The 11th edition of the GPCA Agri-Nutrients Conference will take place virtually and is free-to-attend Please click below to attend the event now.
GPCA Agri-Nutrients Conference
GPCA Agri-Nutrients Conference
Ahmed is a Mechanical Engineer from the University of Bahrain. He joined GPIC in 1993 as a mechanical engineer in the Operations Department. During his tenure, he got promoted to several positions including Utilities Plant Shift Supervisor, Utilities Plant Superintendent, Training & Development Superintendent and currently serves as the Marketing Superintendent in the Finance & Marketing Department. He also serves as the Chairman of Agri-Nutrients Committee in GPIC. Ahmed has been a part of several working groups and associations including Arab Fertilizers Association(AFA), GPCA International Trade Committee, GPCA Fertilizers Advocacy Campaign Task Force and GPCA G-SQAS Task Force (Marketing & Communication)
Ms. Amal Al-Shamari is the Business Planning Manager for Qatar Fertiliser Company (QAFCO) which she joined in 2018.
She is currently responsible for developing, maintaining and communicating the short-term and long-term strategic business plans, business performance analysis and development of corporate key performance indicators. She played an instrumental role in the development of QAFCO’s 2030 Vision & Strategy Map and its ongoing implementation.
She started her career with ORYX GTL in 2011, the world’s largest LTFT GTL plant. During her tenure she was responsible for generation of strategic options, reviewing and assessing the corporate management system, planning policies and ensuring business processes were compatible with the wider corporate and strategic objectives.
Amal graduated from Qatar University in 2011 with a degree in Business Administration.
Eyad Rafei has completed his Bachelors in Chemical Engineering from the University of Bahrain (UOB). He has been working for GPIC since 1998. He started as a graduate Engineer in ammonia Plant and has been promoted to different positions and currently working as Ammonia Superintendent since 2008. Eyad is involved in a number of projects related to improve and modernize ammonia plant. He has presented number of papers in international venues e.g. Ammonia symposium, IFA and AFA. He is also a member in AFA operations and Maintenance working group.
Fadi Sbaiti serves as AeroFarms General Manager in Abu Dhabi, overseeing the build out of AeroFarms UAE operations and creating the largest R+D indoor vertical farm in the world to drive latest innovations in AgTech to address some of the world’s most pressing agriculture challenges. Recognized multiple years by Fast Company as one of the World’s Most Innovative Companies and World Changing Ideas, AeroFarms is a mission-driven company and certified B-Corporation focused on growing the best plants possible for the betterment of humanity. Fadi is a global business development and management expert with 19 years of experience managing small and large companies and leading diverse teams. As a former Naval Officer with a background in both engineering and management, he previously managed companies such as Specialized Contracting Co. based in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, a Class-A contractor with projects portfolio close to $1Billion, and Decision Sciences International Corporation based in Abu Dhabi, UAE a technology leader in passive non-intrusive security systems. He is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis with a B.Sc. in Systems Engineering and holds an MBA from IMD in Lausanne, Switzerland with whom he was involved in several consulting projects spanning over 3 continents: Europe, Middle East, and Africa.
Nora has a background in economy and holds a degree in Business Administration from the High Business School of Grenoble, France (Ecole Supérieure de Commerce) as well as Masters of Business and Administration in International Management from Laval University in Canada,.
From 2000 until 2010, Nora worked at the International Federation of Agricultural Producers (IFAP) on Policy analysis and formulation related to food security, sustainable agriculture and rural development, as well as on developing the institutional, leadership and knowledge capacity building of agricultural and rural organizations. She worked on several projects aiming at strengthening farmers’ organisations. One of her main responsibilities was to promote agricultural and rural development working closely with national and international policymakers (from both developed and developing countries) and to encourage them to develop investments in agriculture and rural areas. She developed several publications and policy papers reflecting the view of farmers’ organisations worldwide.
Prior to joining IFAP, Nora worked for a USDA funded program, the National Center for Food and Agricultural Policies (NCFAP).
Nora joined FAO in 2010 as Rural Institutions Officer and soon became Team leader of rural institutions and people’s empowerment. In 2013, she moved to the position of cooperatives and producer organizations coordinator within the division for communication, partnerships and advocacy. She co-authored several publications and articles on rural institutions, collective action and rural development and other socio-economic related issues.
In May 2016, she was appointed FAO Representative to the Sultanate of Oman. by the Director General.
Munif Al-Munif is the head of technology and innovation at SABIC Agri-nutrients. He holds over 24 years of experience in research and development mainly in polymers and lately Agri nutrients. His expertise mainly lies in polymers technology , processes , additives and catalysts. Lately in 2019, he has been assigned to lead Agri nutrients research technologies with main focus on development of high add value products, applications and new technologies. He holds a Masters degree in polymers engineering and an MBA .
