Tim Burroughs is managing editor of Asian Venture Capital Journal, having joined the publication in May 2011. He is responsible for all editorial content put out under the AVCJ brand, including Asian Venture Capital Journal, AVCJtv, AVCJ Awards and AVCJ.com. Tim previously spent five years at China Economic Review, serving as editor-in-chief and then editorial director. Located in Greater China since 2003, during which time he has lived in Beijing, Qingdao and Hong Kong, Tim has been a China-based contributor for publications including The Sunday Times, Sunday Telegraph, BBC and China Daily. Prior to moving to China, he trained and worked as a journalist in the UK. He was honored at the Society of Publishers in Asia awards in 2007, 2008 and 2010, and at the State Street Institutional Press Awards - Asia in 2012.

Tim Burroughs is managing editor of Asian Venture Capital Journal, having joined the publication in May 2011. He is responsible for all editorial content put out under the AVCJ brand, including Asian Venture Capital Journal, AVCJtv, AVCJ Awards and AVCJ.com. Tim previously spent five years at China Economic Review, serving as editor-in-chief and then editorial director. Located in Greater China since 2003, during which time he has lived in Beijing, Qingdao and Hong Kong, Tim has been a China-based contributor for publications including The Sunday Times, Sunday Telegraph, BBC and China Daily. Prior to moving to China, he trained and worked as a journalist in the UK. He was honored at the Society of Publishers in Asia awards in 2007, 2008 and 2010, and at the State Street Institutional Press Awards - Asia in 2012.

Mohamed Albadr 

Head of Asia, Private Equity

Mubadala Investment Company

Mohamed Albadr is the Head of Asia within the Private Equity platform. Mohamed oversees Mubadala’s investments and key relationships in Asia and manages the assessment and deployment of capital in multiple asset classes and sectors, successfully executing over 80 transactions and directing more than $5 billion in investments. He played a key role in launching the $10 billion China – UAE Cooperation Fund in 2015, a joint initiative between Mubadala, China Development Bank Capital and State Administrative of Foreign Exchange.

Prior to joining Mubadala, Mohamed spent seven years at Masdar Capital and was responsible for assessing potential deals and equity investments to support the organization’s clean-tech investment portfolio. During that period, he was an integral part of teams deploying capital, adding value to existing portfolio companies, and overseeing the formation of new funds. 

Mohamed holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration, with a focus on Financial Management, from the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California, USA.

Michael Preston is a Partner at Cleary Gottlieb. He is Co-Head of the EMEA Private Equity Practice and Co-Head of the Global Sovereign Wealth Fund Practice. Michael is recognized as a Leading Partner by various legal platforms including Chambers Global, IFLR and The Legal 500. He supports clients through the full PE life cycle, bringing together specialist knowledge and sector expertise in PE/M&A transactions (including large-cap and mid-cap buyouts, growth equity and refinancings/exits), portfolio company support (including bolt-on acquisitions and other general corporate support), fund formation (as well as fund financing and secondary/liquidity strategies and hedging) and co-investments. Michael splits his time between Abu Dhabi and London and has helped to build an award-winning team which clients depend on. In the last 5 years, Cleary’s EMEA PE team has advised on 90+ deals with a total aggregated deal value of over US$122 billion. 

KY Tang founded Affinity Equity Partners in 2002, after amassing more than thirty years’ experience in the private equity and banking sectors. KY, together with other former senior partners of UBS Capital Asia Pacific, spun off and formed Affinity Equity Partners. Prior to establishing the Firm, he held leadership positions with UBS, including Chief Executive for Investment Banking, East Asia for the Union Bank of Switzerland. When the Union Bank of Switzerland and Swiss Bank Corporation were merged into UBS, he was named Chief Executive, Hong Kong for UBS Group and Head of Investment Banking, Asia for UBS Investment Bank. His last position with UBS Group was as Chairman of UBS Capital Asia Pacific.

KY holds a Bachelor of Economics (Accounting) with first-class honours from the University of Malaya.

Taimoor Labib is a Founding Partner at Affirma Capital and Head of Middle East & North Africa (MENA) Private Equity and Chairman of Africa Private Equity. He is based in Dubai.

Prior to Affirma Capital, Taimoor was Head of Africa & Middle East Private Equity business for Standard Chartered Private Equity (SCPE) investing and overseeing an approximately $1.5 billion direct investment portfolio in leading companies across sectors throughout Africa and the Middle East. He joined SCPE in March 2010 as a Managing Director and currently or historically sat on the boards of Al Jazeera Poultry, CEC, Eaton Towers, FINE Hygienic (Vice Chairman), GZI, Topaz Energy & Marine, Souq.com (observer), and Union Bank of Nigeria.

Previously he was also Head of Global Private Equity Portfolio Management (2013-2016) overseeing the overall global portfolio throughout Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

Taimoor has 25 years of direct private equity and investment banking experience with leading international and regional institutions, including deep relationships with leading family groups, regulators, sovereign wealth funds and limited partners.

Taimoor began his career with Bear Stearns investment banking in New York, and The Carlyle Group in Washington D.C. and holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Carnegie Mellon University.

Sohail Lalani is a Managing Director at Blue Owl and member of the GP Strategic Capital Global Investment Team. In his role, Sohail focuses on sourcing and evaluating minority investments in private markets GPs as well as working closely with key LPs on strategic partnership opportunities. 

Before joining Blue Owl, Sohail was the Founder and Managing Partner of Eglinton Capital Partners, a Canadian based private investment firm. Prior to that, he was a senior member of the Direct Private Equity investments team of PSP Investments, one of Canada’s largest pension funds based in Montreal. Sohail also spent a decade at the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) based in Abu Dhabi, where he was responsible for sourcing, executing, and monitoring co-investment and direct investment transactions in partnership with leading US and European GPs. Sohail began his career in investment banking at J.P. Morgan and TD Securities. 

He holds an MBA with Distinction from London Business School and HBA (Dean’s List) from the Ivey Business School at University of Western Ontario.

Nabeel Laher is the Managing Partner of the International Private Equity business unit within Old Mutual Alternative Investments (OMAI). He joined OMAI in February 2015 and is a member of OMAI’s Executive Committee (EXCO), Risk Management Committee, Diversity Committee, and the International Private Equity Investment Committee. He is also a former member of the Hybrid Equity Investment Committee. Additionally, Nabeel represents OMAI on several Limited Partner Advisory Committees. With over 20 years of experience in financial services and operations, he brings extensive expertise to his role.

