Aditya Shah is the head of circular economy investments at Creek Capital, a Dubai-based climate impact investment manager. Creek Capital invests in sustainable and decentralized infrastructure across the Middle East to help individuals, companies and communities increase value and reduce their carbon footprint. Aditya has more than 15 years of climate impact and infrastructure investment experience across the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

Previously, Aditya was the assistant director at IL&FS Group, where he spent 10 years raising and managing infrastructure funds, in addition to making proprietary investments for the group. Prior to IL&FS, Aditya was the assistant vice-president at Abu Dhabi Investment Company where he was part of the investment team of the ADIC–UBS Infrastructure Fund.

Aditya holds a Bachelor’s degree in commerce from Mumbai University and an MBA from SP Jain School of Global Management. Aditya is also a chartered alternative investment analyst and a chartered accountant from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.

Ahsan Ali is responsible for the Islamic corporate, commercial and institutional banking business globally at Standard Chartered Saadiq, the bank’s Islamic banking arm. In this role, he oversees the delivery of Islamic banking services to the bank’s clients across multiple geographies and products, including financial markets, corporate finance and transaction banking.

Since joining Standard Chartered Bank in March 2004, Ahsan has played a key role in building the bank’s Islamic business from inception and has led several award-winning and industry-defining deals. He was awarded the prestigious ‘Islamic Banker of the Year’ award by Asset magazine in 2015.

Ahsan has 29 years of experience in the financial services industry of which the last 18 years have been in Islamic banking. Prior to joining Standard Chartered, he worked at Citi.

Ahsan holds an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta and a degree in mechanical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.

Aijaz Hussain has worked in the field of investments and Islamic banking for almost 25 years. For the first seven years, Aijaz worked with UBS and Morgan Stanley (formerly Smith Barney) in the area of investment management. His areas of specialty include Islamic investments, hedge funds, and managed accounts. As part of the Private Client Group, he consulted high-net-worth clients in investment and hedging strategies, charitable trusts and estate planning.

In 2003, Aijaz joined Guidance Residential, a then-start-up Islamic financing company and played a major role in its growth into a multibillion-dollar financing company.

On the 1st April 2011, Aijaz joined University Islamic Financial (UIF), a Michigan-based Islamic banking company in the capacity of vice-president of national sales. As the head of sales, his responsibilities include sales management, implementing UIF’s growth strategy and improving overall efficiency within the organization. In January 2013, Aijaz was appointed to the board of directors at UIF for his contribution to the company’s success. Aijaz has conducted over 500 seminars and written numerous articles on Islamic financing over the years.

Anita Wieja-Caruba is an associate director at the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) and has been with the company for close to eight years. During this time, as part of its Strategy, Policy and Risk Division, she has been instrumental in implementing various international standards in the Dubai International Financial Centre, including the Financial Stability Board (FSB) Recovery and Resolution Framework and the Basel III reforms. She also works on subjects such as benchmark reforms, client assets protection, equivalence with EU rules, sustainable finance, insolvency law, derivatives and netting and compliance framework.

Prior to joining the DFSA, Anita worked at the European Commission as an advisor to Commissioner Michel Barnier on a package of financial reforms following the global financial crisis.

Anita qualified as a finance lawyer in the City of London (King & Wood Mallesons, ex SJ Berwin), following which she worked at BNP Paribas CIB advising on various aspects of the bank’s structured finance transactions. She holds degrees from BPP Law School (UK), University of Cambridge (UK), College of Europe (Belgium) and University of Silesia (Poland).

Aruna Narayanan is a sustainability enthusiast and strategic thought leader with a passion for driving prosperity through people empowerment and planet protection. She is a highly accomplished results-driven professional with two decades of corporate experience. She focuses on sustainability; environmental, social and governance (ESG); and impact investing, among others. With previous leadership positions at organizations including Purecog Holdings and Dulsco, she is adept at supporting companies and their clients on sustainability journeys with lasting positive impact across multiple stakeholders.

Presently, Aruna leads the sustainability and ESG practice at The Partnerships Advisory. She is actively involved in sustainability-focused associations like the United Nations Global Compact and is an avid volunteer for various causes aligned to the UN Sustainable Development Goals including education, gender diversity, youth engagement and environmental awareness.

Aruna is a TEDx speaker and regular panelist at industry forums and radio talk shows. She is an alumna of the Harvard Business School and the Cambridge Institute for
Sustainability Leadership.