Gaurav Sharma is the global agrochemicals research lead at Accenture and also manages research efforts for the chemical industry across the Asia Pacific region. With more than 17 years of experience in business strategy, he investigates and analyzes business and technology trends, and shapes perspectives about the future of the agrochemicals sector. Gaurav has also co-authored various thought leadership pieces, specifically focusing on industry disruption. Prior to his role at Accenture, he led the chemicals practice at Evalueserve. Gaurav holds a master’s degree in business management, with a dual specialization in marketing and finance
Mr. Al-Suwaidi has been the Managing Director and CEO of Qatar Fertiliser Company (QAFCO) since joining in 2016. Prior to QAFCO, Mr. Al-Suwaidi was with ORYX GTL, operating the world’s largest LTFT GTL plant, from 2007 until 2016. He joined ORYX GTL as the Deputy General Manager seconded from Qatar Petroleum and was appointed CEO in 2009. Mr. Al-Suwaidi started his career with Qatar Petroleum in 1987 and held a variety of technical and operational posts in Qatar Petroleum’s onshore operations. Between 1998 and 2007, Mr. Al-Suwaidi held two managerial positions responsible for QP’s gas processing & gas distribution facilities in Mesaieed and subsequently gas production and reinjection facilities located offshore and in Dukhan. His responsibilities during this period included production and maintenance operations, inspection and engineering.
orn in 1956, he is a Chartered Chemical Engineer with Ph.D, M.Sc. and B.Sc. degrees in Chemical Engineering from the UK, a Chartered Scientist and Chartered Environmentalist.
Dr. Jawahery established his work career in BP Research Centre, UK for two years before joining the Gulf Petrochemical Industries Co. (GPIC) in 1983. Having undergone extensive training & development in both the Kingdom of Bahrain, as well as overseas, and held a number of senior positions in GPIC, including; Operations Manager, Urea Project Manager, Plants Operation Manager, General
Manager and now as President of the company.
Other senior positions held by Dr. Jawahery included; Member of the Bahrain Shura Council & National Assembly for over 12 years, Board Member of the USA National Safety Council (NSC), Chairman of the International Fertilizer Association (IFA), Board Member of the Bahrain National Oil & Gas Authority (NOGA), Chairman of INJAZ Bahrain, Gulf Petrochemical & Chemical Association (GPCA) Responsible Care Committee Member, Board Member of Bahrain National Authority for Qualifications & Quality Assurance of Education & Training. Chairman of the Arab Fertilizer Association (AFA) and Member of Council of Commissioners of Bahrain National Institution for Human Rights.
Dr. Jawahery is also the Middle East Ambassador for the National Examination Board in Occupational Safety & Health (NEBOSH) UK and was awarded with their Senior Ambassador Merit Award for Safety in 2013. Lead Ambassador of the Robert W. Campbell Award Programme, National Safety Council (NSC) USA and recognised as their CSR Personality of the Year 2014.
Dr. Jawahery was presented with the Bahrain Competency Medal of the First Class Award by His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa in 2015 and the Presidential Medal of Premium Class in Social Responsibility was also received. The Order of the Star of Italy Award presented by the President of the Italian Republic in 2017, Princess Sabeeka Award for Bahraini Women Empowerment 2017 and King Hamad International Youth Empowerment Award in 2018, as well as being presented with the Bahrain Society for Training & Development & Human Resources Development Excellence Award.
Further recognitions include; RoSPA Archangel Award for the year Safety 2015, the Bahrain Social Contribution Award 2015 from H.H. Sheikh Khalifa bin Ali bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, the Bilateral US-Arab Chamber of Commerce 2015 Global Education Leadership Award, and recognised as the UN Ambassador for Sustainable Development 2030 & Gold Award for Sustainable Development 2016, received from the Regional Network for Social Responsibility.
Dr Malcolm Cook holds a degree and doctorate in Chemistry from University of Strathclyde in Scotland. He was then awarded a NATO Postdoctoral Fellowship for fundamental research at the Technical University of Munich, Germany.
After joining industry, Malcolm started his career in research & development before moving into technical service, commissioning, sales and business development. He now heads up the Business Development and Sales team for thyssenkrupp Uhde in the Middle East & Turkey and has been based in the GCC for the past 12 years.
Samir draws on more than 35 years of experience in the petrochemicals industry. He assumed his present position of Executive Vice-President, Agri-Nutrients on February 1, 2018, and was before that the VP, Global Supply Chain, leading SABIC’s Supply Chain strategies, SC Excellence, and Global Value Chain Planning & Optimization.
Prior to that, he was the Vice President of SABIC’s Oxygenates Business, leading the global business of Methanol, MTBE, NDA, 2EH, DOP, IBAL, N-Butanol, Iso-Butanol, ACN, NaCn, and MMA.