Before joining OMAI, Nabeel worked as an entrepreneur and completed his articles at one of the Big Four auditing firms. He then joined one of South Africa’s premier investment banks, where he participated in debt transactions in leveraged finance, project finance, and balance sheet lending. He was later part of Deloitte’s Corporate Finance Advisory team, advising on mergers and acquisitions across various industries.

Nabeel is a Chartered Accountant and a CFA® Charterholder.

Melissa is a UAE-based partner at Stephenson Harwood with extensive experience advising on regional and cross-border corporate transactions, as well as a wide range of corporate and commercial matters across the MENA region.

Having been in the region for over 15 years, Melissa is a trusted advisor and key point of contact to many multinational and regional clients for their legal needs. Melissa’s practice focuses primarily on M&A, joint ventures, restructuring and insolvency, FDI (foreign direct investment), corporate and shareholder disputes and private equity / venture capital. She has a reputation for providing legal advice that is commercially relevant, on-point, adds value and is strategic to the needs of the client.

Melissa’s client base spans a broad range of sectors, including financial services, insurance, life sciences, healthcare, technology, industrials and manufacturing, consumer, real estate and construction, professional services and hotels and leisure.

Her standing as a leading corporate lawyer in the region is evident from the various awards and accolades that she has received, including:

• Being ranked as a "Next Generation Partner" for Commercial, Corporate and M&A within the Legal 500 EMEA 2024 Guide;
• Named in The Legal 500's M&A Powerlist Series: Middle East Region 2024, recognising her as one of the region's top M&A practitioners;
• Being listed as one of the 50 outstanding lawyers operating in the MENA region in the Thomson Reuters' ALB "MENA Super 50" list for two consecutive years, in both 2023 and 2024; and
• Receiving an "Honourable Mention" for Corporate Lawyer of the Year at LexisNexis' Women in Law Awards 2024.

Dr. Karim El Solh is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Gulf Capital. Dr. El Solh is also the co-Managing Partner of Gulf Related, a leading real estate development company launched in partnership with the Related Companies. Dr. El Solh is a board member of the Global Private Capital Association (formerly EMPEA) and the Chairman of the GPCA Middle East Council. Dr. El Solh is serving or has served as the Chairman of Geidea, ART Fertility, Metito Holdings and Maritime Industrial Services, and as the Director of Gulf Marine Services, Middle East Glass, Ma’arif for Education & Training, Reach Group, Depa Group, Metamed, the Galleria Mall Al Maryah Island, Antara Residential Project, NAS TPA and Aramex. Dr Karim El Solh recently joined some of the world’s leading CEOs in supporting HRH The Prince of Wales’ Terra Carta, which provides a roadmap for businesses to move towards a sustainable future by 2030. The charter’s vision to help build an inspiring, inclusive, equitable, prosperous, and sustainable future. He is also a member of the Sustainable Markets Initiative and the Private Equity Taskforce on Sustainability.

Prior to founding Gulf Capital, Dr El Solh was the CEO of the leading UAE investment bank, The National Investor. Under his leadership, the Firm was involved in a number of groundbreaking private equity transactions and was ranked as the number one IPO underwriter in the Gulf. Dr El Solh was also a Co-Founder of the European High Yield Capital Markets/Leveraged Buy-Outs division at Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette (DLJ – now part of Credit Suisse) and a senior investment banker in charge of equity offerings at Citigroup.

Dr. El Solh has a B.S. in civil engineering from Cornell University, an MBA from Georgetown University and a doctorate in economics from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po). He is also a Chartered Management Accountant and a Professional Civil Engineer. He is on the Board of Advisors of Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, a Board member of Georgetown’s Center for Financial Markets and Policy, a member of the Future of Work Initiative Advisory Group and on the Board of Trustees of the Abu Dhabi Music and Arts Foundation (ADMAF). Dr. El Solh has been named as one of the Top 100 CEOs in the Gulf by CEO Magazine, one of the 500 Most Influential Arabs by Arabian Business Magazine and a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.

Yaser Moustafa is Head of Emerging Market Private Investments, formerly NBK Capital Partners which Janus Henderson Investors acquired in 2024. He serves as chair of the Emerging Market private investments investment committee, a role he has held since joining the firm in 2015. Prior to this, he was managing director of Alvarez & Marsal, responsible for private equity and corporate advisory in the MENA region. Before A&M, Yaser was an executive director and head of Saudi Arabia investment banking for Nomura International. And before Nomura, Yaser acted as interim CEO for a leading support services company and for the largest restaurant operator in Qatar, amongst other roles. Yaser started his career in 1998 at Lehman Brothers in investment banking in the United States.

Yaser earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Chicago and received an MBA from Northwestern University, Kellogg School of Management. Yaser has 28 years of financial industry experience.

Michael is the Chief Investment Officer of 2PointZero Group, a publicly listed investment holding company in Abu Dhabi with over US$33bn in assets across multiple sectors and geographies. He specializes in alternative investments, private & public equity, and institutional governance of investment platforms.  

Before joining 2PointZero (previously Multiply Group), he played a key role in the development of Positive Zero, a regional climate and energy transition platform backed by a US$400m investment from BlackRock, and co-founded Blend Development, a European real estate and hospitality investment company.  

Previously, he was Deputy CEO and Head of the Investment Committee at QInvest LLC, where he managed c.100 investment professionals and directed investments exceeding US$2.0bn. Over his 25+ year career across MENA, Europe, and the U.S., he has executed transactions worth over US$80bn and served in senior roles at Credit Suisse, ABN Amro, Procter & Gamble, and Shell Oil.  

He holds an MSc from the London School of Economics, is a CFA charterholder, a Chartered Director (CDir) from the U.K. Institute of Directors, and a graduate of INSEAD’s International Directors Programme. He also serves on the boards of public and private companies.

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Walid Majdalani is the Head of Emerging Markets Private Equity at Investcorp. He joined in 2007 from ABN AMRO Bank NV, where he spent close to ten years, mainly in private equity. In his last role, he was an Investment Director in a €1.1 billion third party infrastructure fund where he was involved in sourcing and closing a number of transactions globally. Prior to this, Walid worked with Oracle Corporation in the UAE where he set up the Abu Dhabi office.

Walid holds a BBA in Management Information Systems from the University of Texas and an MBA from Harvard University.

Yağız Özgüven is an Executive Director at Waha Capital’s Private Investments Team.

Yağız has led investments in Waha’s global co-investment portfolio and currently leads Waha Health, Waha Capital’s healthcare vertical. He also serves on the advisory board of a global cybersecurity company with headquarters in Germany.