Asal Saghari is the counsel of the corporate, finance and investments practice. Asal has extensive experience in banking and finance. Her areas of practice include finance, Islamic finance and secured and unsecured lending, with a particular focus on advising sponsors, lenders and borrowers in connection with their lending and investment activities in Europe and the Middle East structured on both a conventional and Shariah compliant basis. Asal joined King & Spalding’s London office in 2008 from one of London’s leading international law firms.

An experienced capital market regulator, Basheer Ahmad joined the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) in 2008. He is responsible for primary market regulations and is the Islamic finance subject matter expert at the DFSA. He is also responsible for the development of environmental, social and governance bonds and Sukuk requirements.

Basheer has spent over 20 years working for international regulators with an emphasis on securities rules and regulations, policy formulation, operating listing regimes and market disclosures. He previously worked at the Securities Commission of Malaysia and as a deputy public prosecutor with the Attorney-General’s Chambers in Malaysia.

Basheer holds a Barrister-at-Law degree from Lincoln’s Inn, UK and a Chartered Islamic Finance professional qualification from INCEIF, the Global University of Islamic Finance in Malaysia.

Cassim Docrat is the director of DDCAP (DIFC), the company’s representative office in the Middle East.

Cassim has over 30 years of international banking experience in Canada, the US, Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

Cassim started his banking career in 1981 with Citibank in South Africa before moving to Canada in 1983, where he went on to hold senior positions at Citibank, Bank of Montreal and the Bank of Nova Scotia. He has worked in the Middle East since 1991 holding senior executive positions with banks including Kuwait Finance House, Al Rajhi Bank in Saudi Arabia and recently, the National Bank of Abu Dhabi.

Cassim has built strong relationships with major institutions and government entities in the region and beyond. He has experience across commercial, investment and Islamic bank offerings focused at institutional investors particularly in the structured trade and syndication markets.

Faisal Hasan is a senior investment professional with a career spanning 21 years during which he managed diverse award-winning departments such as asset management, direct investments and treasury, investment research and business development.

Faisal’s previous role was in the capacity of senior executive officer at FundRock (ME), which is part of the Apex Group. He also was part of the senior leadership team in KAMCO Investment Company and Global Investment House in Kuwait.

Faisal is a financial market expert who has been a speaker at various international conferences and is well quoted in the media on economic trends and financial markets. He holds a Master’s degree in finance from Delhi University, India and is a CFA charterholder from CFA Institute in the US.

Dr Farrukh Habib is the co-founder of Alif Technologies (Dubai) and Shariah Experts (London). He is an expert in Shariah (Islamic law), finance and economics. He is an advisor, consultant and trainer by profession with a strong educational background. He has been involved in the Islamic fintech and Halal digital economy, focusing on crowdfunding, micro investments, microfinance, blockchain and smart contracts, among others.

Dr Farrukh is also researcher at the International Shari’ah Research Academy for Islamic Finance (ISRA), Kuala Lumpur, and a co-editor of the ISRA Journal of Islamic Finance (indexed by ESCI and SCOPUS). He has been doing research in capital markets, Sukuk, banking and social and ethical finance and is a prolific speaker at several international dialogues, conferences and seminars. He is a member of the OIC Working Group for Financial Inclusion and Economic Outlook, and a frequent speaker for the ICCIA which is an affiliated institution of the OIC, representing 57 member countries.

Dr Farrukh holds a PhD in Islamic finance from INCEIF, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and a Master of Science degree in banking and finance from Queen Mary University of London in the UK.

Ismail Ebrahim Dadabhoy has worked within capital market and investment banking spanning over 30 years, gaining knowledge across the market in Islamic finance and conventional banking, dealing in short-term money market, options, swaps, structured products as well as corporate finance

Ismail spent 10 years with Merrill Lynch, then 20 years with UBS across London, Singapore, Bahrain and Dubai.

While at Merrill Lynch, Ismail was a founding member of the international repo market back in 1987 which over the years developed into an over trillions of dollars plus market. In 1992, the repo trading team was headhunted by UBS where he quickly rose to become the head of UBS European Repo trading thereafter moving to Singapore to successfully start the Emerging Markets Repo desk for UBS.

Ismail resigned from UBS in 1999 because he felt uncomfortable dealing in interest with his Islamic belief. However, he did not leave UBS as they allowed him to set up UBS Islamic Finance back in 2000. UBS quickly developed as a major force in the Islamic finance arena and gained many industry awards with number of firsts and innovative products like range Murabahah investment, dual currency Murabahah, exchangeable Sukuk for Khazanah, real estate and structured products plus others. The exchangeable Sukuk itself earned over 12 different awards.

