Investment Committee | dubaiangelinvestors

INVESTMENT COMMITTEE

Our Investment Committee is an Exceptionally diverse and talented team of senior executives drawn from the DAI membership. Our IC members come from a highly diverse but complimentary set of disciplines and career experiences and are involved both in the vetting and selection of potential investments. Their unique blend of skills and experience make our IC arguably one of the strongest venture finance investment committees in the MENA region.

In November 2018 we implemented a new structure that achieves the objective of getting more DAI members involved in the IC while simultaneously streamlining the participation and process on pitch nights. This is achieved by having a larger overall IC but restricting the number of IC members who vote at each pitch night to 7 members including one Board member sitting on a rotating basis at every Investment Committee.

SAMER CHOUCAIR

Samer has more than 18 years of experience in start-ups across a variety
of industries spanning entertainment, F&B, e-commerce, media, and healthcare in Canada, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman, and Singapore. In his current role heading CE-Ventures, Samer’s responsible for conceiving, incubating, and growing innovative and sustainable start-ups in various industries.

DANA NOUEIHED

Dana Noueihed is an Investment Associate
at Emaar Industries and Investments (EII) and represents EII on the Investment Committee. Dana works closely with the Chief Executive Officer of
EII in managing the existing portfolio of investments
and plays a key role in implementing EII’s strategies to unlock and maximize value in preparation for exit.

HEATHER HENYON

Heather Henyon has 18 years of experience in financial services with a focus on entrepreneurship, microfinance, emerging markets, financial technology, crowdfunding, credit and impact investment. She is an active angel investor with investments in the Middle East, Europe and US and is part of 5 angel groups. Her passion is fintech.

PATRICK THIERIET

Patrick is the Chief Strategy Officer and runs the investment arm of Choueiri Group, a leading player in the MENA media landscape. An ex-Private Banker, Patrick has 20 years of experience in advising private entrepreneurs, and also an active seed investor in early stage start-ups.

EDDY FARHAT

Eddy is the Chief Data Officer at Eradah Capital. Prior to that he used to work at Google where he looked after direct sales and ecosystem development for DoubleClick in MENA. He was previously the Chief Strategy Officer at MarkaVIP. Before MarkaVIP Eddy worked as a management consultant at Booz&Co

BASIL MOFTAH

Basil is a general partner at Global Ventures, a growth focused venture capital
firm. He started his career in the venture capital arm of Reuters PLC. He managed to complete 16 investments over 4 years in the fund achieving 33% IRR in-spite of the difficult years of 2001/2 for the markets.

MOHAMMED EL SAADI

Mohammad has recently left his position at Google Play Apps & Games in MENA and Turkey to pursue his own venture. Prior to his role at Google, Mohammad was the CIO of Telly, a social video network, Founder of Sha-Sha Entertainment, and a Senior Consultant at Booz & Company.

ANNELIESE REINHOLD

Anneliese is a veteran of two highly successful Middle East telco start-up launch teams and is a seasoned & globally networked lawyer & corporate executive. She has 25+ years’ experience spanning executive and non-executive roles in legal/ regulatory/public policy across listed & non-listed ICT organizations in developed & emerging markets.

ABDULLA BOULSIEN

Abdulla has served as a Leveraged Finance banker with Merrill Lynch London, as Co-founder of Tuareg Capital and manager of the $30m Libya Fund (private equity) and as Director of LAP GreenN (Africa mobile investments). Abdulla is a private investor, until very recently, a shareholder and director of Manor Racing Formula 1 Team and is an active angel investor.

KAMAL SHEHADI

Kamal is a highly committed member of DAI and is passionate about the startups and the entrepreneurs he encounters both through DAI and through his professional work. Kamal brings twenty years’ experience in the telecommunications industry – as consultant, regulator, and executive- and in negotiating partnerships between telecom operators and tech firms.

HANA BESBES

Hana has more than six years of consulting experience with Roland Berger, BCG, and industry experience, shaping the tech & digital agenda

for European and Middle Eastern clients. Hana has a background in engineering and telecommunications and a passion for technology, innovation and investing.