Before Waha, Yağız Özgüven worked at Turkven, Turkiye’s leading Private Equity Fund for nearly a decade, serving on Medical Park, MNG Kargo, Elif Plastik, and Provus boards. Before Turkven, he worked at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in London as part of the CEEMEA Investment Banking team, advising on deals in Turkiye. He is a graduate of Columbia University with a major in Operations Research and a minor in Economics.

Tim Burroughs is managing editor of Asian Venture Capital Journal, having joined the publication in May 2011. He is responsible for all editorial content put out under the AVCJ brand, including Asian Venture Capital Journal, AVCJtv, AVCJ Awards and AVCJ.com. Tim previously spent five years at China Economic Review, serving as editor-in-chief and then editorial director. Located in Greater China since 2003, during which time he has lived in Beijing, Qingdao and Hong Kong, Tim has been a China-based contributor for publications including The Sunday Times, Sunday Telegraph, BBC and China Daily. Prior to moving to China, he trained and worked as a journalist in the UK. He was honored at the Society of Publishers in Asia awards in 2007, 2008 and 2010, and at the State Street Institutional Press Awards - Asia in 2012.

Before founding Gaocheng Capital, Ms. Hong was a Partner, Head of Private Equity and an Investment Committee member of Hillhouse Capital Group. Prior to Hillhouse, she was the Managing Director and Head of global emerging markets consumer sector, and Head of Beijing office of General Atlantic LLC. Previously Ms. Hong worked at Warburg Pincus LLC and McKinsey & Company.

Ms. Hong has been engaged in growth stage private equity investment for nearly two decades, led private investments including Alibaba, Meituan, Beike, Didi, Fang.com, ZTO Express, KidsWant, Xiabu Xiabu, Wind, Ming Yuan Cloud, Bairong, Youzan, Tuya, DerbySoft, Beisen, Huisuanzhang, UMU, xQuant, eVAT，Gitlab China，etc.

Ms. Hong received an MBA degree from Harvard Business School and a B.S. degree in International Finance and an M.S. degree in Engineering Management from Tsinghua University.

Ms. Hong was named Forbes’ Midas List of Top Tech Investors for the 3rd straight year in 2023.

Ms. Hong serves on the Alumni Boards of Harvard Business School and Tsinghua School of Economics and Management.

Mr. Chae is a Partner on the Investor Relations team at L Catterton, based in Singapore. Prior to joining the firm, he was a Principal in Client Relations at IFC Asset Management Company, responsible for fundraising and investor engagement across alternative asset classes in the Asia-Pacific region.

Previously, Mr. Chae held senior roles in alternative investments at PineBridge Investments in Tokyo and Singapore. His prior experience includes leadership positions at Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse, and Chase Manhattan Bank, across New York, Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Singapore.

Mr. Chae graduated with honors from the University of Rochester with a BA in Economics and Japanese.

Sudhir Variyar is the Managing Director & Deputy CEO of Multiples Alternate Asset Management Private Limited. In his capacity as a leader and seasoned professional, he plays a pivotal role in firm building and ensuring the continued growth and success of Multiples. He is a member of the Investment Committee and oversees the fund-raising and portfolio management functions.

Sudhir has almost three decades of experience, of which the last eighteen years has been in private equity. He has a strong investment track record and has led investments across a range of sectors including financial services, health care, logistics and infrastructure services.

Sudhir holds a postgraduate degree from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, and a B. Tech in Chemical Engineering from IT-BHU.

Rodney Muse. Mr. Muse is one of two Managing Partners of Navis and an Investment Committee member. At Navis, Mr. Muse leads investment teams in making, monitoring and exiting investments and sits on the boards and/or executive committees of several Navis portfolio companies. He has been active in many of Navis’ investments in consumer goods, food, business services, industrial goods and services.

Mr. Muse co-founded Navis in 1998 with Mr. Bloy and Mr. Foyston, with whom he worked while at The Boston Consulting Group (BCG). At BCG, he worked in Sydney and Kuala Lumpur, where he gained experience in a number of industries including consumer goods, retail, oil and gas, distribution, primary resources and more. He started his career with Chase Manhattan Bank in 1985 in New York and Hong Kong.

Mr. Muse has been a resident in Asia since 1993, having been raised and educated in the US. He holds a Bachelor of Arts Hons degree from St. Lawrence University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Mr. Kuo Chuan Kung is a leading investor in Asia. He is the Founder and Managing Partner of Nexus Point, an Asian private equity firm with offices in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Kuala Lumpur. Established in 2017, Nexus Point focuses on making investments across in Asia, inlcuding Greater China, Southeast Asia, Japan and the Middle East. 

Before Nexus Point, Mr. Kung co-founded MBK Partners, one of the largest private equity firms in Asia, as Partner and Head of Greater China. Prior to MBK Partners, Mr. Kung was a Managing Director of The Carlyle Group. While at Carlyle, Mr. Kung was the Head of the Shanghai office, responsible for China investments, and Head of the Singapore office, responsible for investments in Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand. Mr. Kung started his career with McKinsey & Company in Hong Kong and New York. 

During his career, Mr. Kung has been responsible for managing and growing a large number of portfolio companies in various sectors. In addition to generating attractive financial returns, these investments have also led to meaningful social and environmental contributions.

Outside of private equity, Mr. Kung is an active contributor to various corporate, civic, education, and social enterprises. He is a Global Trustee of Asia Society and sits on the Asia Pacific advisory board of the Harvard Business School. He previously served on the boards of Hon Hai Precision Industry (Foxconn), Dickey Center at Dartmouth College, and the United World College-USA. Mr. Kung and his wife own a boutique winery in China with a social mission, producing premium wines by practicing regenerative agriculture and promoting rural development and education.

Mr. Kung was born in Taiwan and grew up in Taiwan, Hong Kong and the Dominican Republic. After completing secondary level education in Hong Kong, he attended United World College-USA (New Mexico, US), graduated from Dartmouth College (New Hampshire, US) with a Bachelor of Arts degree, magna cum laude, and received an MBA from Harvard Business School (Massachusetts, US). Mr. Kung lives in Hong Kong with his family. 