Ismail was part of the ISMA REPO subcommittee and later served as an ISMA Asia Regional Committee member.

Currently, Ismail is advising the International Islamic Financial Market as an independent advisor and recently set up AIMS, an Islamic advisory services company with three other managing partners to serve the financial market covering banks, corporates, Takaful and high-net-worth individuals.

Jessica Robinson is a global expert in environmental, social and governance (ESG) and sustainability, advising financial institutions, institutional investors, think tanks, governments, regulators and companies on a broad range of issues relating to green finance, ESG, sustainable and responsible investment, as well as gender, climate and carbon finance.

In previous roles among others, Jessica was the head of Asia for the United Nations-supported Principles for Responsible Investment, following a long stint as chief executive and board director of the Association for Sustainable and Responsible Investment in Asia, one of Asia’s leading think tanks working to promote sustainable finance and responsible investment across the region.

Jessica has an extensive background in professional services and business consulting, focusing on financial services, environmental finance and sustainability industries. She frequently contributes articles, authors reports and speaks at conferences on issues including green financing, financial market developments and climate finance policy, among others.

Jessica holds a Master of Science degree in applied environmental economics from the University of London, a Master of Science degree in politics from the London School of Economics and a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from the University of Manchester, UK.

Dr John A Sandwick is a recognized pioneer in Islamic finance. He created the first application of the Modern Portfolio Theory in the context of global portfolio allocations with Shariah certification. He is also noted for organizing innovative domestic and international Sukuk (Islamic bonds), the world’s first global Sukuk fund, a Sukuk participation certificate and the first-ever mid-market Sukuk in Saudi Arabia.

Dr John is a visiting professor of finance at Al Yamamah University in Riyadh, and a former instructor in the Graduate School of Finance at University Paris-Dauphine. He frequently teaches Master classes on Islamic finance, including in Kuala Lumpur, Almaty, Dubai, Riyadh, Geneva and London for groups including central banks, pension funds, family offices and treasuries.

Dr John’s most recent publications include a popular article in the Journal of Asset Management, as well as a recent book from one of the world’s top-ranked academic publishers, Edward Elgar Publishing. He has a Master’s degree in development banking from American University in Washington DC and a doctorate in business administration from Grenoble Ecole de Management in France. He is currently a corporate finance and wealth management consultant for Saudi family clients.

Khalid Al Kayed is responsible for spearheading Bank Nizwa’s overall business growth and 2020 strategies. He is responsible for driving the execution of the bank’s business targets to meet the bank’s aspirations and vision for leading the Islamic banking industry in the country.

Aside from establishing strategic policies and providing the overall direction for the banking operations and financial performance, his core responsibilities include strengthening Bank Nizwa’s distribution footprint, growing its profitability via organic growth and domestic expansion, strengthening its leadership position in Islamic finance and making Bank Nizwa a preferred banking partner in the marketplace.

A financial industry veteran with over 25 years under his belt, Khalid served as acting CEO and CFO in Bank Nizwa and has been associated with the bank since inception. His expertise ranges from general banking management and financial control to accounting, global markets and credit, among other fields.

Khalid holds a Master’s degree in international accounting and finance from Liverpool University. He is also a certified management accountant and certified financial manager from the Institute of Management Accountants.

Khalid Howladar is the chairman of MRHB DeFi, the world’s first ethical and faith-based decentralized finance platform. In addition, Khalid is an active innovation angel, advisor and board member for a diverse mix of fintech, crypto, edtech and Islamic economy start-ups through his firm Acreditus Partners. Lastly, he is the senior managing director and head of credit and Sukuk for RJ Fleming & Co, the boutique merchant banking advisory of the Fleming family.

With a rare confluence of financial, tech, social and faith-driven perspectives, Khalid is a recognized authority in his fields and has addressed investors worldwide and audiences at the World Bank, IMF, European Central Bank and Institute of International Finance.

Khalid gained industry prominence from his 15 years at Moody’s Investors Service in London and Dubai culminating as both the global head of Islamic finance and the head of the GCC banking team.

Khalid’s most prominent start-up role was as angel and later chairman of Small Pharma, a pioneering psychedelic UK biotech that successfully made the transition from start-up to a public 2021 listing on the TSXV Canada during his board leadership.

