Julien Hawari

Julien is also the Founder & CEO of Special Edition, a Content Creation company that operates
across the GCC on content creation and events. Special Edition manages content creation and
event for prestigious brands like the French edition of Arab News, Top CEO, TRENDS and other
prestigious regional clients.

Born in Beirut, Julien spent most of his life in Paris, France. He completed his early studies in Paris
and holds an Economics degree from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois (USA). Julien
launched the publishing and media company Mediaquest in 1997 with his brother, Alexandre
Hawari. Currently, Julien is a Board of Director for Mediaquest.

Julien site on the board of Wemind, a technology platform that combines loyalty, big data, and A.I.
Wemind leverages consumption to fuel the impact economy. It aims at expending the financial
system through repurposing electronic payments toward social initiatives.

Julien’s professional achievements include launching multiple brands in the region, north Africa and
Europe. Among them TRENDS, the leading English-language international magazine on Arab
affairs, Saneou al Hadath, redesigning Arabies... transforming the company into a powerful player
in the Middle East and North Africa. Mediaquest quickly expanded to a powerhouse with the launch
of Haya MBC, Marie Claire Arabia, Communicate in association with Advertising Age, and many
other media brands. Mediaquest acquired brands as well like GMR, AMEinfo, Raceweek, F1, Policy
and many other brands. He has played a key role in the expansion of Mediaquest and the opening
of the media company’s offices in Dubai, Beirut, Riyadh, Algiers, Tunis and Paris.
With strong experience in building and growing startups in the Middle East and North Africa
region, he managed the launch and growth of Mediaquest across the region and across digital and
traditional platforms along with event management.
He played a crucial role in establishing iconic business events such as annual conference on the
business of luxury – arab luxury world. He has also steered the efforts to institute annual TOP CEO
conference & awards – a transparent and audited rankings of the chief executives of the GCC-listed
companies – with the aim of celebrating Arab business leadership and promoting corporate
governance in cooperation with INSEAD Business School.

Through his unique management style, Julien has nurtured and mentored several people in the
organization who have now become the pillars of strength and leaders in their own right.
A regular attendee of World Economic Forum Davos Conference, Julien is well versed in the global
business and technology trends along with having thought provoking insights on the world around
us.

Experienced in building and federating stakeholders to create value is associated with a strong
focus on execution and results.
Julien is passionate about digital media, social innovation, Arab youth issues and world
developments.

AKAMA HOLDING
Formerly incorporated as Mediaquest Investment Holding, UAE-based Akama Holding is one of the
region’s largest, most successful and most influential privately held media holding groups. The
family office creates, acquires, invests in, and develops powerful media and tech companies for the
benefit of all their stakeholders.

MEDIAQUEST
Mediaquest is one of the leading Data, Content and Events Company in the Middle East. Currently,
Mediaquest handles Haya, Marie Claire, Communicate, Saneou al Hadath and Ameinfo. Mediaquest
also organizes events like MENA Effie, arab luxury world, Top CEO Conference and awards, Shoes
First.

MMP WORLDWIDE (MMPWW)
MMP Worldwide (MMPWW) is the leading premium global programmatic marketplace. Powered by
state of the art technologies and in partnership with DMPs, MMPWW offers a trading ecosystem
with targeted inventory, insights, and analytics.

MEMOB+
Memob+ is a data mining platform, owned by Akama Holding; and one of the leading players in
data-driven marketing that harvest and structure consumer data (online/offline), use Artificial
Intelligence (A.I.) to classify and predict behaviors, and serve advertisements that respond to users’
interest and behaviors while maximizing brands’ returns.

SPECIAL EDITION
Special Edition is a Content Creation company. Special Edition produces articles, develops content
for website, social media, marketing materials, and other platforms. Special Edition organizes and
manages TOP CEO Conference and awards, Arab Women Forum and also events for prestigious
brands like the French edition of Arab News, and other prestigious regional clients.

WEMIND
Wemind is a technology platform that combines loyalty, big data, and A.I. Wemind leverages
consumption to fuel the impact economy. It aims at expending the financial system through
repurposing electronic payments toward social initiatives.

MILLION
MILLION is a decentralized Social Media Platform powered with NFT. An exclusive content
subscription platform powered with NFT’s. The more content and advertisement Users consume the
more token they earn. The more content engagement they create, the more token Media earn.

SIRIUSLAB
Sirius Lab focuses on web 3.0 and blockchain projects. From tokens, cryptocurrencies to identity
management Sirius Lab invests or grows new projects. Nujumz developed by Sirius Lab is a
blockchain social media, SocialFi. Disrupting existing systems and gatekeepers it gives back control
to the content creators allowing them to monetize their content and their audience, using NFTs and
other tech tools. Nujumz empowers users with an engagement to ear model changing the balance
and distribution of revenue.