Scott Ragsdale is a business leader, mentor, and endurance athlete and serves as the Chairman of Naseba Group.
Over the past 25 years, he has served in senior management positions in Tokyo, Sydney, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Monaco, Barcelona, London and Dubai.
He attended high school at The Bolles School and has a BA in Political Science from the University of California at Berkeley.
While at the University of California, Scott was elected President of the Berkeley College Republicans. During his Presidency the club grew to become the second largest College Republican club in America.
After graduating in 1995, Scott moved to Japan and within 3 years, passed the highest level on the Japanese proficiency exam (1-kyu).
As a leader, he has grown, managed and trained teams from more than 50 nationalities and led and oversaw billions of dollars in business deals and capital raises.
At the end of 2002, he co-founded Naseba with a 60,000 euro investment and in less than four years took the company public on the Euronext making him the first American to found and publicly list a company in France. At the peak of the economic crisis, he bought back and delisted the company from the exchange in order to take the group in a newer, more focused direction.
In his personal life, Scott is an avid fan of extreme endurance challenges. He is a multiple Ironman finisher, has run more than fifty marathons, climbed several iconic mountains, swum the English Channel, completed the Naseba7 (seven Ironman triathlons in seven consecutive days across the seven Emirates of the UAE), and finished the Marathon des Sables – a seven-day race across the Sahara desert in Morocco, considered to be the most difficult foot race in the world – just to name a few of the challenges he has completed.
Scott is a strong believer in the power of fasting and prayer.
Since 2016, he has completed many long fasts and consistently fasts 3-4 days a week.
In 2020, (for his 49th birthday challenge) Scott took advantage of the Covid lock down and travel constraints, and fasted a total of 275 days (75% of the year) which included 3 separate 40 day fasts.
Scott has lived outside of America since 1995. He has traveled to more than 120 countries including numerous travels to contentious hot spots such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, and Yemen.
He currently lives with his family in the south of France.
Sophie Le Ray is an entrepreneur, an author and an experienced business facilitator. In 2002, she co-founded Naseba, a business facilitation company specialising in emerging markets. She was appointed CEO in 2009 and is responsible for overseeing the operations of the company across its offices in the Middle East, India, Pakistan, China, the US and Europe.
Sophie has over twenty years of experience in producing and organising business platforms and has been based in the Middle East for over a decade. She began a career in public relations before finding her niche in B2B conference production.
She is the founder and spokesperson of the Global WIL Economic Forum, a platform that promotes women’s economic empowerment and celebrates diversity and inclusion worldwide. She is also the co-author of ‘Game Changers: How Women in the Arab World Are Changing the Rules and Shaping the Future’, published by Motivate Publishing in May 2016 and winner of ‘The Best International Non-Fiction’ award at Sharjah International Book Fair, 2017.
Written by: JUAN CARLOS PASTOR @ IE Business School Women’s position in management and leadership has been prominently discussed in the business literature for over three decades. Yet there is increased frustration that the empowerment of women is not advancing quickly enough. Women continue to lag behind men at every…
Valentino Barrioseta sat with Sophie Le Ray during the 20th WIL Economic Forum to discuss women empowerment and the future of women in the economy. Valentino was also a guest speaker on our “Arts to promote social inclusion” panel discussion. You can visit Resonance Collective to hear the podcast here
Chantel Rijtma and Leandrie Pentz are the Dubai-based team behind PDSi Kids, a self-development programme supporting children in defining and achieving their ambitious goals. Later this month, they will travel to Ethiopia to support Naseba’s stretch programme, working with Rainbows4Children. What is your professional background and how did PDSi…
Who is Sophie le Ray? I am an entrepreneur, a mother to two girls and two dogs, a wife and business partner to my cofounder and a mentor to teenagers and young adults. I am the CEO of Naseba and in 2009, I founded what is now known as the…
Sophie Le Ray, Naseba CEO and WIL Economic Forum Founder takes a look back at the WIL Economic Forum, its community and the region’s D&I achievements over the last 10 years – and all that remains to be done. This article was originally published on LinkedIn by Sophie on October,…
He has over 20 years of experience working in the emerging markets. He started his career in London as a researcher for a multinational company, and moved into sales where he became the top performer in Europe for the company.