Rachel is Mergermarket’s Head of Auctions and co-Head of News, overseeing the publication's private markets and M&A coverage in Europe

Zachary Levine joined Ardian as an Analyst in the New York office 2011. Mr. Levine moved to the West Coast in 2018 where he helped expand the San Francisco office, as a Senior Investment Manager, and then as a Director. He is active in following the American LP and GP relationships on both the East and West Coast as well as origination, due diligence, and execution of primary and secondary fund investments. In 2023, Mr. Levine took part in the launch of the Abu Dhabi office as Managing Director, and is now responsible for leading the Secondaries and Primaries strategy in the Middle East region.  Prior to joining Ardian, he completed several internships, notably with AQR Capital Management.

Education: George Washington University

Hemant Sabherwal leads the Corporate Solutions team and EMEA Issuer Services at the HKEX. 

Hemant is a seasoned investment banker with over twenty years of experience primarily in equity capital market related roles in Hong Kong and London. Most recently, he spent seven years at Morgan Stanley where he led ECM for issuers from Hong Kong, Korea and Taiwan before re-locating to London in 2022 to lead MS’s private placement practice for EMEA. Hemant started his career at Merrill Lynch in London in 2000 in TMT investment banking before relocating to Hong Kong in 2005. He has also had roles at Deutsche Bank, where he led the block trade business for Asia, and Union Gaming Securities, a boutique providing investment banking services, where he ran global capital markets. 

Brooke Zhou is Partner of LGT Capital Partners, she co-leads LGT CP’s private equity business in Asia. LGT Capital Partners is a leading institutional alternative asset and fund of funds manager, currently managing over USD 100 billion AuM on a global basis and over 600 private equity professionals worldwide. The firm is headquartered in Pfäffikon, Switzerland (near Zurich) and has offices in Hong Kong, Beijing, Tokyo, Sydney, New York, Raleigh, Dublin, London, Paris, Frankfurt, Vaduz and Dubai.

Prior to joining LGT Capital Partners in 2010, Ms. Zhou was with CDH Investments, a leading Chinese private equity manager, based in Beijing. Prior to CDH Investments, Ms. Zhou spent her career at Bain & Company in Shanghai, as well as Oracle Corporation in Redwood Shores, California.

Ms. Zhou earned an MBA from Harvard Business School and a Bachelor of Science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Ms. Zhou grew up in Shanghai and is fluent in Mandarin Chinese.

Alex Shum is a Partner with TPG NewQuest, based in Hong Kong. Alex joined TPG NewQuest in 2011 and is responsible for the sourcing, execution and portfolio management of investments for the firm. Alex also leads TPG NewQuest’s China investment teams and has a focus on structuring complex fund solutions transactions. Alex also has a track record of navigating direct investment situations with heavy hands-on involvement, driving the companies throughout its investment lifecycle to successful exits. Alex has more than 15 years of experience in finance, encompassing investments, capital raising, M&A and corporate advisory. Prior to joining TPG NewQuest, he was an Associate at Credit Suisse’s Investment Bank, where he worked in the corporate finance and equity capital markets departments. Alex received his undergraduate degree in Economics from Duke University in Durham, NC. Alex is fluent in English, Mandarin and Cantonese.

Sherif is a Managing Director, Head of Middle East & Africa, working across Actis’ long life infrastructure and energy infrastructure sectors. Born in Cairo, Sherif has spent most of his life in the Middle East region. He started his career at EFG-Hermes Private Equity, investing in Egypt, Jordan and Turkey, and later moving to structured finance at HSBC where he focused on infrastructure project finance.

In 2004, Sherif joined Actis as an Associate focusing on North Africa. Now a Partner leading Actis’ business in the Middle East & Africa, he has played various deal leadership, execution, investment management and exit roles across 13 different transactions spanning multiple sectors including Wind Power, Solar C&I, Telecommunications, Education, Healthcare, and Consumer Sectors.  Sherif also played a leadership role in the transaction leading to Actis taking over management rights of the Middle East, Africa, and Southeast Asia funds previously managed by Abraaj Capital in 2019.

Sherif is an Adjunct Professor of Finance at the American University in Cairo, where he has regularly lectured on private equity and has been awarded the “Excellence in Teaching Award.” He is also a member of the Economic Advisory Council of the Arab Republic of Egypt and a member of the Young Presidents Organisation. Sherif has a Ph.D. in Economics and an MSc in Finance and Economic Development (with Distinction), both from the University of London.

Kyle is the Founder and Managing Partner of ShawKwei & Partners, a private equity investment firm established in 1998.   ShawKwei & Partners has offices in Singapore, San Francisco and Shanghai managing investments in Asia, Europe, and the USA.   Kyle’s private equity experience before ShawKwei & Partners included managing Asian private equity businesses for Security Pacific National Bank (Hong Kong) and then the Tudor Group (Shanghai) as well as in the energy industry with Union Texas Petroleum (Houston), Tidewater (Louisiana & Singapore) and McDermott (Indonesia).  Kyle has served as a director of several Asian and European industrial and service companies including as founder and director of Flex Ltd. (formerly known as Flextronics International Ltd).

Kyle received an MBA from the Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania, a BS in Commerce from the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia, as well as studied Mandarin Chinese at Taiwan’s National Normal University.

Steven is a Managing Director with Stonepeak and is Head of Global Affairs. Before joining Stonepeak, Steven was Australia’s Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment, and also served in other senior Cabinet and Ministerial roles over nearly two decades in the Australian Parliament.

Steven received a Master of Laws (Competition Law) from the Queensland University of Technology and a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting) from Bond University. Steven is also a Fellow with the Milken Institute.

Divyesh Mahajan is a Director of Investments at G42, where he focuses on private market investments and strategic partnerships across AI, digital infrastructure, healthcare, and technology platforms. He has over 20 years of experience spanning private equity, venture capital, public markets, and platform build-outs in regulated and emerging markets.

Divyesh began his career in technology and engineering, working on high-performance computing and enterprise systems, before transitioning into investment management. This combination of technical grounding and capital markets experience shapes his approach to evaluating and scaling AI-driven businesses.

At G42, he works closely with operating companies and portfolio investments on value creation aligned with the Group's strategic priorities.  Prior to G42, he held senior investment and operating roles at Abu Dhabi Financial Group and Algorythma, and earlier worked in global asset management with ING Investment Management.

Divyesh holds an MBA from the University of Cambridge and a Master’s and Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Engineering from IIT Delhi.

