Space Economic Forum Qatar

Business leadership and investment

With more than three decades of cross-sector business leadership, institutional engagement, and international commercial experience, His Excellency has built a formidable record of creating and developing enterprises, advancing major investment initiatives, establishing international business corridors, and connecting Qatar’s private sector with strategic opportunities across the Middle East, Asia, Africa, Europe, and the United States.

As the Founder and Group Chairman of Kingdom Investment Group and the Founder and Group Managing Director of OITC Group Al-Obaidly, His Excellency leads extensive and highly diversified business interests across investment and finance, infrastructure, engineering and contracting, fintech, artificial intelligence, digital banking, energy, oil and gas, real estate, transportation, logistics, education, healthcare, tourism, hospitality, food security, environmental development, and emerging technologies. His leadership combines the vision of an international investor with the practical experience of an industrial operator, enabling him to identify opportunities, structure partnerships, mobilize relationships, and translate ambitious ideas into commercially viable initiatives.

Qatar’s private sector and institutional leadership

His Excellency has played an influential role in the advancement of Qatar’s business, industrial, and private-sector interests. As a Board Member of the Qatar Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Secretary General of the Business Council, Chairman of the Innovation and Technology Committee, Chairman of the Food Security and Environmental Committee, and Chairman of the Committee for Reviewing Laws and Legislation Related to the Private Sector, he has contributed to the development of policies, initiatives, and institutional frameworks affecting businesses throughout Qatar.

Through these responsibilities, His Excellency has operated at the highest levels of commerce, industry, investment, and private-sector representation. He has worked closely with government institutions, ministries, business owners, investors, and industry leaders to address commercial challenges, encourage private-sector participation, strengthen Qatar’s investment environment, and advance national economic-development priorities. His work reflects a deep understanding of how government, industry, capital, technology, and entrepreneurship must be aligned to create sustainable and internationally competitive economic growth.

International cooperation and industrial experience

His Excellency’s chamber-of-commerce leadership and international engagement extend far beyond Qatar. He has held prominent board and leadership responsibilities involving Arab and international chambers of commerce, bilateral business councils, investment platforms, and private-sector organizations connecting Qatar with Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Kazakhstan, and other strategic markets. Through these roles, he has developed longstanding relationships with government representatives, investors, family offices, corporations, financial institutions, industrial groups, entrepreneurs, and influential business leaders across multiple continents.

His Excellency is recognized for his ability to build trusted relationships across cultures, industries, and jurisdictions. His extensive international network, diplomatic commercial approach, understanding of foreign markets, and experience navigating complex business environments have enabled him to establish meaningful connections between Qatar and major international centers of investment, industry, technology, and innovation. He brings to every initiative not only access and influence, but also sound commercial judgment, institutional credibility, and the ability to unite diverse stakeholders behind a shared strategic objective.

Throughout his career, His Excellency has led, supported, or facilitated initiatives involving infrastructure, ports and harbors, power generation, water desalination, engineering and construction, digital banking, financial technology, food security, transportation, real estate, tourism, healthcare, education, and international investment. His experience encompasses foreign direct investment, cross-border capital formation, public-private partnerships, sovereign and institutional relationships, joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions, regulatory engagement, and the creation of new commercial platforms. This breadth of experience makes him exceptionally qualified to lead initiatives that require industrial knowledge, international reach, institutional cooperation, and long-term economic vision.

Founding leadership of SEF Qatar

As Founding Chairman of Space Economic Forum Qatar, His Excellency brings precisely the vision, leadership, credibility, and international business strength required to advance its global mission.

The emerging Earth-Moon economy will not be built by the space sector alone. It will require the coordinated participation of governments, sovereign investors, financial institutions, infrastructure developers, advanced-technology companies, industrial corporations, universities, entrepreneurs, and established business families. His Excellency possesses the rare cross-sector experience and international convening power needed to bring these communities together.

Under his founding leadership, SEF Qatar is positioned to become far more than an international conference. It is being developed as an influential platform through which global decision-makers can form partnerships, mobilize investment, establish new ventures, advance technology transfer, expand industrial cooperation, and shape the commercial architecture of the Earth-Moon economy. His Excellency’s ability to connect strategic vision with practical execution will be central to ensuring that the Forum produces enduring commercial and institutional outcomes.

His Excellency’s leadership substantially strengthens SEF Qatar’s ability to engage sovereign institutions, governments, chambers of commerce, global corporations, investment groups, technology pioneers, and emerging space nations. His knowledge of Qatari industry and his standing within the country’s business community provide SEF Qatar with a powerful national foundation, while his international relationships give the organization the reach required to build a truly global platform headquartered in Doha.

