SiGMA 'MALTA' Edition Speakers

Dr. Abdalla Kablan is an award winning serial entrepreneur, and Fintech expert. He specialises in the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning in the design of complex systems. He is the CEO of Wyzer Ai and founder of Hippo Data, a Fintech and AI startup which was selected in 2016 to be a part of Microsoft Ventures, UK. Hippo Data’s VR platform was also featured at the World Economic Forum 2017 in Davos. Furthermore, he is the founder of Scheduit, an intelligent business oriented matchmaking and professional networking platform.

Aideen Shortt has worked in the interactive gambling industry since 1999. She has held a range of senior and director level roles and her experience spans both operator and supplier side of the gambling having held marketing and communications roles in both a B2B and a B2C capacity.

She was originally employed as part of the marketing team of flutter.com (subsequently integrated with Betfair) and subsequently moved to Coral Eurobet (now part of the Gala Group) as a senior member of the marketing team, progressing during her time there to the position of Marketing Director for the online business. During her time at Coral Eurobet, she established one of Europe’s first online casinos in 2001/2002.

In addition Aideen has held director level roles at Sky Bet and Chartwell Technology (now part of Amaya Gaming), a globally recognised software supplier, progressing at the latter to becoming a board member with the role of Vice President, Sales and Marketing.

On leaving Chartwell, she decided to set up as a private contractor and consultant and has worked for a range of different sectors within the industry including contracts with Paddy Power’s risk management division, Telefonica O2, fantasy gaming company Clever TV, Jersey’s leading IT and data centre, Foreshore Limited, and also operators including Betsson, Betfair, Vera and John, All Slots and Unibet

Aideen is also a leading industry journalist, contributing to all the major trade publications and is a highly regarded speaker and moderator in many of the global industry events and conferences.

Aideen is a graduate of University College Cork (Ireland) with a Double Major in Marketing and IT. She also holds a Masters Degree from Kingston University in the UK, having completed her thesis on the subject of marketing and monetising online communities.

Alan began his career as a banker and developed into an Information Systems Auditor to led the bank’s IT Audit section. In 2000 he began advising the first remote gaming companies to come to Malta, and continued to specialise in this field. In 2006 Alan decided to form Kyte Global

Alex Sakota is an experienced speaker, organising and taking part in various major SEO seminars in Malta.

He specialises in Internet marketing services, including interactive advertising, pay per click advertising, banner ads, e-mail marketing, social, article and affiliate marketing, organic search engine marketing (including on and off site search engine optimization, organic searches and link popularity).

As a founder of Growth Hacker and High Creative, Sakota is running network of websites that receive over 3 million unique visitors per month where over 90% of traffic comes from search engines. Due to his own initiative, Sakota developed a plan for opening a new multimedia center in Belgrade with the budget of 5M, which was supported and financed by Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.

Sakota has an extensive background of major computer software, hardware and LAN issues with expertise in SEO, including professional multimedia software on both Windows and Apple platforms.

Alexandre Tomis is Co-founder of Alea and VR enthusiast. He is committed to promoting social responsibility among operators and create awareness about the societal impact of the gambling industry

Alina is a passionate Romanian law qualified lawyer currently focusing her practice on gambling law.

During the past years, she has assisted several gambling operators in obtaining their first online licenses in Romania, and provided day-to-day advice on various regulatory issues related to the organization and operation of their gambling activity. On the supply end, Alina has assisted various gambling suppliers to the B2C operators to include software and platform suppliers, payment processor, marketing affiliates as well as testing laboratories in the process of obtaining their first Class 2 licenses in Romania.

Alina also provides assistance in relation to intellectual property law, advising clients in various industries on trademark and design rights, copyright and related rights matters, as well as consumer protection.

She is a member of the Bucharest Bar.

Andrew is the Managing Partner of GVZH Advocates and heads the firm’s Corporate and Banking & Finance Practice, being actively involved in mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, licensing of financial services businesses with the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) and asset-financing transactions. He is particularly active in advising businesses within the TMT space, having pioneered the licensing of various fintech operators in Malta, and led various corporate acquisitions which most notably include the sale of Malta’s largest quad telecoms player and a number of significant online gaming operators.

Andrew currently holds the position of Council Member of the Institute for Financial Services Practitioners.

Andrew graduated from the University of Malta in 1999 (Doctorate of Laws) and subsequently pursued a Masters of Law degree at the London School of Economics and Political Sciences (LSE) in the areas of Company Law, Financial Services Regulation, The Law of International Finance and International Trade Law, which he completed successfully in 2000.