Rachel is Mergermarket’s Head of Auctions and co-Head of News, overseeing the publication's private markets and M&A coverage in Europe

Kishlaya has 17 years of experience, of which 11 years have been in the infrastructure investment/policy sector. This includes the current experience at the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) for the past 9 years, working as a Project Team Leader (Deal Lead) for sourcing, preparation, approval, documentation, and implementation of Private Equity / Venture Capital investments. In his current role as Senior Investment Officer, he is responsible for investments in Private Equity / Venture Capital funds which are investing in various digital initiatives / technology-enabled infrastructure across AIIB member countries in South and Southeast Asia. Kishlaya is based out of Abu Dhabi, AIIB's first global operations hub (outside Beijing headquarters). Kishlaya is currently working on implementing the AIIB Venture Capital Investment Program.

Carsten is a Principal Investment Officer at IFC (World Bank Group), based in the UAE, where he leads equity and mezzanine direct and co investment activities across Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia. He previously led investments across Asia and the Pacific from Singapore and has experience in private equity, corporate development, and investment banking, having held roles at Merrill Lynch, ABB PE, and the A.P. Møller–Maersk Group.

Melissa is a UAE-based partner at Stephenson Harwood with extensive experience advising on regional and cross-border corporate transactions, as well as a wide range of corporate and commercial matters across the MENA region.

Having been in the region for over 15 years, Melissa is a trusted advisor and key point of contact to many multinational and regional clients for their legal needs. Melissa’s practice focuses primarily on M&A, joint ventures, restructuring and insolvency, FDI (foreign direct investment), corporate and shareholder disputes and private equity / venture capital. She has a reputation for providing legal advice that is commercially relevant, on-point, adds value and is strategic to the needs of the client.

Melissa’s client base spans a broad range of sectors, including financial services, insurance, life sciences, healthcare, technology, industrials and manufacturing, consumer, real estate and construction, professional services and hotels and leisure.

Her standing as a leading corporate lawyer in the region is evident from the various awards and accolades that she has received, including:

• Being ranked as a "Next Generation Partner" for Commercial, Corporate and M&A within the Legal 500 EMEA 2024 Guide;
• Named in The Legal 500's M&A Powerlist Series: Middle East Region 2024, recognising her as one of the region's top M&A practitioners;
• Being listed as one of the 50 outstanding lawyers operating in the MENA region in the Thomson Reuters' ALB "MENA Super 50" list for two consecutive years, in both 2023 and 2024; and
• Receiving an "Honourable Mention" for Corporate Lawyer of the Year at LexisNexis' Women in Law Awards 2024.

Dr. Karim El Solh is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Gulf Capital. Dr. El Solh is also the co-Managing Partner of Gulf Related, a leading real estate development company launched in partnership with the Related Companies. Dr. El Solh is a board member of the Global Private Capital Association (formerly EMPEA) and the Chairman of the GPCA Middle East Council. Dr. El Solh is serving or has served as the Chairman of Geidea, ART Fertility, Metito Holdings and Maritime Industrial Services, and as the Director of Gulf Marine Services, Middle East Glass, Ma’arif for Education & Training, Reach Group, Depa Group, Metamed, the Galleria Mall Al Maryah Island, Antara Residential Project, NAS TPA and Aramex. Dr Karim El Solh recently joined some of the world’s leading CEOs in supporting HRH The Prince of Wales’ Terra Carta, which provides a roadmap for businesses to move towards a sustainable future by 2030. The charter’s vision to help build an inspiring, inclusive, equitable, prosperous, and sustainable future. He is also a member of the Sustainable Markets Initiative and the Private Equity Taskforce on Sustainability.

Prior to founding Gulf Capital, Dr El Solh was the CEO of the leading UAE investment bank, The National Investor. Under his leadership, the Firm was involved in a number of groundbreaking private equity transactions and was ranked as the number one IPO underwriter in the Gulf. Dr El Solh was also a Co-Founder of the European High Yield Capital Markets/Leveraged Buy-Outs division at Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette (DLJ – now part of Credit Suisse) and a senior investment banker in charge of equity offerings at Citigroup.

Dr. El Solh has a B.S. in civil engineering from Cornell University, an MBA from Georgetown University and a doctorate in economics from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po). He is also a Chartered Management Accountant and a Professional Civil Engineer. He is on the Board of Advisors of Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, a Board member of Georgetown’s Center for Financial Markets and Policy, a member of the Future of Work Initiative Advisory Group and on the Board of Trustees of the Abu Dhabi Music and Arts Foundation (ADMAF). Dr. El Solh has been named as one of the Top 100 CEOs in the Gulf by CEO Magazine, one of the 500 Most Influential Arabs by Arabian Business Magazine and a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.

Rodney Muse. Mr. Muse is one of two Managing Partners of Navis and an Investment Committee member. At Navis, Mr. Muse leads investment teams in making, monitoring and exiting investments and sits on the boards and/or executive committees of several Navis portfolio companies. He has been active in many of Navis’ investments in consumer goods, food, business services, industrial goods and services.

Mr. Muse co-founded Navis in 1998 with Mr. Bloy and Mr. Foyston, with whom he worked while at The Boston Consulting Group (BCG). At BCG, he worked in Sydney and Kuala Lumpur, where he gained experience in a number of industries including consumer goods, retail, oil and gas, distribution, primary resources and more. He started his career with Chase Manhattan Bank in 1985 in New York and Hong Kong.

Mr. Muse has been a resident in Asia since 1993, having been raised and educated in the US. He holds a Bachelor of Arts Hons degree from St. Lawrence University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Sudhir Variyar is the Managing Director & Deputy CEO of Multiples Alternate Asset Management Private Limited. In his capacity as a leader and seasoned professional, he plays a pivotal role in firm building and ensuring the continued growth and success of Multiples. He is a member of the Investment Committee and oversees the fund-raising and portfolio management functions.

Sudhir has almost three decades of experience, of which the last eighteen years has been in private equity. He has a strong investment track record and has led investments across a range of sectors including financial services, health care, logistics and infrastructure services.

Sudhir holds a postgraduate degree from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, and a B. Tech in Chemical Engineering from IT-BHU.

Kyle is the Founder and Managing Partner of ShawKwei & Partners, a private equity investment firm established in 1998.   ShawKwei & Partners has offices in Singapore, San Francisco and Shanghai managing investments in Asia, Europe, and the USA.   Kyle’s private equity experience before ShawKwei & Partners included managing Asian private equity businesses for Security Pacific National Bank (Hong Kong) and then the Tudor Group (Shanghai) as well as in the energy industry with Union Texas Petroleum (Houston), Tidewater (Louisiana & Singapore) and McDermott (Indonesia).  Kyle has served as a director of several Asian and European industrial and service companies including as founder and director of Flex Ltd. (formerly known as Flextronics International Ltd).