Before that, he held the position of Vice President, Global Corporate Communications. As such, he led SABIC’s Global Branding, Global Media, Internal Communications, Events & External Relations, as well as Corporate Social Responsibility.
Previously, Mr. Al-Abdrabbuh was Executive General Manager of SABIC affiliate (TAYF), where he was key to its successful business re-focus, leading a complete operational, financial and legal restructuring and transformation process.
He has also held a number of prominent leadership positions in SABIC’s wholly owned affiliate PETROKEMYA, where he successfully led a diverse array of functions covering Technical, Operational, Projects, ERP Implementation and Finance Management roles, as well as having served as Secretary of the Board of Directors.
Mr. Al-Abdrabbuh is currently Chairman of the Board of Directors of Al-Jubail Fertilizer Co. (Al-Bayroni), Chairman of the Board of Directors of SABIC Supply Chain Services Co. (SSCS), Vice Chairman of SABIC Agri-Nutrients Company, Chairman of the Transformation Board Committee for the same company, Vice Chairman of GPCA Fertilizers Committee, Board Member of Arab Fertilizers Association (AFA), Board Member of International Fertilizers Association (IFA), Member of the Board of Directors and Managing Director of Gulf Petrochemical Industries Corporation (GPIC) and Member of the Board of Directors of the National Sustainable Agricultural Research and Development Center (ESTIDAMAH).
He was earlier the Chairman of the Board of Directors of SABIC affiliates SABTANK, CHEMTANK, and was Board member of IBN-SINA Company and SHROUQ Company. He had also held the post of Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Asia Clean Fuels Association (ACFA), and Chairman of SABIC affiliate Saudi Organometallic Chemicals Company (SOCC) during its inception and set-up stages.
A graduate of the King Fahad University of Petroleum & Minerals, where he earned a BSc in Computer Science & Engineering, Mr. Al-Abdrabbuh has also completed many professional courses in world-class institutions such as London Business School, UCLA and the University of Michigan.
Ms. Esin Mete is a chemical engineer and problem-solver with over 40 years in the agriculture industry. Prior to founding MT Agri-Consulting in 2016, Mete served as CEO and Vice President of Agri-Industry Group of Tekfen Holding Group Companies and Toros Agri Industry Co. Toros Agri is the largest fertilizer producer and distributor in Turkey. Mete served as the president of the International Fertilizer Association (IFA) during 2013-2015. She currently also serves on the Board of International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC).
Mete spearheaded micronutrient fertilization in Turkey by leading efforts to produce zinc-enhanced NPK fertilizers. For her work with zinc fertilization, she was awarded the “Service to Humanity and to Turkey” distinction in 2008. She has also been recognized among the ‘30 Most Powerful Women in Turkey” by Capital Magazine, ‘Most Successful Businesswoman’ of the year in Turkey, 2014 and awarded as ‘Turkey’s Most Powerful Women’ by Fortune Turkey for various years.
A vocal advocate for food and nutrition security, Mete strongly believes in the role of extension services and initiated agronomic training programs dedicated to farmers in Turkey. She also has put great emphasis on educating women farmers in Turkey.
Mete holds a B.Sc. in chemical engineering from Bogazici University Faculty of Engineering, Istanbul, Turkey.
Dr. Tareq Al-Ansari acquired a Beng. in Mechanical Engineering from the University College of London, an MPhil. in Engineering for Sustainable Development from the University of Cambridge, and completed his PhD at Imperial College London in Sustainable Development and Environmental Engineering. Currently, he is an Assistant Professor at the College of Science and Engineering at HBKU within the Division of Sustainable Development and the Division of Engineering Management and Decision Sciences, where he is the division head.
Meena Chauhan, Head of Sulphur and Sulphuric Acid Research, Argus Media
Meena has over 14 years of experience in sulphur and sulphuric acid market intelligence and analysis. She leads Argus’ analytics products for sulphur and acid, focusing on long-term supply, demand and trade patterns. Meena started out her sulphur career in price reporting, leading to an in depth knowledge of market dynamics. She regularly presents at major conferences such as The Sulphur Institute (TSI) and the European Sulphuric Acid Association (ESA) and has become a notable expert in the industry.
Respected business news journalist and editor who has covered the fast-moving global ammonia market and associated fertilizer sectors for nine years at leading data analytics and news provider ICIS. Prior positions include editorial management roles covering the international steel industry, writer at an international communications agency, and as a film extra– including a part as Tarzan’s lawyer.
Tom Scott is Head of Agribusiness Consulting for IHS Markit Agribusiness Intelligence and has extensive experience in business strategy, market research, feasibility studies, competitive analyses, M&A and due diligence. Mr. Scott overseas approximately 200 projects a year covering every geography and all sectors of the agriculture and agribusiness vertical.
