Alexis Bartelds is CEO of Sam Media and has over 25 years’ experience in the telecoms industry. His passion for innovation drives Sam Media’s focus on premium content, transparent intuitive marketing, fully controlled in house media buy and data science. Sam Media is proud to be a leader in VR and AR services and recently launched its new flagship product SingSpace, a virtual karaoke service, in cooperation with Stingray. 
 
Alexis enjoys an offline outdoor lifestyle, being a fervent skier, surfer and mountain biker and is at his happiest sharing the Sam Media vision over a barbeque. 

Clemens Leitner is the CEO of DIMOCO Payments, leveraging over 15 years of management experience in the payments industry. He is an entrepreneurial leader known for crafting effective go-to-market strategies, expanding into new business verticals, and hands-on management of various teams.

CEO at Content For Mobile

Gaby is an entrepreneur and has been active in VAS for 25 years. He is one of the most prominent voices advocating a new approach to the DCB industry, or DCB 2.0 as he calls it. CFM, his latest venture, are active in numerous countries, with direct connections to many of the largest operators in Europe. They establish relationships where transparency and control are key values, and build long-term, scalable, revenues for their partners. He is also an enthusiastic board member for the Dutch Code of Conduct Foundation, a self-regulatory body where he is the voice of all merchants.

To describe things, he will often use metaphors; keep an ear out for him saying the mobile industry is a lot like the Champions League!

Işık Uman is the Group CEO of TPAY, your “payment connector” in META, a role he assumed on July 1, 2023. TPAY connects the entire Middle East, Turkey, and Africa, making the digital world accessible to all by being the most reliable facilitator for micropayments in the region. Işık joined TPAY in 2020 as Director of Global Partnerships after Payguru’s acquisition. Over the past four years, he has taken on various pivotal roles, demonstrating his versatile leadership and strategic vision. 

Before TPAY, Işık co-founded and chaired Payguru, a pioneering Turkish payment company. He led the buy-out of Neomobile’s Turkish mobile payment business and rebranded it as Payguru, which became the first Direct Carrier Billing (DCB) company to receive a payment license from the Turkish Financial Regulator. Under his leadership, Payguru became Turkey’s leading alternative payment provider. In June 2020, TPAY acquired Payguru, expanding its coverage to the META region. 

His career includes senior roles at Superonline, Turkcell, and Neomobile. He holds a B.Sc. in Industrial Engineering from the Middle East Technical University (METU) and has pursued advanced studies in Information Systems, AI, and Cognitive Science. 

Işık is committed to providing partners with the most effective and reliable payment methods tailored to their services and the countries they are launching in. This dedication has led to the creation of new payment channels, such as mobile wallets in MEA and open banking in Turkey, with more to follow. 

Işık’s extensive experience and strategic vision drive TPAY’s mission to unify META through unparalleled network reach, merchant alliances, and transaction excellence. 

 

Interim Head of Digital Product at M-Pesa Africa

Digital leader with over 15 years experience in leading Product management, Business Strategy, execution, Digital product design, User Experience Design, Customer Experience, Product Innovation and Digital Transformation in Financial services, Telecoms and Fin-tech.

At M-Pesa Africa, a pioneering mobile money wallet and Africa’s number 1 Fintech, I am accountable for the Product Vision and road map for the M-Pesa #superapp providing Product leadership to Product Owners, Developers and local market teams across 4 Vodacom markets.

I am also responsible for working with local market teams to develop and execute go to market plans, conducting end user research to drive uptake and engagement. As a product person I also interface between customer needs discovery and engineering, ensuring that we build with a purpose and reason that resonates with how the market is evolving.

Competencies :
Digital Transformation I Product Design I Digital Innovation | Digital Marketing | Digital Financial Services | Customer Experience | Product Development | Market research I Customer Life Cycle Management I Product Management I Product Marketing | Payments I E-Commerce I Customer Value Proposition | Data Analysis I Scrum I SAfe | Agile Methodologies | Business Strategy & Execution | Change Management | Risk Management | Stakeholder Engagement | Tech Vendor Management I Business strategy I Design Thinking I B2B I B2C I Mobile Lending I CX I Partnerships I UX I Cross functional team leadership

Commercial Director at Content For Mobile

As Commercial Director for CFM, Kieran leads the company’s strategic partnerships with both carriers and brands. In this role, he has overseen expansion of the companies partnerships to several operator groups and some of the world’s biggest brands.

He is a gaming and Esports fan, combining this passion with 10 years of DCB experience, whilst making CFM the go-to partner for carriers when it comes to gaming.

Laurent Prevost  has been working on Mobile Payment for 30 years at Orange France and at the Group level, starting with the famous Minitel, the first online premium network. Over the last 7 years at the Orange Group, he has launched Mobile Payment/DCB in 15 Orange Affiliates in MEA, which has been a great success. He has also developed Mobile Payment/DCB in 8 Orange affiliates in Europe, covering almost the entire Orange footprint. Currently, he manages the commercial relationship with more than 14 aggregators and strategic accounts connected to Mobile Payment through the Orange Group Billing Platform. The next step in his journey will be to develop Wallet business in the Orange MEA footprint using Orange Money.

Leone Crescenzi is a cross-disciplinary executive who has spent over 25 years working at the intersection of entertainment and technology. With a career that bridges showbusiness and product strategy, he has collaborated with globally recognized talent — from David Beckham to Charlize Theron and Al Pacino — while also developing digital platforms with a strong focus on user experience, engagement, interactivity, and iterative design. Driven by an entrepreneurial mindset and a discomfort with easy labels, Leone brings a strategic, hands-on approach to innovation. He is currently Chief Product Officer at Cookies, where he brings together strategic vision, product thinking, and a deep user-centered mindset.