Karine Yengo KaisaCommercial Strategist · Author · Speaker

I study decisions.

The decisions businesses make when entering new markets, and the ones people make at turning points in their lives.

StructureCritiqueExecutionResults
Invite Karine to speak Speaking topics
Karine Yengo Kaisa — Hero portrait
Next on stage · 20–22 Oct 2026 DEWA Health & Safety Hub, WETEX The Bias in the Machine — why AI-augmented safety needs human-aware leadership
Platforms & recognition
  • Horasis
  • DEWA
  • WETEX
  • Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week
  • AIM Congress
  • RIT Dubai
  • NLG Global Digest
  • Conglomerate Magazine

Approach

Expansion decisions that cannot survive scrutiny should not be implemented.

Karine Yengo Kaisa

Decisions in marketsCommercial

Research-led market entry

Karine's approach to market entry is research-led and informed by commercial intelligence. She works with data, context and on-ground case studies, across more than a decade of commercial growth, strategic partnerships and franchise expansion in the GCC and MENA.

Commercial intelligence means information about customers, competitors, partners and regulation, gathered and checked before money is committed.

The keynote on market entry
Decisions at turning pointsHuman

Crossroads

The same attention to decisions led to her book, Crossroads: When Change Brings Courage. Drawn from lived experience, it examines the art of decision-making during moments of loss, transition and transformation.

“You do not need a perfect plan to create meaningful impact. You need the courage to begin.”
About the book

The wider frame

Geopolitics, read at regional scale.

“Macro conditions at global scale affect micro decisions such as leadership behaviour, market risk and commercial opportunity at regional level. Understanding this relationship is part of how I work.”

Select a level to follow how one global shift reaches the decision on a leader's desk.

Example

A disruption to a major shipping route raises freight costs and delivery times worldwide.

Karine Yengo Kaisa — Profile portrait

Profile

A voice on leadership and governance in complex organisations.

Karine Yengo Kaisa is a commercial strategist, international bestselling author and speaker based in Dubai. Her work centres on one question: how people, and the systems they build, make well-informed decisions.

Over more than a decade across the GCC and MENA, she has led market assessments, go-to-market strategies and partner negotiations, taken European brands into new territories in the Middle East, and built relationships at C-suite level with consultants, developers and government entities on complex, multi-stakeholder projects.

As a member of the Horasis think tank, she writes on AI bias and governance. She advocates on workplace bias, harassment and psychological safety, making the case that wellbeing is core infrastructure for resilient, high-performing organisations. As founder of The Crossroads Movement, she mentors across the region on leadership, behavioural change, and building workplaces where people are safe enough to do their best work.

Discipline
Commercial strategy · market entry · decision-making
Think tank
Member, Horasis
Author
Crossroads: When Change Brings Courage · UAE bestseller, translated into Japanese
Founder
The Crossroads Movement
Recognition
DEWA award for promoting circadian-aligned workspaces, 2025
Languages
English, French
Based in
Dubai, UAE · speaks across the region and internationally

Expertise

Five fields, one line of inquiry.

Each field is a place where decisions are made under pressure and later judged. Select one to see the questions Karine puts to leadership teams.

Market entry and commercial intelligence

Entering a new market commits capital, people and reputation before results can be seen. Karine works from data, context and on-ground case studies: who decides, who influences, what the regulator will ask, and which partners will represent a brand when it is not in the room.

Go-to-market strategy: the plan for how a product or service reaches its first customers in a new market: channels, partners, pricing and sequence.

Questions for leadership

  • What do we know about this market, and what are we only assuming?
  • Who makes the final decision on the client side, and who shapes it?
  • Would this expansion plan survive an independent review?

Speaking

Keynotes and sessions.

Every session is shaped to the audience and the decisions in front of them. Filter by sector to see the most relevant topics.

Sector
DEWA Health & Safety Hub 2026SafetyUtilitiesTechnology

The Bias in the MachineWhy AI-augmented safety needs human-aware leadership

How AI and analytics can inherit and scale human bias in safety-critical decisions, and what organisational leaders should put in place to keep behavioural safety human-centred.

  • Where bias enters safety data, models and the decisions built on them
  • Oversight questions to settle before an AI safety tool is deployed
  • How leaders keep human judgement accountable alongside automation

Keynote · Panel · Executive briefing

Request this session

Working with Karine

Structure. Critique. Execution. Results.

The sequence she applies to market entry applies to every engagement, from the first briefing to the follow-up.