In 2003, he joined Naseba upon its creation and within 4 years was promoted to General Manager of the Dubai office. He played a key role in expanding and opening the company’s operations in Riyadh (KSA).
He was promoted to Managing Director in charge of product development in October 2006. In this position, Fabien opened up Iraq, expanded Naseba’s reach in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and in July 2013, opened up the company’s Algeria office servicing North African markets (Algeria, Libya and Tunisia).
In 2012, he was given the responsibility of running the Investor introduction division at Naseba (formerly called Naru capital) and has since built a solid team of analysts, servicing over 1,000 clients worldwide per year.
Fabien was born in Lyon in 1975, and holds a Master’s degree in Business and Economics. He lives with his wife and 2 sons in Dubai.
Nicholas was the first employee hired at Naseba in 2003.
He has been responsible for opening several of Naseba’s regional offices – including Europe, India, Africa and United States.
In October 2008, he was promoted to the position of Sales Director.
Under his tenure, the team grew to over 100 sales staff worldwide. He has forged partnerships with leading organisations such as Dubai International Film Festival, The International Telecoms Union, Yesser E-Government Program and several emerging market government partnerships including the Ministry of Civil Aviation in Abu Dhabi, Egypt, Qatar, Czech Republic, Morocco and Malaysia.
In 2012, Nicholas was promoted to Managing Director and head of digital innovation, leading the company’s technological evolution for a new digital world. Since then, under his leadership the company has grown its database tenfold, connected sales and marketing teams and enriched our understanding of client needs.
Prior to joining Naseba, Nicholas graduated with Honours in BSC Visualisation. An avid fitness enthusiast, Nicholas currently resides in Dubai with his wife and 2 children.
Joost has been active in venture capital and private equity all his professional life.
A Dutch citizen, he joined Oranje – Nassau Groep BV in 1976 and was responsible for setting up its venture capital and private equity business in Holland (Investeringen Oranje Nassau), France (Alpha Associes) , Belgium (Advent Belgium), the Far East (SEAVI in Singapore and ChinaVest in Hong Kong and Shanghai) and the US (Investments Orange Nassau Inc and Advent International in Boston).
He lived in Boston from 1980 until he moved back to Holland in 1993 to run Janivo Holding BV, a privately held investment company. Companies that he helped set up as an early investor include Biogen Idec (1978, biotechnology), Edap SA (1984, medical technology) and Tele Atlas BV (1989, digitised mapping).
Joost left Janivo in 2010 and is currently involved as an investor in several, mostly Dutch companies. He has been a board member of Naseba since 2011.
Joost resides in Bloemendaal (near Amsterdam) with his wife.
Tamara O’Flaherty is the Program Manager for Naseba’s Citizenship by Investment division.
She brings more than 7 years of experience working for the government of St. Kitts & Nevis in their Citizenship by Investment unit.
Although Tamara is a St. Kitts native, she holds a Malta passport, and understands perfectly the value of both Malta and St. Kitts & Nevis citizenship.
To help strengthen the communication and relationship between Naseba and our clients, she travels often splitting her time between Dubai, Malta and St. Kitts & Nevis.
“I specifically recruited Tamara because she is very professional and proved to be efficient. Tamara is an expert on both Malta and St. Kitts & Nevis citizenship programs, and knows all the intricate details of European and Caribbean citizenship. Tamara was the 2nd in charge of St Kitts & Nevis citizenship by investment unit, the only person above her was the CEO – thus, she brings an invaluable wealth of experience and know how to ensure a smooth and seamless service for all our clients.”
