Stephan Ouaknine
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Stephan Ouaknine is a Canadian business magnate, best known for his activities in the telecommunications industry and in renewable energy. A native of Montreal, Ouaknine has been active at international events including the Clinton Global Initiative, the Durban World Climate Summit and the Rio+20 World Green Summit, and has been named one of Canada's most notable entrepreneurs by Profit magazine.[1]
Ouaknine, the son of Moroccan and Egyptian immigrants to Canada, attended McGill University and moved to the Israeli start-up industry,[2] first joining a dot-com multimedia company then known as Geo-Interactive. As vice-president of business development, Ouaknine led the firm's 1996 IPO on the London Stock Exchange under the name Emblaze.[3]
Telecom industry
In 1998, Ouaknine founded Airslide Systems, an advanced telecommunications equipment company, from his home in Tel Aviv. He raised over $36 million in venture capital for this firm from investors including George Soros, Sequoia Capital, Intel and SingTel.[4] The firm's assets were ultimately acquired by Dialogic Corporation.[5]
After exiting Airslide, Ouaknine returned to Montreal to found Blueslice Networks in 2002.[6][7] Blueslice produced evolved Subscriber Data Management (eSDM) solutions for mobile operators.[8] The firm was acquired in 2010 by Morrisville-based Tekelec.[9]