Executive Director – Future Design and Acceleration | Dubai Future Foundation

A results-oriented, accomplished, and entrepreneurial Executive Director bringing in over 20 years of extensive experience and proven expertise in implementing business development plans to build strategic partnerships across government entities, start-ups, and global organizations. Over the course of his career, Saeed has a demonstrated history of developing, implementing, and managing programs that strengthen the company’s initiatives and enhance business performance.

Currently, Saeed is the Executive Director – Future Design and Acceleration at Dubai Future Foundation, an innovation ecosystem formed by the Dubai government to challenge the status-quo and design a future-ready city powered by innovators and disruptors. In this role, he leads the Dubai Future Accelerators (DFA), Area 2071, and Dubai Future Labs. Most notably, he spearheads the accelerator program that connects government entities with technology companies, start-ups, and entrepreneurs from all over the world to work closely with decision-makers in Dubai to tackle and solve current and future challenges through cutting-edge technologies such as AI, IoT, Blockchain, etc.

Taking part in shaping Dubai’s digital transformation, Saeed has a proven ability of building strong and constructive partnerships across a diverse range of stakeholders to facilitate collaboration and achieve transformational goals.

Prior to joining Dubai Future Foundation in 2018, Saeed served as the Executive Director of Retail and Strategic Alliances at Dubai Festivals & Retail Establishment (DFRE) of Dubai Tourism. As an excellent communicator with increased commercial acumen, Saeed led several departments such as Strategic Alliances and Sponsorships, Retail Permits, and Retail Promotions and Raffles that resulted in over 50M AED in revenues. He also played a key role in developing and rolling out Dubai’s Retail Calendar (DRC) in 2017 that introduced new shopping seasons. Additionally, he orchestrated massive promotional campaigns for the Dubai Gold and Jewellery Group (DGJG) and Dubai Shopping Malls Group (DSMG) that grossed over 700M AED in sales in 2016-2017.

Saeed earned his Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Colorado and completed his Master’s in Information Technology from Bond University in Australia

If you have any questions about Dubai Future Foundation or its programs, feel free to reach out to Saeed.