Mr. Scott has been with the IHS Markit (and predecessor companies) since 1989 and has held positions of an analyst, head of transportation and logistics research, director of North American consulting and group leader of combined market analysis and consulting prior to his current role. Previously, Mr. Scott worked for nine years for Continental Grain Company (now part of Cargill Inc.) where he held a variety of trading, logistics and facility management roles.
In addition to analytic and consulting roles, Mr. Scott has conducted training courses and is a frequent speaker at industry functions.
Mr. Scott received his bachelor’s degree in agricultural economics and business from Cornell University and a master’s degree in business administration from the Amos Tuck School of Business Administration at Dartmouth College where he was an Amos Tuck Scholar.
Patrick Heffer joined the International Fertilizer Association (IFA) in Paris in 2002 as Director of the Agriculture Service. In this capacity, he coordinated IFA’s global activities relating to fertilizer consumption. More specifically, his duties focused on agronomic, market and policy issues that relate to fertilizer and nutrient management in a global context. In addition, at the regional level, Patrick led IFA’s Africa programme. From May 2020 to January 2021, he acted as Interim Director General of the Association, before becoming Deputy Director General.
Before joining IFA, Patrick spent 15 years with the seed industry, including five years with the International Seed Federation in Nyon, Switzerland, where he advanced to the position of Deputy Secretary General, and two years with FAO’s Seed and Plant Genetic Resources Service in Rome, Italy.
Patrick is currently on the Steering Committee of the Global Partnership on Nutrient Management (GPNM). He has two M.Sc. degrees, in agronomy and in plant breeding.
Rajiv closely monitors agricultural markets – prices, policy and weather – to improve CRU’s forecasting of short, medium and long-term fertilizer demand. Rajiv joined CRU from LMC International, where he worked as an economist in the oilseeds team for over three years.
Rajiv holds a BSc in Geography with Economics from the London School of Economics (LSE) and an MSc in Development Studies from the School of African and Oriental Arts (SOAS).
Bart has an MSc in Process & Energy Technology from Delft University of Technology and an MBA from Imperial College London. Prior to joining Siemens Process Systems Engineering, he worked as a fuel cell researcher at the Energy Research Center of the Netherlands, and at Tri-O-Gen, developing 100 kWe Organic Rankine Cycle units, creating power from low-temperature heat sources. Since joining Siemens PSE in 2006, Bart has taken up roles in project execution and delivery – to customers in R&D and in operations, technical sales and team leadership. He is currently Siemens PSE’s Sustainability Lead, where he helps the process industries achieve their sustainability goals through advanced process modelling.
Mr. Smulders joined Stamicarbon in 2015. Mr. Smulders holds a degree in Chemical Engineering.
He started his career in 1989 at DSM. At DSM he worked in various Commercial and Bussiness Management positions. In 1999 he held the position of Vice President Marketing and Sales at Philips.
In 2014 Mr. Smulders rejoined DSM, where he hald various Business Unit Management positions. Before joining Stamicarbon he held the positions of Vice President Corporate Strategy.
Rajiv Ram, Senior Analyst – Fertilizers, CRU
Richard Ewing, Global Ammonia Market Editor, ICIS
Dr. Abdulwahab Al-Sadoun has been Secretary General of the Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association (GPCA) since 2009, following a career of more than three decades in the GCC region’s petrochemical and energy sectors.
His career began in 1990, as a Senior Researcher at SABIC Research and Development Center in Saudi Arabia. He has since taken senior executive positions at several prominent regional agencies, including the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA), the Gulf Organization for Industrial Consulting (GOIC), and Al-Sharq Plastic Industries Co., and PetroBaas for Industrial Investment Co.
In 2020, he served as the B20 Sherpa, Saudi Arabia responsible for operational management of the B20 Secretariat, content preparation, delivery and advocacy of the policy recommendations.
Dr. Al-Sadoun had been a member of the Steering Committee of the International Council of Chemical Associations since 2012 and also served as ex-member the Board of Trustees of the Riyadh Economic Forum and the Arabian Society for Human Resources Management.
Dr. Al-Sadoun is the author of two books narrating the evolutionary journey of the chemical industry in the Arabian Gulf region – ‘Molecules, Mind and Matter: How the Arabian Gulf Became a Global Petrochemical Hub’ (published in English language) and ‘A Voyage to Leadership: How the Arabian Gulf Became a Global Petrochemical Hub’ (published in Arabic language).
He holds a PhD in the field of Industrial Chemistry granted by King’s College, University of London, United Kingdom, in addition to being a graduate of the General Management Program (GMP3), Harvard Business School (HBS), Harvard University, USA.
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