Khurram Waheed is a seasoned advisor and corporate financer with over 20 years of green and conventional energy, healthcare, infrastructure and sustainability experience. Throughout his career, Khurram has been involved in or led advisory in several transactions in the Middle East, Africa, Turkey, Europe and Asia in sectors ranging from oil and gas, power and water, healthcare and life sciences, infrastructure and mobility/transportation.

Based in Dubai in the UAE, Khurram is the managing director of corporate finance at Dalma Capital which was founded in 2011, and is a firm engaged in asset management and is a boutique investment bank. He leads the green, healthcare and infrastructure advisory business for the firm.

Prior to joining Dalma, Khurram served as the executive director of international banking for First Abu Dhabi Bank and has worked with other international banks like Barclays and Emirates NBD.
Khurram has an Executive Master’s in Finance degree with distinction (top 10%) from HEC, Paris and also has an MBA with a specialization in finance and marketing from ICFAI Business School.

Lo’ai Bataineh is a seasoned and successful investment banker with over three decades of experience in commercial banking, investment banking, asset management and wealth management. He has experience in establishing, implementing and successfully managing full-service investment banking and asset management businesses. Lo’ai is dynamic and innovative with an ability to capture new market opportunities across multiple sectors and asset classes. Driven to exceed the expectations of all stakeholders, he has extensive experience in matters relating to mergers and acquisitions, restructuring and divestment, among others.

Lo’ai has served as an advisor to several regulatory and government committees in Oman. He is an active presenter in business forums, conferences and panel discussions and he contributes regular articles to business magazines and newspapers in both Arabic and English. He holds Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees in money and banking.

Dr Mohamed Damak is a senior director within financial services at S&P Global Ratings. He covers financial institutions in the Middle East and Africa region. Dr Mohamed is also the global head of Islamic finance within S&P Global Ratings, leading a global team of Islamic finance analysts.

Before re-joining S&P Global Ratings, Dr Mohamed worked as a principal credit risk officer for the African Development Bank in Tunis. From 2006 to 2010, Dr Mohamed worked for S&P Global Ratings covering conventional and Islamic financial institutions in the Middle East and North Africa region.

Dr Mohamed holds a PhD in finance and a Master’s degree in money, banking and finance from University of Paris 2, Pantheon Assas and a Master’s degree in financial institutions management from Ecole Supérieure de Commerce de Tunis.

Mohammed Paracha is a banking and finance lawyer based in Dubai. He is the head of the Middle East, as well as the head of Norton Rose Fulbright’s Islamic finance practice for the Middle East and Africa.

Mohammed has been active in the Middle East for nearly 20 years, having worked in Norton Rose Fulbright’s London and Bahrain offices before moving to Dubai in 2011. He became the head of Norton Rose Fulbright’s Middle East practice in January 2021.

Mohammed’s practice focuses on all types of Islamic finance covering a wide range of asset types, investment classes and industrial sectors. With a background in asset and project finance, Mohammed advises on Shariah compliant asset finance, trade finance, real estate finance and project financings. He also advises on the structuring of Islamically acceptable investment funds and has advised on the establishment of new Islamic financial institutions in various countries. Mohammed has strong relationships with many of the internationally renowned Shariah scholars and is a regular speaker at conferences and seminars on Islamic finance topics.

Mohammed is recommended as a leader in his field by Chambers and Partners, The Legal 500, Acritas and IFLR.

Nabil A Issa is a partner in the Corporate, Finance and Investments Group of King & Spalding, working from the Dubai and affiliated Riyadh offices. Nabil’s experience includes work in the areas of Shariah compliant funds, joint ventures, foreign investment, private equity, privatizations, venture capital, healthcare, education, food and beverage and real estate industry transactions. He is particularly known for his development of innovative Shariah compliant CMA funds and investment structures for real estate and private equity investments in Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

Nabil is regularly cited by independent legal directories and client-based surveys. Chambers Global 2020 highly ranks Nabil for his corporate and investment funds work (Band 1) in the Middle East and recognizes him as an expert in Saudi corporate (Band 1 as a lawyer based outside of Saudi Arabia) and capital market matters. Nabil is listed as a ‘Leading Individual’ for his corporate work in the Middle East region by Legal 500 EMEA 2021.

Following graduation from the University of Pennsylvania, Nabil was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to UAE University to study the effects of membership in the World Trade Organization on the financial laws of the UAE.