Kyle received an MBA from the Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania, a BS in Commerce from the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia, as well as studied Mandarin Chinese at Taiwan’s National Normal University.

Michael is the Chief Investment Officer of 2PointZero Group, a publicly listed investment holding company in Abu Dhabi with over US$33bn in assets across multiple sectors and geographies. He specializes in alternative investments, private & public equity, and institutional governance of investment platforms.  

Before joining 2PointZero (previously Multiply Group), he played a key role in the development of Positive Zero, a regional climate and energy transition platform backed by a US$400m investment from BlackRock, and co-founded Blend Development, a European real estate and hospitality investment company.  

Previously, he was Deputy CEO and Head of the Investment Committee at QInvest LLC, where he managed c.100 investment professionals and directed investments exceeding US$2.0bn. Over his 25+ year career across MENA, Europe, and the U.S., he has executed transactions worth over US$80bn and served in senior roles at Credit Suisse, ABN Amro, Procter & Gamble, and Shell Oil.  

He holds an MSc from the London School of Economics, is a CFA charterholder, a Chartered Director (CDir) from the U.K. Institute of Directors, and a graduate of INSEAD’s International Directors Programme. He also serves on the boards of public and private companies.

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Walid Majdalani is the Head of Emerging Markets Private Equity at Investcorp. He joined in 2007 from ABN AMRO Bank NV, where he spent close to ten years, mainly in private equity. In his last role, he was an Investment Director in a €1.1 billion third party infrastructure fund where he was involved in sourcing and closing a number of transactions globally. Prior to this, Walid worked with Oracle Corporation in the UAE where he set up the Abu Dhabi office.

Walid holds a BBA in Management Information Systems from the University of Texas and an MBA from Harvard University.

Yağız Özgüven is an Executive Director at Waha Capital’s Private Investments Team.

Yağız has led investments in Waha’s global co-investment portfolio and currently leads Waha Health, Waha Capital’s healthcare vertical. He also serves on the advisory board of a global cybersecurity company with headquarters in Germany.

Before Waha, Yağız Özgüven worked at Turkven, Turkiye’s leading Private Equity Fund for nearly a decade, serving on Medical Park, MNG Kargo, Elif Plastik, and Provus boards. Before Turkven, he worked at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in London as part of the CEEMEA Investment Banking team, advising on deals in Turkiye. He is a graduate of Columbia University with a major in Operations Research and a minor in Economics.

Mr. Kuo Chuan Kung is a leading investor in Asia. He is the Founder and Managing Partner of Nexus Point, an Asian private equity firm with offices in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Kuala Lumpur. Established in 2017, Nexus Point focuses on making investments across in Asia, inlcuding Greater China, Southeast Asia, Japan and the Middle East. 

Before Nexus Point, Mr. Kung co-founded MBK Partners, one of the largest private equity firms in Asia, as Partner and Head of Greater China. Prior to MBK Partners, Mr. Kung was a Managing Director of The Carlyle Group. While at Carlyle, Mr. Kung was the Head of the Shanghai office, responsible for China investments, and Head of the Singapore office, responsible for investments in Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand. Mr. Kung started his career with McKinsey & Company in Hong Kong and New York. 

During his career, Mr. Kung has been responsible for managing and growing a large number of portfolio companies in various sectors. In addition to generating attractive financial returns, these investments have also led to meaningful social and environmental contributions.

Outside of private equity, Mr. Kung is an active contributor to various corporate, civic, education, and social enterprises. He is a Global Trustee of Asia Society and sits on the Asia Pacific advisory board of the Harvard Business School. He previously served on the boards of Hon Hai Precision Industry (Foxconn), Dickey Center at Dartmouth College, and the United World College-USA. Mr. Kung and his wife own a boutique winery in China with a social mission, producing premium wines by practicing regenerative agriculture and promoting rural development and education.

Mr. Kung was born in Taiwan and grew up in Taiwan, Hong Kong and the Dominican Republic. After completing secondary level education in Hong Kong, he attended United World College-USA (New Mexico, US), graduated from Dartmouth College (New Hampshire, US) with a Bachelor of Arts degree, magna cum laude, and received an MBA from Harvard Business School (Massachusetts, US). Mr. Kung lives in Hong Kong with his family. 

Sherif is a Managing Director, Head of Middle East & Africa, working across Actis’ long life infrastructure and energy infrastructure sectors. Born in Cairo, Sherif has spent most of his life in the Middle East region. He started his career at EFG-Hermes Private Equity, investing in Egypt, Jordan and Turkey, and later moving to structured finance at HSBC where he focused on infrastructure project finance.

In 2004, Sherif joined Actis as an Associate focusing on North Africa. Now a Partner leading Actis’ business in the Middle East & Africa, he has played various deal leadership, execution, investment management and exit roles across 13 different transactions spanning multiple sectors including Wind Power, Solar C&I, Telecommunications, Education, Healthcare, and Consumer Sectors.  Sherif also played a leadership role in the transaction leading to Actis taking over management rights of the Middle East, Africa, and Southeast Asia funds previously managed by Abraaj Capital in 2019.

Sherif is an Adjunct Professor of Finance at the American University in Cairo, where he has regularly lectured on private equity and has been awarded the “Excellence in Teaching Award.” He is also a member of the Economic Advisory Council of the Arab Republic of Egypt and a member of the Young Presidents Organisation. Sherif has a Ph.D. in Economics and an MSc in Finance and Economic Development (with Distinction), both from the University of London.

Alex Shum is a Partner with TPG NewQuest, based in Hong Kong. Alex joined TPG NewQuest in 2011 and is responsible for the sourcing, execution and portfolio management of investments for the firm. Alex also leads TPG NewQuest’s China investment teams and has a focus on structuring complex fund solutions transactions. Alex also has a track record of navigating direct investment situations with heavy hands-on involvement, driving the companies throughout its investment lifecycle to successful exits. Alex has more than 15 years of experience in finance, encompassing investments, capital raising, M&A and corporate advisory. Prior to joining TPG NewQuest, he was an Associate at Credit Suisse’s Investment Bank, where he worked in the corporate finance and equity capital markets departments. Alex received his undergraduate degree in Economics from Duke University in Durham, NC. Alex is fluent in English, Mandarin and Cantonese.

