Mario Nawfal

Mario Nawfal (born May 8th, 1994) is a serial entrepreneur, angel investor, and international speaker based in Dubai. He currently serves as the Chairman of the Athena Group of Companies.
Nawfal is also the founder of IBC Group, Froothie, WeAreGrowthHackers, and Optimum. As an investor, Nawfal has contributed to the success of over 200 startups including Faith Tribe, Multibank, MetaVRse , Enjin Starter, Genopets, and Sidus Heroes.
Nawfal has also been seen at several conferences and talk shows, where he shares his industry expertise and how he managed to build Athena Group of Companies, which has a presence in over 40 countries and is made up of multiple subsidiaries empire along with sharing tips and tricks to build a business from the ground up. As of 2022, his net worth is predicted to be approximately $130 Million. As of 2022, his net worth is predicted to be approximately $130 Million.
==Early life and education==
Nawfal was born on 08 May, 1994. When he was six years old, he moved to Australia. Later he graduated from Monash University specializing in Banking and Finance.
==Career==
Nawfal started his career in 2012 when he founded Athena Group of Companies, a multinational conglomerate that has grown exponentially in the past decade, spanning its operations in over 40 countries with over 15 subsidiaries. Starting with Athena’s first company - Froothie International which is a Global Health & well-being conglomerate, known for selling blenders, Nawfal bootstrapped Froothie to $1m in year one and over $10m in year two using bootstrapping techniques starting with only $300.
In 2014, Following Froothie’s success, Nawfal launched HX, Optimum, The Real Food Revolution, and Prestige Home Appliances under the Athena Group’s umbrella.
He launched the GoGlobal business scaling incubator in 2016, which grew into the Athena Group of Companies. A year later he launched International Blockchain Consulting (IBC) which rose to become one of the most respected incubators and accelerators in the crypto and web 3 fields.
In 2018, Nawfal became a partner at International Blockchain Legal and launched his own VC fund.
Nawfal launched WeAreGrowthHackers in 2020, and it has grown into one of the world's largest growth hacking agencies in just two years. In the same year, he launched Drop Service Mafia, a not-for-profit platform dedicated to assisting other entrepreneurs in scaling their businesses.
Nawfal stepped down from CEO of IBC in 2021 to concentrate on his newest venture - NFT Technologies, a publicly listed company (Ticker: NFT) bridging the gap between crypto and the traditional financial space by giving easy access to retail and institutional inventors into NFTs, the metaverse and Web 3.
==Controversy==
In 2021, Mario rose to prominence on Clubhouse after he was momentarily banned from the audio-sharing app despite owning "The Roundtable," the platform's most popular business show. In its first month, his room garnered 55,000 followers, before a disagreement with the platform’s founders led to Mario’s account being halted, and later permanently disabled.
Mario’s community publicly went in arms, with multiple press outlets covering the story. Thousands of emails and tweets were sent to Clubhouse and an online petition was started to urge Mario’s reinstatement.
After the account was reinstated, Mario did not return to the platform for unknown reasons.
==Personal life==
After being duped by a close senior manager at one of his firms in late 2018, losing him millions from the scam, Mario began a passionate pursuit of his sole getaway from business, the dance of Bachata. Mario began attending festivals in 2019. His first workshops that took place prior to Covid were fully booked across the country. Mario is now invited to festivals globally as one of the most well-known Bachata artists.
Mario is also seen regularly at several conferences and talk shows, where he shares his industry expertise and tips to build a business from scratch. He is also a speaker at most major crypto events around the world including TedX, Davos, and the UN General Assembly.
==In the media==
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==References==
==External links==
* Official Website
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Category:1983 births
Category:Living people
Category:Lebanese businesspeople
Category:Angel investors
Category:People of Lebanese descent
Category:Monash University alumni
Category:People of Lebanese descent