Hamza Elessawy

Pixelence · Kuala Lumpur

• Co-founded the world’s first non-contrast AI solution for brain MRI — GAN-based contrast synthesis that eliminates Gadolinium injections. Mission: 90% of global brain MRI scans contrast-free by 2029.
• Published peer-reviewed research in the Journal of Clinical Oncology — clinical trial of 156 brain tumor patients, 40 doctor reviews, peer-reviewed by 9 researchers.
• Active clinical trials at NUHS, IDC, and UPM. Training data partnerships covering 350K patients (Elborg Radiology) and 17M EMR records (Islamabad Diagnostic Centre).
• RM200K raised (CIP Spark Grant + WatchTower VC). European Innovation Council Grant Phase 1 approved — €2.5M target. Patent search initiated.
• 2nd Place — Eureka IIEC 2025 (Zagreb, 60+ global applicants). Top 3 — Malaysia Startup World Cup.

Xanadu AI Factory · Kuala Lumpur

• Venture-building operation co-founded with Hussain Al Menyawy (two-time Egyptian founder, networked across Arab, Gulf, and African ecosystems). Thesis: help promising founders validate from the product and business side faster — bypassing endless accelerator cycles.
• Active operation with equity stakes. Running sprints, defining product direction, connecting founders with first clients and investors.
• Tapback (parallel): PM for restaurant tech startup now operating in Saudi Arabia — revamped core product, introduced pre-order and table-reservation models, now in final stages of a licensing deal with a major Saudi financial institution.

BrioHR (Y Combinator W21) · Kuala Lumpur

• Joined pre-Series A during a period of significant company growth and hiring — one of only two PMs in the organization.
• Led AI adoption strategy across BrioHR’s HR platform, identifying where AI could create real product value rather than surface-level features.
• Navigated the organizational dynamics of introducing AI into an established team and earning trust in a fast-moving, newly scaled environment.

Multiple Clients · Kuala Lumpur

• OtonocoAI: Built regulatory AI compliance product from zero, including a document comparison tool. Connected the team with Kananga Malaysia and two Malaysian banks. Company raised pre-seed from Antler.
• Trisilco: Six months embedded with the CEO on a live CIMB project building modern AI-powered credit scoring systems — brought direct credit bureau expertise from I-SCORE into the engagement.
• EY Malaysia: Designed and delivered an AI and RAG workshop for EY employees.
• AI Tinkerers KL (Co-Director): Grew KL’s most active AI practitioner community — a direct pipeline for consulting work, client introductions, and funded startup collaborations.

Antler Malaysia (MY2 cohort) · Kuala Lumpur

• Identified top co-founder candidate within the first days of the program. Landed on eliminating Gadolinium contrast injections in brain MRI, brought a clinical oncologist with published domain research as third co-founder.
• Reached Antler investment finals. The company became Pixelence.

Tapway · Kuala Lumpur

• Joined one month after a cardiac event, two weeks after an angiogram, to lead product at a loss-making AI computer vision company with no CTO, no technical lead, and no solution architect.
• Turned the company profitable by RM500K within 18 months. Launched Malaysia’s first computer vision ISV on AWS Marketplace.
• Built two products from zero: Samurai Central and Samurai Copilot — a no-code CV platform enabling enterprise vision model deployment without engineering dependency.
• Led deployments at Changi Airport (via Huawei), Penang Port, Petronas, Sime Darby Automotive, and KLK Palm Oil across Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines.
• Rebuilt product function from scratch — hired a product designer (now Design Lead at Noon), structured the labeling team, owned the full ML pipeline from image collection through model training QC.

DXC Technology · BAE Systems, Manchester United

• BAE Systems: Led three remote Scrum squads across web and mobile application development — owned backlog, sprint planning, and release coordination across global teams.
• Manchester United: Brought in as additional 0.5 FTE for PMO-level work — capability management, hiring plan alignment with finance, timeline coordination.

Skip Pay · Egypt

• Built a contactless payment and personal finance app for Egypt, Libya, and Iraq — driven by firsthand understanding of financial exclusion from I-SCORE credit infrastructure work.
• 300+ customer interviews before building. Launched functional beta on Google Play. Finalist at Orange Corners (Netherlands- funded international accelerator).
• Shut down cleanly when licensing failed rather than drag it out.

Egyptian Credit Bureau (I-SCORE) · Cairo

• First Technical PM at Egypt’s national credit bureau — applications used by every bank and financial institution in the country.
• Led the launch of four application versions — deployment planning, technical assessment, QA in a high-security on-premise environment.
• Owned the product and technical relationship between I-SCORE and its external vendor — translating between database teams, network leads, security, and Central Bank stakeholders.

Div Systems · Cairo

• Shipped early-stage products across supply chain, e-commerce, e-learning, and sports with founding teams. Core skill built: reading a new domain fast and finding the real problem underneath the stated one.

T360 Technology · Cairo

• Co-founded an IT consulting and technical services firm during university. Serviced 20+ clients across network infrastructure, web development, email systems, and surveillance installations — under SLA agreements with recurring contracts.
• Signed my first client contract at 20. Built the book from scratch — friends asking for help with websites became formal contracts with businesses across Cairo.

ISM University of Management and Economics · Zagreb School of Economics and Management · HEC Liège

Erasmus Mundus program. Focus: impact entrepreneurship, data-driven decision making, sustainable business models.

The Open University (UK)