Advisory, Innovation & Ventures
Succeed and Grow In the Digital Economy
Advisory, Innovation & Ventures
Succeed and Grow In the Digital Economy
Services
Advisory
Innovation
Innovation
Strategic consultancy and advisory engagements across Digital, Fintech, Innovation and Ventures.
We partner CXO's, Founders, Boards and Executive Leadership with shaping their organisations, products and services for high growth in the developed, emerging and online market.
Innovation
Innovation
Innovation
Strategic Consulting, partnership development, Go-To-Market and design services to ensure you launch and ready to scale for global success in the new digital economy.
Ventures
Innovation
Ventures
Support with venture building, strategic capital alignment, corporate venture and ecosystem development across all stages of the funding and growth life cycle.
TEAM
Karl Tlais
John Lillywhite
John Lillywhite
Founder
Strategic Advisor
Karl is the Founder of iAdvisory and a Strategic Advisor, board member of several organizations across the globe pioneering the Digital and Data Economy. A Dubai Future Fellow, he advises on building a future-ready economy and supporting the government leadership in designing a future ready economy across key industries. He is a co-chair of the Capital Club Dubai Transformational Business Leaders committee, where he leads the Digital Economy, AI, and Fintech initiatives including public policy forums and dialogues across industry.
A strategic business leader with over 25 years’ experience building market presence and driving revenue growth across Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East, and Africa; Karl has developed global and regional ecosystem partnerships in the government, enterprise, and start-up sector.
Karl has held key executive leadership roles with several global industry leaders. These include establishing and leading the Visa Strategic Partnerships, Fintech, and Ventures group in CEMEA; leading the Microsoft Enterprise Partnership team across MEA and heading the Cisco Service Provider Cloud and Managed Services GTM in Emerging Markets and APAC.
He is an inventor with a co-invented global IP patent in digital payments, and co-authored a white paper on “Economics and AI in The Metaverse” among other publications.
John Lillywhite
John Lillywhite
John Lillywhite
Advisor
John Lillywhite is a Research Associate for the Mohammed bin Rashid School of Government, working at the intersection of technology and the creative industries.
John serves as a formal advisor to a significant Metaverse platform, a Blockchain based Global Governance organisation and a Tokenisation Micro-Economy for emerging artists in the Middle East.
He co-authored in September 2021 a White Paper on 'Economics and Artificial Intelligence in the Metaverse', widely distributed across the private and public sector in the UAE.
John has previously served as a Google Research Associate, Founder of Project Pen and as Senior Analyst at the Royal Court in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.
Mark Harrison
Mark Harrison
Mark Harrison
Advisor
Web3 feasibility and transition, DAO, Tokenomics, Community strategy, NFT strategy, data and blockchain
After 9 years in the UK military, Mark worked for a major UK bank in the Ventures organisation, designing and running programmes to give UK startups access to the best of investment and market access globally working with regulators and public/private entities and VCs globally.
He then launched Kindana, focussed on giving consumers ownership and consent-based sharing and monetisation of their data, whilst navigating data regulation to give businesses better access to consumer data - now building in web3 on Lens Protocol.
He has also launched an NFT digital fashion collection for a Swedish fashion brand on Solana, been involved in the Helium LoRaWaN network rollout in Sweden, led the community lead and community token design at Across Protocol, (featured in Bankless) an L2 bridge on Ethereum and is an advisor to several web3 projects, having most recently written the whitepaper and open letter for Moments of Space, a meditation app targeting web3 and wealth redistribution using DeFi. Partnerships across projects include with Optimism, Galaxe, Boba, World of Women, BAYC, Gucci, and more.
Osman Alam
Mark Harrison
Mark Harrison
Advisor
Innovation Strategist & Digital Transformation Leader
Osman is an accomplished leader with over a decade of experience at the forefront of innovation and digital transformation, delivering impactful solutions across financial services, smart cities, and digital government. Specializing in building and scaling innovation hubs and ecosystems, Osman fosters collaboration, rapid experimentation, and the adoption of emerging technologies such as AI, large language models (LLMs), and XR to drive sustainable growth and operational excellence. His work includes leading cross-functional teams to design and execute Proof of Concepts (PoCs) in digital wallets, smart city infrastructure, and digital identity solutions, positioning organizations as pioneers in their respective markets.
Having successfully established and matured multiple Centers of Excellence (CoEs) across CEMEA, Osman has created immersive environments for co-creation and ecosystem engagement. His expertise extends to forging strategic partnerships that connect startups, corporates, and public institutions, fostering inclusive and innovative ecosystems. Osman has played a pivotal role in shaping strategic conversations at key industry events, contributing thought leadership in areas such as cashless societies, next-generation payments, and digital identity.
Recognized for translating visionary ideas into actionable outcomes, Osman’s leadership style emphasizes collaboration, creativity, and continuous learning. With a focus on ethical AI and responsible innovation, he helps organizations navigate complexity and implement future-ready solutions that align with their business goals. His passion for leveraging digital innovation to solve real-world challenges continues to fuel his commitment to driving positive, lasting change in the digital economy.