Zachary Levine joined Ardian as an Analyst in the New York office 2011. Mr. Levine moved to the West Coast in 2018 where he helped expand the San Francisco office, as a Senior Investment Manager, and then as a Director. He is active in following the American LP and GP relationships on both the East and West Coast as well as origination, due diligence, and execution of primary and secondary fund investments. In 2023, Mr. Levine took part in the launch of the Abu Dhabi office as Managing Director, and is now responsible for leading the Secondaries and Primaries strategy in the Middle East region.  Prior to joining Ardian, he completed several internships, notably with AQR Capital Management.

Education: George Washington University

Yaser Moustafa is Head of Emerging Market Private Investments, formerly NBK Capital Partners which Janus Henderson Investors acquired in 2024. He serves as chair of the Emerging Market private investments investment committee, a role he has held since joining the firm in 2015. Prior to this, he was managing director of Alvarez & Marsal, responsible for private equity and corporate advisory in the MENA region. Before A&M, Yaser was an executive director and head of Saudi Arabia investment banking for Nomura International. And before Nomura, Yaser acted as interim CEO for a leading support services company and for the largest restaurant operator in Qatar, amongst other roles. Yaser started his career in 1998 at Lehman Brothers in investment banking in the United States.

Yaser earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Chicago and received an MBA from Northwestern University, Kellogg School of Management. Yaser has 28 years of financial industry experience.

KY Tang founded Affinity Equity Partners in 2002, after amassing more than thirty years’ experience in the private equity and banking sectors. KY, together with other former senior partners of UBS Capital Asia Pacific, spun off and formed Affinity Equity Partners. Prior to establishing the Firm, he held leadership positions with UBS, including Chief Executive for Investment Banking, East Asia for the Union Bank of Switzerland. When the Union Bank of Switzerland and Swiss Bank Corporation were merged into UBS, he was named Chief Executive, Hong Kong for UBS Group and Head of Investment Banking, Asia for UBS Investment Bank. His last position with UBS Group was as Chairman of UBS Capital Asia Pacific.

KY holds a Bachelor of Economics (Accounting) with first-class honours from the University of Malaya.

Sohail Lalani is a Managing Director at Blue Owl and member of the GP Strategic Capital Global Investment Team. In his role, Sohail focuses on sourcing and evaluating minority investments in private markets GPs as well as working closely with key LPs on strategic partnership opportunities. 

Before joining Blue Owl, Sohail was the Founder and Managing Partner of Eglinton Capital Partners, a Canadian based private investment firm. Prior to that, he was a senior member of the Direct Private Equity investments team of PSP Investments, one of Canada’s largest pension funds based in Montreal. Sohail also spent a decade at the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) based in Abu Dhabi, where he was responsible for sourcing, executing, and monitoring co-investment and direct investment transactions in partnership with leading US and European GPs. Sohail began his career in investment banking at J.P. Morgan and TD Securities. 

He holds an MBA with Distinction from London Business School and HBA (Dean’s List) from the Ivey Business School at University of Western Ontario.

Kishlaya has 17 years of experience, of which 11 years have been in the infrastructure investment/policy sector. This includes the current experience at the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) for the past 9 years, working as a Project Team Leader (Deal Lead) for sourcing, preparation, approval, documentation, and implementation of Private Equity / Venture Capital investments. In his current role as Senior Investment Officer, he is responsible for investments in Private Equity / Venture Capital funds which are investing in various digital initiatives / technology-enabled infrastructure across AIIB member countries in South and Southeast Asia. Kishlaya is based out of Abu Dhabi, AIIB's first global operations hub (outside Beijing headquarters). Kishlaya is currently working on implementing the AIIB Venture Capital Investment Program.

Hemant Sabherwal leads the Corporate Solutions team and EMEA Issuer Services at the HKEX. 

Hemant is a seasoned investment banker with over twenty years of experience primarily in equity capital market related roles in Hong Kong and London. Most recently, he spent seven years at Morgan Stanley where he led ECM for issuers from Hong Kong, Korea and Taiwan before re-locating to London in 2022 to lead MS’s private placement practice for EMEA. Hemant started his career at Merrill Lynch in London in 2000 in TMT investment banking before relocating to Hong Kong in 2005. He has also had roles at Deutsche Bank, where he led the block trade business for Asia, and Union Gaming Securities, a boutique providing investment banking services, where he ran global capital markets. 

Taimoor Labib is a Founding Partner at Affirma Capital and Head of Middle East & North Africa (MENA) Private Equity and Chairman of Africa Private Equity. He is based in Dubai.

Prior to Affirma Capital, Taimoor was Head of Africa & Middle East Private Equity business for Standard Chartered Private Equity (SCPE) investing and overseeing an approximately $1.5 billion direct investment portfolio in leading companies across sectors throughout Africa and the Middle East. He joined SCPE in March 2010 as a Managing Director and currently or historically sat on the boards of Al Jazeera Poultry, CEC, Eaton Towers, FINE Hygienic (Vice Chairman), GZI, Topaz Energy & Marine, Souq.com (observer), and Union Bank of Nigeria.

Previously he was also Head of Global Private Equity Portfolio Management (2013-2016) overseeing the overall global portfolio throughout Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

Taimoor has 25 years of direct private equity and investment banking experience with leading international and regional institutions, including deep relationships with leading family groups, regulators, sovereign wealth funds and limited partners.

Taimoor began his career with Bear Stearns investment banking in New York, and The Carlyle Group in Washington D.C. and holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Carnegie Mellon University.

Nabeel Laher is the Managing Partner of the International Private Equity business unit within Old Mutual Alternative Investments (OMAI). He joined OMAI in February 2015 and is a member of OMAI’s Executive Committee (EXCO), Risk Management Committee, Diversity Committee, and the International Private Equity Investment Committee. He is also a former member of the Hybrid Equity Investment Committee. Additionally, Nabeel represents OMAI on several Limited Partner Advisory Committees. With over 20 years of experience in financial services and operations, he brings extensive expertise to his role.

Before joining OMAI, Nabeel worked as an entrepreneur and completed his articles at one of the Big Four auditing firms. He then joined one of South Africa’s premier investment banks, where he participated in debt transactions in leveraged finance, project finance, and balance sheet lending. He was later part of Deloitte’s Corporate Finance Advisory team, advising on mergers and acquisitions across various industries.

Nabeel is a Chartered Accountant and a CFA® Charterholder.