Scott Ragsdale, Chairman of Naseba Group
Written by: JUAN CARLOS PASTOR @ IE Business School Women’s position in management and leadership has been prominently discussed in the business literature for over three decades. Yet there is increased frustration that the empowerment of women is not advancing quickly enough. Women continue to lag behind men at every…
Valentino Barrioseta sat with Sophie Le Ray during the 20th WIL Economic Forum to discuss women empowerment and the future of women in the economy. Valentino was also a guest speaker on our “Arts to promote social inclusion” panel discussion. You can visit Resonance Collective to hear the podcast here
Kenyan Cabinet Secretary for ICT speaks at a stakeholders meeting in Nairobi. Kenyan Cabinet Secretary of ICT Mr. Joseph Mucheru met with senior government officials from the Kenyan Government to discuss the government’s cyber security efforts and the preparatory plans to host the inaugural Africa Cyber Defence Summit to be…
Once the stuff of sci-fi, today Artificial Intelligence (AI) is everywhere from our mobile phones to our household appliances and cars. In a nutshell, AI is the simulation of human intelligence in machines, achieved through machine learning, Natural Language Processing techniques (NLP), reasoning and correction. These techniques together make it…
Chantel Rijtma and Leandrie Pentz are the Dubai-based team behind PDSi Kids, a self-development programme supporting children in defining and achieving their ambitious goals. Later this month, they will travel to Ethiopia to support Naseba’s stretch programme, working with Rainbows4Children. What is your professional background and how did PDSi…
Who is Sophie le Ray? I am an entrepreneur, a mother to two girls and two dogs, a wife and business partner to my cofounder and a mentor to teenagers and young adults. I am the CEO of Naseba and in 2009, I founded what is now known as the…
Sophie Le Ray, Naseba CEO and WIL Economic Forum Founder takes a look back at the WIL Economic Forum, its community and the region’s D&I achievements over the last 10 years – and all that remains to be done. This article was originally published on LinkedIn by Sophie on October,…
Photo credit: From left to right: Ivo Detelinov, Vice President & Head of PE Fund, Riyadh Taqnia Fund, Hasan Haider, Partner, 500 startups, Joe Peterson , CEO of Sure Inc, Promoth Manghat, CEO, UAE Exchange, Nicholas Watson, Managing Director, Naseba Economically speaking, 2017 has been a rollercoaster year. From political fallout…
The Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) will co-host the 2nd Fintech Summit with Naseba, a business facilitation company, on October 30 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The summit will provide a platform for the region’s banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) decision makers to source and evaluate the latest developments…
The 20-member council met at Jumeirah Group’s headquarters in preparation for HITEC Dubai, the region’s largest hospitality technology showcase Hospitality Industry Technology Exposition and Conference (HITEC®), the world’s largest hospitality technology conference brand, will be coming to Dubai, UAE on November 14-15, 2017 at the Conrad Dubai. Produced in partnership by Hospitality…
On Friday, May 12, 2017, news broke about the ransomware attack which infected more than 200,000 systems in over 150 countries. The attack affected National Health Service centres in the UK, Renault production facilities in France and government agencies in Russia and China, just to name a few. Hackers responsible,…
His Royal Highness Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia is officially endorsing the conference and the Assistant Minister of Interior for Technology Affairs will deliver the opening speech November 6th, 2016 – The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is diversifying its economy with a series of historic and bold policy changes, and…
Cyber security has become a key priority for organisations in the Middle East lately following rising geopolitical tensions and a series of recent attacks against regional financial institutions. This is driving the growth of the regional cyber security market, which is predicted to be worth 9.56 billion USD by 2019…
Cyber security is not a field where trends happen easily, but the few that do appear tend to spread at wildfire speed. The newest innovation sweeping the regional cyber security sphere is “threat hunting”. Cyber security has graduated from threat detection and response, to actively pursuing sophisticated threats. According to…
Written By Nic Watson – Managing Director, Naseba The world’s largest cyber security market is, surprisingly, not a country: it’s the US Federal government.Every year, the US Federal government spends more on cyber security than is spent by the total population of any other country (including both the private and…
Employee engagement is a vast construct that touches almost all facets of human resource management. Over the years companies in the Middle East have been progressively appreciative of having effective employee engagement in place with positive outcomes on how happy employees can channel happier workplaces, and in turn have positive…
