Investment Strategy & Asset Management Leadership

Amr Shady is a serial technology entrepreneur and investor with more than two decades of experience building and scaling companies across emerging markets. He founded Accord Partners to build the first AI‑powered audit firm group in the Middle East and North Africa, combining institutional capital with a long‑horizon operating playbook.

Prior to Accord, Amr co‑founded and led Tribal Credit, a San Francisco‑headquartered fintech serving SMEs across emerging markets. As CEO, he raised more than $180 million in venture and growth capital from leading global investors, including SoftBank Latin America Fund, QED Investors, BECO Capital, and Endure Capital. He earlier founded TA Telecom, recognised by Deloitte as one of the fastest‑growing technology companies in EMEA and dubbed a “local hero” by the Financial Times.

Amr is a former board member of Endeavor Egypt and TechWadi, two non‑profits dedicated to advancing high‑impact entrepreneurship across MENA. He holds an M.Sc. in Business Analytics from NYU Stern and a B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from Dalhousie University.

Mazen Nadim is the Managing Partner of Foundation Ventures, an early‑growth stage venture capital firm with assets under management deployed across the Middle East and North Africa. Under his leadership, Foundation Ventures has built a portfolio of category‑defining technology companies including Rabbit, Flextock, Trella, Swypex, and Abwaab, and operates in strategic partnership with HOF Capital, a U.S.‑based fund managing more than $1.5 billion.

Mazen previously served as an Investment Banking Associate at EFG Hermes, the largest investment bank in the MENA region, where he advised on capital markets transactions across multiple sectors. He sits on the Board of Maridive Group and brings a hybrid public‑markets and private‑capital lens to investment strategy and portfolio construction.

He holds an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and is regarded among the region’s most active institutional investors in technology and innovation‑led businesses.

Wael Nafee is a General Partner at Raed Ventures, the leading Saudi Arabia‑based early‑stage venture capital firm with approximately $450 million in assets under management. Raed Ventures has backed several of the region’s most consequential technology companies, including Tabby, Trella, SWVL, Tweeq, and Marsool, and is a recognised cornerstone investor in the Kingdom’s technology ecosystem.

Prior to Raed, Wael was an early member of Careem, where he served as Vice President of Product and later led the Super App Platform Business Unit through the company’s landmark $3.1 billion acquisition by Uber — one of the largest technology exits ever recorded in the MENA region. He is also a serial entrepreneur, having co‑founded the first MENA startup admitted to Y Combinator’s accelerator programme.

Wael holds a degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Waterloo and serves on the boards of multiple high‑growth portfolio companies. His investment work focuses on portfolio construction, founder selection, and disciplined capital strategy in emerging markets.

Ashley Lewis is Managing Partner and Head of Venture Capital at Development Partners International, a multi‑strategy private investment firm with more than $3 billion in assets under management focused on the Middle East and Africa. She leads DPI Venture Capital, the firm’s technology and innovation platform, and serves as Managing Partner of the $105 million Nclude Innovation Fund, the largest fintech‑focused fund in Africa.

Ashley brings nearly two decades of experience across institutional asset management, venture capital, and impact investing. She began her career in the institutional asset management arms of Goldman Sachs and Vanguard, and later joined Accion Venture Lab as Partner for Africa, leading early‑stage fintech investments serving underbanked populations. She has also led venture philanthropy investments through LGT in Thailand and Uganda.

She holds an MBA from HEC Paris and a Bachelor’s degree from Morgan State University, and is a Fellow of the Kauffman Fellows Program (Class 30) and the Finance Innovation Lab of London. Ashley is a recognised voice on emerging‑market venture capital, financial inclusion, and the design of investment vehicles that combine financial returns with measurable impact.

Hisham Halbouny is Co‑Founder and Managing Partner of P1 Ventures, an early‑stage venture capital firm investing across the Middle East and Africa, backed by the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation among other institutional investors. P1’s portfolio includes leading regional technology companies such as Yassir, Money Fellows, Reliance Health, and Nuitee.

Prior to founding P1 Ventures, Hisham was a Partner at Man Capital, the global investment arm of the Mansour Group, where he led the firm’s global private markets platform — overseeing investments in Uber, Airbnb, Bolt, and Fairmarkit, and launching new ventures across the United States, Nigeria, India, and Egypt. Earlier in his career, Hisham was a Managing Director at EFG Hermes, the MENA region’s leading investment bank, where he co‑led the GCC investment banking division and advised on more than $10 billion of M&A, equity, and debt transactions across the Middle East and Africa.

He has been recognised by the Milken Institute as a leading emerging‑markets investor, is a Kauffman Fellow (Class 28), and serves as advisor and board member to several high‑growth companies. His expertise spans capital markets, structured finance, valuation, and the design of long‑term investment strategies in emerging economies.

Akram Alchammaa is Chief Investment Officer at Accord Partners, leading the firm’s investment strategy, mergers and acquisitions, and portfolio management mandate. He is widely regarded as one of Saudi Arabia’s most accomplished under‑40 investment leaders, named to global 40 Under 40 lists for his work in corporate strategy, deal execution, and value creation.

Prior to Accord, Akram served in senior roles at several of the Kingdom’s most strategic institutions. He was Vice President of Corporate Strategy, Planning & Performance Management, Partnerships and M&A at Mobily; Director of Mergers, Acquisitions & Investment Management at solutions by stc; Senior Funding Manager at Saudi Downtown Company; Manager of M&A and Portfolio Management at the Saudi Agricultural and Livestock Investment Company (SALIC); and Investment Manager at the Saudi Research and Media Group (SRMG). He earlier held investment and structured‑finance roles at Banque Saudi Fransi and BSF Capital.

Akram holds a Master in Advanced Finance from IE Business School, an MBA from City, University of London, and a Master of Science in Project Management from the University of Liverpool, alongside a Bachelor of Business Administration from the American University of Beirut. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and Certified Management Accountant (CMA) designations.