He also brings a clear understanding of the importance of aligning international opportunity with tangible benefits for Qatar. Through SEF Qatar, his leadership can help create new pathways for Qatari businesses to enter space and aerospace supply chains, attract international investment and advanced technologies, establish strategic joint ventures, establish food security and agricultural sustainability programs, develop specialized workforce capabilities, and participate in industries that will define the coming decades. This directly supports Qatar’s continued economic diversification, technological advancement, industrial expansion, and emergence as an influential center for international business and innovation.

His Excellency brings to SEF Qatar far more than prestige. He brings proven entrepreneurial leadership, extensive industrial knowledge, international credibility, commercial judgment, institutional relationships, and a demonstrated ability to operate effectively across the public and private sectors. These capabilities are essential to transforming the Forum’s ambitions into partnerships, investments, enterprises, and lasting economic value.

As Founding Chairman of Space Economic Forum Qatar, His Excellency Mohamed bin Ahmed Al Obaidly represents the strength, sophistication, and global ambition of Qatar’s private sector. His leadership will be instrumental in establishing Doha as a principal international center for shaping the business, investment, industrial, and geopolitical dimensions of the Earth-Moon economy. Through his vision and influence, SEF Qatar is positioned not merely to participate in this emerging economic era, but to help convene its leaders, define its priorities, and shape its future.

Founding vision and institutional structure

Neal S. Lachman is a contrarian investor, serial entrepreneur, strategic architect, technology pioneer, and institution builder whose career has been defined by recognizing transformative industries before they reach their commercial inflection points. Across more than 37 years, he has developed ambitious ventures in telecommunications, satellite broadcasting, broadband infrastructure, aerospace, human spaceflight, and the emerging Earth-Moon economy. His work combines technological foresight, commercial strategy, systems-level thinking, and the determination to pursue opportunities years before their wider economic importance becomes apparent.

As Founder of Space Economic Forum LLC, and Founding Executive Vice-Chairman & CEO of Space Economic Forum Qatar, Neal is building an international platform focused on the economic, industrial, financial, technological, and geopolitical dimensions of humanity’s expansion beyond Earth. He conceived the Space Economic Forum as far more than a conference or annual gathering. It is intended to become a permanent global platform through which governments, sovereign investors, corporations, financial institutions, entrepreneurs, scientists, engineers, universities, and emerging space nations can participate in shaping the commercial architecture of the Earth-Moon economy.

Space Economic Forum LLC is majority-owned by Titans Space Industries Inc., connecting the Forum directly to an ambitious integrated program for space transportation, infrastructure, human spaceflight, and long-term Earth-Moon economic development. N.S. Lachman & Co. LLC, also founded by Neal, serves as the organizer and manager of Space Economic Forum LLC. Through this structure, Neal has brought together a team of more than 100 professionals responsible for technological vision, strategic management, industry knowledge, institutional development, international positioning, and commercial execution within a unified framework.

N.S. Lachman & Co. provides the organizational and strategic capabilities required to develop the Space Economic Forum into an influential international institution. Its responsibilities encompass program architecture, stakeholder engagement, partnership development, commercial strategy, international expansion, and the coordination of relationships across industry, government, finance, technology, and academia. The objective is to ensure that the Forum produces outcomes extending well beyond discussion, creating an environment in which relationships can become partnerships, partnerships can become ventures, and ventures can become enduring economic and industrial capabilities.

Neal’s objectives are grounded in the conviction that the Earth-Moon economy will become one of the defining economic transformations of the twenty-first century. The expansion of sustained human activity into Low Earth Orbit (LEO), Cis-Lunar space, and the lunar environment will require interconnected capabilities across transportation, energy, communications, construction, advanced manufacturing, robotics, artificial intelligence, finance, insurance, healthcare, education, tourism, logistics, resource development, and public infrastructure.

Neal and his team believe this new economy cannot be built exclusively by government space agencies and traditional aerospace contractors. It will require the active participation of the wider global economy, including institutional investors, family offices, infrastructure developers, technology companies, financial institutions, universities, entrepreneurs, and countries that have historically remained outside the established space sector. The Space Economic Forum was created to bring these communities into the process and provide them with credible pathways to participate in the industries developing between Earth and the Moon.