Sharafudheen Razi is the senior environmental, social and governance (ESG) analyst and the head of ESG analysis and data driver at Global Sustainable Market Holdings Corporation. Previously, he worked at S&P Global Ratings as a sustainability analyst.

Sharafudheen is an enthusiast in management consulting, sustainability reporting, ESG, corporate social responsibility and ESG controversy analysis. He has key expertise in ESG policy and framework creation, rating of ESG controversies, ESG indexing and ESG risk analysis. He is certified in ITIL Sustainability in Digital and IT, and GRI-certified on Sustainability Reporting Standards.

Paula Tavangar is a serial entrepreneur and renowned leader within the fintech, blockchain and quantitative finance space. Recently, Paula joined forces with Swissborg Ventures, where she will occupy a senior level role utilizing her expertise in blockchain technologies and venture capital to lead the investment process and promote deal sourcing.

Paula’s previous experience is mainly sourced from a variety of thriving companies she has either improved and/or co-founded. In 2018, Paula co-founded Genesis Capital LATAM, where she was directly responsible for developing a high-frequency algorithmic trading arbitrage strategy that was crucial to the firm’s success. She also co-founded Islamic fintech start-up Wethaq, which serves industry standardization by issuing Sukuk on a distributed ledger.

Paula holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in international finance and a Master of Science diploma in financial engineering, focusing on automated trading systems.

Raphael Fofana is a sovereign underwriter at The Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit where he is spending his fifth year working on complex structured finance transactions mainly in the African region. Before joining the IsDB Group, he used to work in capital markets in France for several large international institutions. Raphael, who is a CFA charterholder, also holds two Master’s degrees in international corporate finance and public affairs from the prestigious French political school Sciences Po. Paris.

Salam Slim is a director in Oracle’s Financial Services Global Business Unit focusing on digital core banking transformation programs. In this position, he is responsible for product marketing of the Oracle Universal Core Banking & Digital banking solutions. He has over 18 years of experience working with leading global financial services companies in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Southeast Asian markets and has first-hand knowledge of banking industry practices, regulations and market dynamics. Previously, he worked for Path Solutions and Temenos in various software implementation, product management and presales roles.

Salam holds a Bachelor’s degree in banking/finance from the American University of Beirut.

Sayf Shuqair is a senior associate in the Corporate, Finance and Investments Group of King & Spalding, based in the Dubai office. Sayf mainly advises regional and global clients on various asset management and investment structuring matters. He advises clients on the structuring, formation and governance of various types of public and private, listed and unlisted investment funds, including private equity, venture capital, real estate, equity and money market investment funds and also generally advises clients on innovative corporate and investment structures in the GCC region, with a particular focus on Saudi Arabia. In addition, Sayf continues to advise global and regional asset managers and placement agents on securities laws and the corporate and regulatory aspects of structuring and establishing regulated asset management and advisory businesses in the region. Prior to joining King & Spalding, Sayf was a member of a UK international law firm, based in Riyadh.

Vineeta Tan is a global Islamic finance journalist with over five years of experience in the journalism and publishing industry working independently and leading a team. She joined REDmoney in 2013 and is responsible for the editorial direction and content of Islamic Finance news (IFN). Vineeta authors the IFN daily cover stories, produces reports, research and analytical pieces as well as interviews senior industry players and regulators. In addition to her role as the editor of IFN, Vineeta also manages, produces and oversees all editorial content of REDmoney’s sister publications: IFN Education and MY Islamic Finance.

Trained in journalism and sociology, Vineeta holds an Islamic Finance Qualification awarded by the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investments in the UK. Prior to joining REDmoney, Vineeta was attached to a research company in the US and was a freelance journalist.

Dr Vladimir Malenko is the managing director of FairFin OU, an Islamic finance consultancy that specializes in Sukuk and Islamic microfinance. Prior to setting up FairFin, Vladimir worked as an Islamic finance consultant at Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank, where he developed several innovative Shariah compliant instruments, including microfinance Tawarruq-based shares, Sukuk Salam for grain and the Islamic stock market index. Dr Vladimir currently writes about Islamic private equity and venture capital for Islamic Finance news. He published ‘The Dubai IPO Guide’ and ‘Russia: the next investment destination’. He holds three advanced degrees: MBA and JD (from the US), and MD (from Russia). He studied private equity at the Singapore Management University and Amsterdam Institute of Finance.