Sabaa Quao

Sabaa Quao is a career entrepreneur, creative leader, and business strategist working at the intersection of creativity, technology, and new business models. His work examines how AI and fintech are restructuring the foundations of the marketing and advertising industry.

Over the past 18 months, he built an AI and fintech venture studio as an innovation spinoff from Cossette, Canada’s largest marketing and advertising agency, where he previously served as Chief Creative and Innovation Officer. The venture studio’s inaugural cohort includes seven companies developing solutions across embedded finance, synthetic data, knowledge management, and “expertise-as-software.” Together, they point to a near future where traditional agency models are unbundled, capabilities shift upstream, and value shifts from services to systems.

Over the next 18 months, in collaboration with a group of investors, he will replicate and expand the venture studio model across the Americas and EMEA, with activity in hubs including Austin, Toronto, Lagos, London, Nairobi, and Dubai.

Sabaa is a frequent keynote speaker and advisor to business and creative schools, with a focus on creativity, entrepreneurship, and business model innovation. He has led, co-chaired, and served on more than 20 national and international marketing and short film juries. In Canada, he sits on the Cannes Lions Advisory Board in partnership with The Globe and Mail and is the current Digital Young Lions co-chair. Sabaa holds degrees in Marketing (Concordia), Communication and Design (OCADU), and an MBA from the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management.