Leadership in Qatar

As Founding Executive Vice-Chairman & CEO of Space Economic Forum Qatar, Neal and his team are bringing this international mission to Doha in partnership with His Excellency Mohamed bin Ahmed Al Obaidly, Founding Chairman of SEF Qatar, who acquired the international and global rights for the Space Economic Forum. Their complementary leadership combines Qatar’s institutional strength, business standing, and international relationships with the strategic vision, technological architecture, and global mission of the wider organizational ecosystem.

Neal views Qatar as far more than a host country for an international event. He sees a nation with the leadership, capital, infrastructure, global credibility, geographic position, and convening power required to become a major center for the next generation of space-related commerce and industry. SEF Qatar is therefore being developed as an enduring platform through which Qatar can convene global decision-makers, attract strategic investment, advance technology partnerships, stimulate industrial cooperation, and secure an influential position within the emerging Earth-Moon economy.

This vision is closely aligned with Qatar’s long-term objectives in economic diversification, technological development, education, investment, and international engagement. SEF Qatar can create pathways for Qatari companies to enter aerospace and space-industry supply chains, establish international joint ventures, attract advanced capabilities, cultivate specialized talent, and participate in markets extending from terrestrial infrastructure to orbital and lunar development. Neal’s experience building enterprises around technologies before their widespread adoption gives him a distinctive understanding of how early participation can become a durable national advantage.

Satellite broadcasting and broadband pioneering

That perspective was forged through decades of entrepreneurial experience. Neal entered the satellite industry in 1992 at the age of 22, when he independently contacted PanAmSat to investigate commercial satellite-transponder opportunities. That initiative led Neal and his brothers into the international satellite broadcasting business and, by 1995, to securing three global digital satellite broadcasting licenses.

By the end of the 1990s, Neal and his brothers had become recognized within the satellite and telecommunications sectors for their ambitious broadband plans. Their InternetHyperGate venture was promoted through major international media, including CNBC, CNN, The Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, and The Economist. The venture secured a prominent advertising position in the millennium edition of The Economist, reflecting the scale and confidence of a business developed when satellite broadband remained years ahead of mainstream adoption.

In a 1999 pilot with Eutelsat, Neal and his brothers financed the demonstration of advanced satellite broadband capabilities for residences before comparable services became widely available. At that time, zero homes had satellite broadband access. The initiative anticipated important elements of the commercial satellite broadband industry that subsequently emerged.

Beginning around 2000, Neal and his brothers also invested millions of dollars in early fiber-to-the-home concepts when residential fiber connectivity was virtually nonexistent. They pursued gigabit-speed fiber and wireless-network strategies intended to deliver advanced connectivity to millions of households. These initiatives challenged established telecommunications models and anticipated the high-capacity digital infrastructure that now supports much of the global economy.

The experience taught Neal how to identify technological inflection points, mobilize resources around unconventional ideas, confront resistance from established industries, and continue building when markets have not yet caught up with the vision. He regards both success and adversity as integral to genuine innovation. Those lessons now inform his leadership across Space Economic Forum LLC, N.S. Lachman & Co. LLC, Titans Space Industries Inc., and Space Economic Forum Qatar.

Space transportation and human participation

As Founding CEO and Chief of Spacecraft Design of Titans Space Industries Inc., Neal is directing the development of an integrated space-access and Earth-Moon transportation architecture centered on fully reusable, horizontal-takeoff and horizontal-landing spaceplanes. The broader Titans system is being designed to support high-frequency access to LEO, orbital destinations, large-scale space infrastructure, lunar transportation, and eventual permanent economic activity on and around the Moon.

Neal does not approach spacecraft as isolated engineering projects. He views space development as a complete economic and operational system requiring vehicles, orbital facilities, lunar infrastructure, passenger programs, payload services, industrial capacity, trained participants, financing mechanisms, and sufficient commercial demand to sustain frequent operations. This ability to integrate engineering, economics, operations, and human participation is one of the defining strengths he brings to the Space Economic Forum.

The Titans Astronauts and Astronaut Candidate program reflects this wider philosophy. It is intended to assemble an international community of astronaut candidates, entrepreneurs, investors, professionals, and future lunar-development participants. The program embodies Neal’s belief that the next era of space exploration must expand beyond a small number of government-selected astronauts and include a much broader community capable of contributing expertise, capital, leadership, and purpose.

Neal’s strategic papers and technological frameworks examine the infrastructure and institutional systems required for a functioning Earth-Moon economy. His analysis extends beyond spacecraft engineering into economics, governance, investment, logistics, human settlement, industrial development, education, and international cooperation. This multidisciplinary perspective enables him to connect technical space-development objectives with the priorities of governments, investors, businesses, universities, and the wider public.