Tim Burroughs is managing editor of Asian Venture Capital Journal, having joined the publication in May 2011. He is responsible for all editorial content put out under the AVCJ brand, including Asian Venture Capital Journal, AVCJtv, AVCJ Awards and AVCJ.com. Tim previously spent five years at China Economic Review, serving as editor-in-chief and then editorial director. Located in Greater China since 2003, during which time he has lived in Beijing, Qingdao and Hong Kong, Tim has been a China-based contributor for publications including The Sunday Times, Sunday Telegraph, BBC and China Daily. Prior to moving to China, he trained and worked as a journalist in the UK. He was honored at the Society of Publishers in Asia awards in 2007, 2008 and 2010, and at the State Street Institutional Press Awards - Asia in 2012.

Before founding Gaocheng Capital, Ms. Hong was a Partner, Head of Private Equity and an Investment Committee member of Hillhouse Capital Group. Prior to Hillhouse, she was the Managing Director and Head of global emerging markets consumer sector, and Head of Beijing office of General Atlantic LLC. Previously Ms. Hong worked at Warburg Pincus LLC and McKinsey & Company.

Ms. Hong has been engaged in growth stage private equity investment for nearly two decades, led private investments including Alibaba, Meituan, Beike, Didi, Fang.com, ZTO Express, KidsWant, Xiabu Xiabu, Wind, Ming Yuan Cloud, Bairong, Youzan, Tuya, DerbySoft, Beisen, Huisuanzhang, UMU, xQuant, eVAT，Gitlab China，etc.

Ms. Hong received an MBA degree from Harvard Business School and a B.S. degree in International Finance and an M.S. degree in Engineering Management from Tsinghua University.

Ms. Hong was named Forbes’ Midas List of Top Tech Investors for the 3rd straight year in 2023.

Ms. Hong serves on the Alumni Boards of Harvard Business School and Tsinghua School of Economics and Management.

Rachel is Mergermarket’s Head of Auctions and co-Head of News, overseeing the publication's private markets and M&A coverage in Europe

Brooke Zhou is Partner of LGT Capital Partners, she co-leads LGT CP’s private equity business in Asia. LGT Capital Partners is a leading institutional alternative asset and fund of funds manager, currently managing over USD 100 billion AuM on a global basis and over 600 private equity professionals worldwide. The firm is headquartered in Pfäffikon, Switzerland (near Zurich) and has offices in Hong Kong, Beijing, Tokyo, Sydney, New York, Raleigh, Dublin, London, Paris, Frankfurt, Vaduz and Dubai.

Prior to joining LGT Capital Partners in 2010, Ms. Zhou was with CDH Investments, a leading Chinese private equity manager, based in Beijing. Prior to CDH Investments, Ms. Zhou spent her career at Bain & Company in Shanghai, as well as Oracle Corporation in Redwood Shores, California.

Ms. Zhou earned an MBA from Harvard Business School and a Bachelor of Science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Ms. Zhou grew up in Shanghai and is fluent in Mandarin Chinese.

Michael Preston is a Partner at Cleary Gottlieb. He is Co-Head of the EMEA Private Equity Practice and Co-Head of the Global Sovereign Wealth Fund Practice. Michael is recognized as a Leading Partner by various legal platforms including Chambers Global, IFLR and The Legal 500. He supports clients through the full PE life cycle, bringing together specialist knowledge and sector expertise in PE/M&A transactions (including large-cap and mid-cap buyouts, growth equity and refinancings/exits), portfolio company support (including bolt-on acquisitions and other general corporate support), fund formation (as well as fund financing and secondary/liquidity strategies and hedging) and co-investments. Michael splits his time between Abu Dhabi and London and has helped to build an award-winning team which clients depend on. In the last 5 years, Cleary’s EMEA PE team has advised on 90+ deals with a total aggregated deal value of over US$122 billion. 

Mr. Chae is a Partner on the Investor Relations team at L Catterton, based in Singapore. Prior to joining the firm, he was a Principal in Client Relations at IFC Asset Management Company, responsible for fundraising and investor engagement across alternative asset classes in the Asia-Pacific region.

Previously, Mr. Chae held senior roles in alternative investments at PineBridge Investments in Tokyo and Singapore. His prior experience includes leadership positions at Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse, and Chase Manhattan Bank, across New York, Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Singapore.

Mr. Chae graduated with honors from the University of Rochester with a BA in Economics and Japanese.

Steven is a Managing Director with Stonepeak and is Head of Global Affairs. Before joining Stonepeak, Steven was Australia’s Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment, and also served in other senior Cabinet and Ministerial roles over nearly two decades in the Australian Parliament.

Steven received a Master of Laws (Competition Law) from the Queensland University of Technology and a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting) from Bond University. Steven is also a Fellow with the Milken Institute.

Divyesh Mahajan is a Director of Investments at G42, where he focuses on private market investments and strategic partnerships across AI, digital infrastructure, healthcare, and technology platforms. He has over 20 years of experience spanning private equity, venture capital, public markets, and platform build-outs in regulated and emerging markets.

Divyesh began his career in technology and engineering, working on high-performance computing and enterprise systems, before transitioning into investment management. This combination of technical grounding and capital markets experience shapes his approach to evaluating and scaling AI-driven businesses.

At G42, he works closely with operating companies and portfolio investments on value creation aligned with the Group's strategic priorities.  Prior to G42, he held senior investment and operating roles at Abu Dhabi Financial Group and Algorythma, and earlier worked in global asset management with ING Investment Management.

Divyesh holds an MBA from the University of Cambridge and a Master’s and Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Engineering from IIT Delhi.

Carsten is a Principal Investment Officer at IFC (World Bank Group), based in the UAE, where he leads equity and mezzanine direct and co investment activities across Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia. He previously led investments across Asia and the Pacific from Singapore and has experience in private equity, corporate development, and investment banking, having held roles at Merrill Lynch, ABB PE, and the A.P. Møller–Maersk Group.

Mohamed Albadr 

Head of Asia, Private Equity

Mubadala Investment Company

Mohamed Albadr is the Head of Asia within the Private Equity platform. Mohamed oversees Mubadala’s investments and key relationships in Asia and manages the assessment and deployment of capital in multiple asset classes and sectors, successfully executing over 80 transactions and directing more than $5 billion in investments. He played a key role in launching the $10 billion China – UAE Cooperation Fund in 2015, a joint initiative between Mubadala, China Development Bank Capital and State Administrative of Foreign Exchange.

Prior to joining Mubadala, Mohamed spent seven years at Masdar Capital and was responsible for assessing potential deals and equity investments to support the organization’s clean-tech investment portfolio. During that period, he was an integral part of teams deploying capital, adding value to existing portfolio companies, and overseeing the formation of new funds. 

Mohamed holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration, with a focus on Financial Management, from the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California, USA.