Omar M. Almahmoud

Omar is currently the Chief Executive Officer of the ICT Fund, a federal development fund launched by the UAE’s Telecommunications & Digital Government Regulatory Authority with the purpose of catalyzing the ICT sector in the UAE through investments in education, R&D, incubation and national technology initiatives.

The ICT Fund is the investor behind the UAE Astronauts Program, the Artemis Moon Station Airlock, the Mars 2117 Initiative, UAE's Lunar Rover, the Smart Government Initiative, the Mohammed bin Rashid Smart Learning Program, the Drones & Robotics for Good Awards, the National Center for Space Technologies & Sciences and the Emirates BT Innovation Center in addition to many other bold initiatives. The ICT Fund has a determined mission to provide strategic targeted funding to develop innovation and build a knowledge based economy for the UAE.

Omar has also been recognized as one of the youngest leaders in the UAE's public sector and is a multi talented individual with deep and extensive insights on technology, investments and entrepreneurship.

Omar holds an honors Bachelors degree in communications engineering from Khalifa University for Science, Technology and Research as well as a Diploma in Public Sector Innovation from Judge Business School, University of Cambridge.

Prior to Omar’s role at the ICT Fund he held many roles and responsibilities, namely he managed the Technology Investment Department at Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority, a strategic investment department where he identified high tech investment opportunities and developed incentives programs to attract technology-based companies to the UAE.

Omar stems from an entrepreneurial background with deep technical expertise. Starting out as a technology entrepreneur who raised capital, he displayed entrepreneurial traits at an early age leading him to occupy various roles in leading technology and prominent government positions at a very young age.

He also writes extensively on his website & newsletter 'The Intellect' on Life, Business, Public Policy, Psychology & Technology. He also presented his insights on the future of technology and the latest developments on his weekly public radio show for over 4 years, in addition to giving many talks on entrepreneurship and knowledge based economies at several universities and events.

Omar was born in Dubai and moved to the United Kingdom soon after due to his parents' pursuit of their respective PhDs. They both became professors in academia, significantly influencing his upbringing, where he was raised until the age of 10.