Building the Earth-Moon economy

He brings a founder’s determination and a technologist’s discipline to every organization he builds. His leadership is characterized by long-range thinking, deep personal commitment, intellectual independence, and the willingness to pursue objectives that initially appear too ambitious to conventional institutions. He does not regard the future as something to be passively predicted. He approaches it as something that must be deliberately designed, financed, organized, and built.

This philosophy defines the Space Economic Forum. Governments require credible industrial and investment partners. Companies require access to capital, customers, and markets. Investors require structured and intelligible opportunities. Emerging nations require meaningful points of entry. Universities require pathways into industry, while entrepreneurs require access to decision-makers. SEF is designed to connect these interests within a single international platform and convert shared ambition into investable projects, industrial partnerships, new enterprises, and lasting national capabilities.

As Founding Executive Vice-Chairman & CEO, Neal provides SEF Qatar with entrepreneurial vision, technological understanding, international orientation, and execution-focused leadership. Together with His Excellency Mohamed bin Ahmed Al Obaidly and the wider SEF Qatar leadership and team, consisting of more than 60 professionals, he is working to establish a forum capable of producing measurable value for Qatar while advancing the global development of the Earth-Moon economy.

Neal’s earlier ventures anticipated important elements of the connected world that society now takes for granted. His work today is focused on building the frameworks for the world that comes next. Through Space Economic Forum LLC, N.S. Lachman & Co. LLC, Titans Space Industries Inc., and Space Economic Forum Qatar, he is bringing together the people, capital, technologies, industries, and institutions required to transform humanity’s expansion beyond Earth into a sustainable economic reality.

Neal S. Lachman is helping position SEF Qatar not simply as a prominent international gathering, but as a center of influence for the next industrial era. His ambition is for Doha to become one of the principal places where the future Earth-Moon economy is discussed, structured, financed, and advanced. His career has consistently been defined by recognizing consequential technological and economic transitions before they become obvious. Through SEF Qatar, he is applying that same foresight to one of the greatest economic transformations in human history.

Engineering and strategic leadership

Dipanjan Das is a multidisciplinary engineer, technology strategist, space-economy leader, and Astronaut Candidate (ASCAN) working at the intersection of advanced engineering, human spaceflight, orbital infrastructure, and the emerging Earth–Moon economy.

As President and Chief Photonics and Orbital Systems Engineer at Titans Space Industries Inc., Dipanjan contributes to the company’s strategic and technical direction while supporting international partnerships, commercial development, and technologies for future orbital and cislunar infrastructure. His multidisciplinary engineering background spans photonics and optics, applied physics, electronics, RF and antenna systems, wireless technologies, IoT, robotics, autonomous systems, digital twins, additive manufacturing, and advanced sensing.

Astronaut training and technical interests

Dipanjan is also an Astronaut Candidate with Titans Space Industries, having successfully completed Phase 1 of the TSI Astronaut Training Program. His astronaut-training experience complements his engineering work by providing a human-centered perspective on the operational and technological requirements of future human spaceflight.

His technical interests include space photonics, optical sensing and communications, Earth observation, hyperspectral technologies, satellite systems, orbital communications, autonomous robotics, digital twins, RF systems, human-spaceflight technologies, and advanced manufacturing for extraterrestrial environments.

Connecting the global space economy

As President of the Space Economic Forum (SEF), Dipanjan focuses on connecting governments, space agencies, investors, industry leaders, researchers, technology companies, and entrepreneurs around the development of the global space economy. His work particularly focuses on the emerging Earth–Moon economic corridor, including orbital infrastructure, communications, energy, Earth observation, lunar logistics, advanced manufacturing, resource utilization, finance, policy, standards, and human capability.

Innovation ecosystems and long-term focus

His professional journey across Finland and Europe has also involved innovation ecosystems, Horizon Europe projects, SMEs, startups, research organizations, and international technology initiatives.

His long-term focus is on contributing to the engineering, infrastructure, and economic foundations required for a sustainable human presence beyond Earth.

Entrepreneurial roots and technology ventures

Aniel brings over 37 years of diverse business experience, ranging from pioneering satellite broadcasting in 1995 and satellite internet (InternetHyperGate) in 1998, to early fiber-to-the-home initiatives in 2000.

Aniel and his brother, Neal S. Lachman (Principal Founder of Titans Universe), have been business partners since 1989, when they began as teenagers running a small snack bar in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. They have come a long way since those early beginnings.