What happens

A briefing with your team on the audience, the context and the decisions they are facing. The session is built on that, with a clear line of argument.

You receive

  • A session outline for approval
  • The host introduction, written for your moderator
  • Bio and approved portraits
  • Formats
  • Keynote · 20–45 min
  • Panel
  • Moderated conversation
  • Executive workshop
  • Roundtable
  • Media & podcast

Appearances & recognition

On stage, in print, on record.

Karine Yengo Kaisa on stage — speaker reel still
Speaker reelRequest the full 60–90 second cut
Speaker reelOn request
Karine Yengo Kaisa on stage
Karine Yengo Kaisa in panel discussion
Karine Yengo Kaisa — editorial portrait
  1. Oct 2026

    DEWA Health & Safety Hub, WETEXUpcoming

    The Bias in the Machine · Dubai World Trade Centre · 20–22 October

  2. Sep 2026

    AIM Congress 2026

    Interview with Trace Africa · featured in the congress film · Dubai

  3. Jan 2026

    Horasis Insights

    Essay: Bias in AI Safety Systems as a Governance Crisis

  4. Oct 2025

    DEWA award

    For promoting circadian-aligned workspaces, where lighting follows the body's natural day-night rhythm

  5. Speaker

    WETEX

    Water, Energy, Technology and Environment Exhibition, Dubai

  6. Speaker

    Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week

    Abu Dhabi

  7. Broadcast

    International Women's Day

    Televised address

  8. Cover

    NLG Global Digest

    Cover feature, Issue 4

  9. Feature

    Conglomerate Magazine

    Profile feature

  10. Jury

    RIT Dubai

    Jury member and mentor, entrepreneurship programmes

  11. Member

    Horasis

    International think tank bringing together governments, corporate leaders and entrepreneurs

Writing

Essays and the book.

Horasis Insights · January 2026 Bias in AI Safety Systems as a Governance Crisis Biased facial recognition and AI safety systems are governance failures as much as technical ones. The essay argues for enforceable accountability, transparency requirements and ethical oversight, so that these systems do not carry historical discrimination forward.
Crossroads book cover — English edition

The book

CrossroadsWhen Change Brings Courage

UAE bestsellerTranslated into Japanese

A book drawn from lived experience that examines the art of decision-making during moments of loss, transition and transformation: the decisions people make under pressure, and how those decisions define what they become.

  • Book-led sessions for leadership programmes and teams in transition
  • Copies for delegates and corporate reading programmes
Buy on Amazon Buy on Noon For organisations

The Crossroads Movement

Mentorship and advocacy.

“I speak, mentor and advocate on themes I align with from a personal and professional standpoint.”

Karine founded The Crossroads Movement to mentor and advocate across the region on leadership, behavioural change, and building workplaces where people are safe enough to do their best work.

  • Mentoring

    Students, early-career professionals and first-time founders

  • Juries

    Entrepreneurship programmes at RIT Dubai

  • Workshops

    For organisations, universities and community programmes

Mentorship enquiries
Karine Yengo Kaisa — mentorship and advocacy

Press

For media and organisers.

  • NLG Global Digest

    Cover · Issue 4

  • Conglomerate Magazine

    Feature

  • Horasis Insights

    Essay · Jan 2026

    Bias in AI Safety Systems as a Governance Crisis

  • Trace Africa

    Interview

    Recorded at AIM Congress 2026, Dubai

  • International Women's Day

    Television

    Televised address

From organisers

In their words.

Karine brought exceptional clarity to our leadership summit. Her analysis of how global volatility impacts regional supply chains gave our executive board practical framework decisions we immediately implemented.

Global Energy & Utilities ForumExecutive Summit Chair

Her keynote on AI bias and psychological safety opened our teams' eyes to risks that never appear in standard risk reports. Deeply articulate, authoritative, and human-centred.

Enterprise HR Leadership SummitChief People Officer

A powerhouse voice in international commercial intelligence. Karine cuts through theoretical assumptions to deliver actionable market expansion strategies that survive real scrutiny.

Horasis Think TankProgram Director

Invitations

Invite Karine to speak.

For keynotes, panels, moderated conversations and executive workshops across the GCC and internationally. Share the brief in three steps. You will receive a reply within two working days.

EmailKarine@thecrossroadsmovement.com Phone+971 56 302 9496 LinkedInKarine M. Yengo Kaisa
Based inDubai, UAE
Step 1: Your organisation

Your organisation

Who is extending the invitation.

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