advisor @ Entrepreneurship & Innovation Department (La DEI)

XNode 创极无限

XNode Corporate Innovation Programs (XCIP), is a XNode sub-brand for corporate innovation programs, serving Fortune 500 multinational companies in China. 

XCIP leads MNCs into the fast-paced digital era by: 
1) facilitating and accelerating Corporate/Startup investments and partnerships, 
2) adding more agility to slow moving and disrupted corporates by accelerating internal projects, the startup way.

XNode is the first-of-a-kind open innovation platform in Shanghai, accelerating startup's growth, facilitating the corporate/startup collaboration, and planting some lean/agile seeds in corporate lands. 

The journey has been a real roller coaster, fed by the satisfaction of doing innovation with impact, building, and serving a community of entrepreneurs & intrapreneurs.

Managing Partner, Corporate Innovation Co-founder - Program & BD Director

XNode is building and nurturing a unique open innovation ecosystem in Shanghai, connecting startups, corporates, local authorities and academia to shape China's new innovation engine. 

XNode operates in three areas: 
1- Startup acceleration by accelerating overseas scaleups in their Chinese market penetration & Chinese startups in their partnership with corporates. 
2- Corporate acceleration by facilitating corporates & startups collaboration or by accelerating internal projects, the startup way.
3- Coworking space with 3 flagship spaces in Shanghai.

Few learnings. Nothing is set in stone in a non-predictable, very complex, fast-changing, tech-driven world. One way out; sharpen transversal and critical thinking, keep learning, and adopt experiential and sharing mindsets.

Business Development & Growth Director

La French Tech Shanghai

XNode has been historically close to The Shanghai French Business ecosystem, serving different French stakeholders and being one of the French community catalyzers. 

We are continuously interacting with La French Tech, welcoming several French Tech startups and hosting/co-organizing some of its top-notch events. 

I was glad and proud to support one of the most active overseas communities in Shanghai.

La French Tech Shanghai Partner

French Foreign Trade Advisors or CCEs (Les Conseillers du Commerce extérieur de la France)

The Conseillers du Commerce extérieur de la France (French Foreign Trade Advisors or CCEs) voluntarily share their experience working for the development of France. 

They carry out concrete actions on a daily basis in partnership with public and private players who have a role in promoting and supporting the internationalisation of French companies.

Innovation/Entrepreneurship Advisor

Modular Future

Modular Future is a European Chinese modular building and prefabricated manufacturer that bridges the best of both worlds; European engineering, design & customer service, and Chinese speed and cost-efficiency.

Advisor

MORASIA Trading & Consulting LTD

MORASIA is a Trading company that builds bridges between China and Morocco/Africa.

Founder and Managing Director

XCUBE Engineering & Construction (Shanghai) Co.,Ltd.

XCUBE is an integrated Design, Engineering and Manufacturing Company based in Shanghai, providing high end modular and prefabricated building solutions and services to clients in China and around the World.

Digital Marketing & International Growth

\\ In a nutshell - 
Entrepreneur (intrapreneur), investor, mentor, venture builder, growth hacker and tech-savvy. Curious and empathic, comfortable in competitive markets and multicultural environments. I enjoy strategizing for new ventures as much as getting my hands dirty on nitty-gritty execution details.

Developed a sharp eye on Fintech and insurtech in the last 5 years, from both an investor and builder point of view. 
Experienced both the corporate executive and startup worlds. 
Failed 4 ventures and succeded/exited 3. 

Enjoy leveraging technology for good, serving and gathering people for the best. A servant leader.


\\ The long story - 
In 2022, I joined Digital Venture Partners (DVP), the Venture Builder of QIC group in Doha. With a simple mission: building ventures, and investing in early-stage ventures to help us build and access markets faster. We created along the way the Insurtech MENA platform, an ecosystem to ignite the insurtech innovation in the region.

In 2019, I served in the innovation arm of Allianz Trade (formerly Euler Hermes) in Paris with a team of intrapreneurs and tech-savvy folks trying to reshape Credit Insurance and Trade Finance. Led the CVC bit with $110M AuM, on top of the digital partnerships global department.

From 2015 to 2019 in China. I completely failed my first Asian venture being disrupted by Alibaba. I decided to make disruption and innovation my new playground. Serendipity connected me with XNode’s founder and I took the amazing challenge of building and leading XNode's acceleration and innovation capabilities; 

Before that and over 10 years, I've experienced both the corporate and the startup environments, in different industries, within 3 different continents.
Married and father of three, who help me shed light on education challenges, creativity, critical thinking, responsibility, and accountability.


\\ Some of my strengths (reach me for more details and figures) -
Leadership, business skills:
•	Forming and leading teams in multicultural environments.
•	Building, managing, and scaling businesses, with a proven track record of revenue generation
•	Venture Capital / Insurtech / Fintech
•	P&L management / Competitive Intelligence / Influence / Geoeconomics
•	Corporate & Open Innovation / Strategy / Finance
•	Gen AI / Data Science & Mining /
Soft skills:
•	Empathic with high EQ
•	Collaborative and team player
•	Pattern recognizer, analytical thinker, Problem solver
•	Lifetime learner with a strong work ethic.

Always up for connecting, and sharing insights! 
Twitter/Wechat/Skype: @othmane1x

taplio

The Battle

Zehan T.

Othmane Bennis - عثمان بنيس

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