Corporate leadership and real estate development

He currently serves as Co-Founder, COO, Corporate Controller, and Chief of Real Estate at Titans Space Industries Inc. and Space Economic Forum LLC.

He also serves as the Founder & CEO of Kishan Bhumandla N.V., a project developer in Suriname with a planned pipeline of large-scale initiatives. These include KB-Smart-City, a master-planned initiative designed with a projected lifespan of at least 500 years, and a joint venture to develop Titans Universe’s proposed spaceport near the South American equator.

Business philosophy

A philosopher, businessman, and entrepreneur shaped by a real-world “school of life” that transcends traditional education, Aniel maintains strict neutrality in the business world. He believes that politics and religion are sources of division that undermine the integrity of professional operations.

Business experience and legal advisory

Mahinder Lachman is an entrepreneur, legal advisor, and angel investor with more than 37 years of professional experience spanning business ventures, legal advisory, entrepreneurship, and investment. Since 1999, he has operated his own legal advisory firm, providing professional guidance across business and legal matters.

Angel investment and entrepreneurial ventures

Mahinder has been an angel investor since the 1990s, supporting emerging businesses and entrepreneurial ventures. He was also a co-founding investor in the Netherlands’ first millionaire and elite magazine, established by his brothers, including Neal S. Lachman, principal founder of Titans, and Anielpersad Lachman. He has additionally been a significant angel investor in many of Neal Lachman’s previous business ventures.

Supporting startups and entrepreneurs

In 2018, Mahinder co-founded BusinessLegals, a business and legal advisory firm focused on supporting startups and entrepreneurs through consultancy, strategic guidance, and seed investment.

Trisoria and executive leadership

Mahinder currently serves as Founder & CEO of Trisoria / Lachman Exclusive Collections B.V., an enterprise focused on developing and curating exclusive collections. The company is scheduled to officially launch in the Netherlands on October 12, 2026.

He brings decades of practical experience in entrepreneurship, business development, investment and advisory services, complemented by his legal expertise.

Investment leadership and the Titans founding team

Sanjay is a senior venture capital, mergers and acquisitions (M&A), and technology investment professional with more than 20 years of experience spanning investment advisory, corporate transactions, business development, and operating roles. He has been involved with the Titans founding team since 2008, contributing to the organization’s long-term strategic and business development activities.

M&A advisory and transactions

Sanjay previously served as Managing Director of M&A Advisory at KPMG, where he advised private equity and corporate clients on more than 100 transactions. His experience includes both buy-side and sell-side M&A, with expertise spanning transaction due diligence, valuation, financial and business modeling, deal structuring, negotiation, and post-transaction integration.

Venture capital and portfolio development

He previously served as a Vice President at Amphion Capital Partners, where he contributed to raising $150 million and established business development and financing programs for portfolio companies and partner spin-offs based on intellectual property in software, materials technology, and electronics.

Education

Sanjay holds an MBA in Finance & Marketing from Pace University, New York, an M.S. in Systems & Control from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, and a B.S. in Electronic/Communication Engineering.

Medical education and human factors

He earned his Doctor of Medicine from Bordeaux University in 2006, graduating as valedictorian. His academic background also includes a Research MSc in Cognitive Sciences from the Polytechnic Institute of Bordeaux, focused on human factors, and a Master’s degree in Biomedical Science. His multidisciplinary training connects clinical medicine, human factors, operational medicine, leadership, and the challenges of human performance in extreme environments.

Aeromedical operations and aviation instruction

Saget has extensive operational experience as a rotary-wing evacuation team Flight Surgeon for United Nations missions, providing aeromedical support in complex humanitarian and conflict environments. He has also served as a Theoretical Knowledge Instructor for Airline Transport Pilot License students, teaching Human Performance and Limitations.

Microgravity operations and astronaut training

For more than 12 years, he has served as a Weightless Flight Surgeon during microgravity research campaigns conducted for space agencies. As a ZeroG Instructor, he has trained astronauts, researchers, and commercial participants in microgravity operations and safety.

Mars analog missions and extreme environments

He has also led Mars analog missions as Crew Commander, including an early all-medical-personnel analog mission, studying operational, medical, and psychological challenges associated with isolation and confinement. His research interests include psychological aspects of isolated, confined, and extreme (ICE) environments and remote medicine challenges.

Human health, performance and exploration

Through his work in clinical medicine, spaceflight operations, analog research, astronaut training, and executive leadership, Saget contributes to advancing human health, performance, safety, and exploration beyond Earth. He is also an advocate for STEAM education, science, exploration, inclusivity, and human-centered approaches to space exploration.