Leadership

Mounir A. Fakhry AbdelNour is currently Chairman and Board of Directors Member of several financial and Industrial Companies and acts as Senior Adviser for Rothschild & Cie. one of the world’s largest independent advisory groups.

Mounir A. Fakhry AbdelNour is currently Chairman and Board of Directors Member of several financial and Industrial Companies and acts as Senior Adviser for Rothschild & Cie. one of the world’s largest independent advisory groups.

Prior to joining the Egyptian Cabinet, Mr. AbdelNour was founder and Chairman of Hero Middle East and Africa, previously Société Égypto-Française pour les Industries Agro-Alimentaires ( Vitrac), Member of the Board of Directors of Egypt Arab African Bank, Founder and Managing Director of Egyptian Finance Company, Vice President of American Express Bank and Representative of Banque de l’Union Européenne in Egypt and the Middle East.

Mr. AbdelNour was Member of the Board of Directors of the Federation of Egyptian Industries, the Egyptian Competition Authority, the Cairo Stock Exchange and the Expo and Convention Authority. He was Chairman of the Egyptian Center for Economic Studies.

Mr. AbdelNour earned his undergraduate degree in Statistics from the faculty of Economics and Political Science, Cairo University and a Master degree in Economics from the American University in Cairo.

Mr. Karam is the CEO of Beltone Financial, bringing over 25 years of experience in financial & investment fields backed by a well-established executive management track record over the years.

Prior to Beltone Financial, Mr. Karam gathered extensive experience across Europe and Eastern Europe for more than 16 years, holding different senior positions at VEON, a multinational telecommunication services company headquartered in Amsterdam, ultimately becoming the VP of Finance for Emerging Markets and managing operations worth north of $10 billion while holding different Board of Directors positions across the group. Additionally, Mr. Karam held multiple positions in Investment Banking and Asset management firms in Egypt and UK. He also held various leading and senior positions in Orascom Telecom Holding and Wind Group. Following his return to Egypt, he served as CEO of both Tahya Misr Fund and Tahya Misr Holding Company for more than a year.

Mr. Karam holds a Master of Business Administration with a major in Finance from Maastricht School of Management, the Netherlands and a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics & Political Science.

Mrs. Wafaa Zaklama is an experienced Chartered Director currently serving as a board member on boards of several international and local institutions in addition to chairing a few board committees. She is also an experienced ex banker with over 30 years of banking experience.  In 2007, she joined the Orascom Group as a Financial Consultant advising on various projects. Prior to joining Orascom, she joined the IFC, Mena Region for couple of years rolling the Corporate Governance project across the Gulf Region.

Mrs. Zaklama’s work career started in 1976 when she joined Cairo Barclays Bank as a fresh graduate working her career up to Co-managing Director, in addition to her role as the Regional Corporate Director.

She currently serves as a volunteer board member and treasurer in one of the leading NGO in the recycling field as part of her philanthropy and social responsibility work. 

Mrs. Zaklama received her bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Cairo University and her Chartered Directorship from The Directors’ College Institute of the McMaster University, Ontario, Canada. She also holds a Director Professionalism Certificate, Corporate Directors Institute from the National Association of Corporate Directors “NACD” in Washington, D.C. 

Nils previously held the position of Corporate Strategy Senior Director at Gemini Holding, with a focus on the group’s Financial and Real Estate investments. Nils sits on the board of several portfolio companies, as well as directly managing Delicious Foods Egypt as founder and CEO.

Prior to joining Gemini Holding Nils was part of Palm Hills’ corporate strategy and business development team, mainly focusing on the turnaround of existing projects as well as identifying new opportunities.

Prior to that, Nils assumed several roles at Orascom Telecom Holding “OTH” and its subsidiaries. As part of the Corporate Strategy Department he worked on several bids (i.e. Saudi Arabia, and Qatar). Later on, he was in charge of developing OTH’s Mobile Banking initiative across Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

Nils holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the American University in Cairo.

Prior to joining OFH, Bassem was the Chief Financial Officer of SETA Group, a fashion manufacturing and retail group. Before SETA, Bassem was part of Accelero Capital team, Accelero is an investment and management group based on telecommunications, digital media and technology (TMT), which rapidly diversified into other fields

Prior to that Bassem held the position of Planning Director of Orascom Telecom Holding (“OTH”), responsible for the strategy, business planning and pricing for mobile and fixed operations across the Middle East, Africa, Europe and Asia. He was highly involved in long term plans as well as market activities in different regions.

Before OTH, Bassem was part of the team launching the mobile operation in Iraq, responsible for the budgeting and planning department. Prior to this mission, Bassem was part of the Corporate Strategy team in Mobinil, Egypt’s incumbent operator.

Before joining the telecom field, Bassem worked in Allied Business Consultants, a consultancy firm, working as part of a consortium with KPMG Barents Group LLC, and Carana Corporation, handling different projects with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Before that he was a researcher in A.M.E.R World Research Limited, an affiliate of "Dun & Bradstreet International – England".

Bassem has a Bachelor’s degree in economics and a minor in management. He also finished all MBA courses from Maastricht University in Cairo.

Amir has more than 20 years of experience in private equity and operations management. He is currently Co-Founder, Managing Director, and member of the Investment Committee of Ezdehar, an Egypt-focused private equity firm that invests in mid-sized companies.

Prior to co-founding Ezdehar, Amir was an Associate Director at The Carlyle Group in the Middle East during 2007-2014 and was actively involved in transactions in Egypt, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Malaysia, Iraq, and the UAE. Amir was involved in Carlyle’s exit of its investment in the General Lighting Company (GLC), where he also originated and executed an add-on acquisition of a company in Southeast Asia on behalf of GLC.

Before his time at The Carlyle Group, Amir was an Associate with HC Securities and Investment, where he worked on advisory assignments in the financial services, packaging, logistics, telecoms, and heavy industries.

Amir started his career as a maintenance and operations engineer at Al-Ezz Steel Rebars Company where he led several plant upgrades that increased productivity and stabilized manufacturing operations.

Amir holds an MBA from INSEAD, and a BSc in Mechanical Engineering from the American University in Cairo. Amir also completed the Young Professionals Program at London Business School.

 

Aladdin ElAfifi has 21 years of financial advisory and direct investments experience. He is the coFounder and Executive Managing Partner of 46 Capital, a real estate alternative asset manager. He is the Founder of Blue Gate Ltd, an ADGM advisory engaged on a select number of mandates in a number of sectors. He is also a co-Founder of TomNa, a fledgling startup focusing on the exportation of high-grade garlic from Egypt. He mentors a number of startups and works as an Advisor to Her Excellency Dr. Hala El Said, the Minister of Planning and Economic Development.

He was most recently Co-CEO of Pharos Holding where he overlooked all securities brokerage, asset management and investment banking and advisory activities. He also spearheaded the creation of the nano-lending startup (Kashat) in partnership with Pakistan’s Planet N as well as the funding and sponsoring of startups directly and through work with Startupbootcamp, co-manager of the first Egyptian fintech accelerator.

Prior to joining Pharos, ElAfifi led the team managing Qalaa Holding’s investments in mining, mining industries, gold exploration through assets in Ethiopia and Sudan and the waste management sector through the creation of Tawazon, a local and regional market leader in the field of solid waste (municipal and agricultural) management which uses the waste it collects and processes to sell “energy” in many forms, mostly to the cement industry in the form of shredded refuse derived fuel and biomass. He was also a senior member of the team that established Taqa Arabia, a full-service energy (natural gas and electricity) distribution group, by acquiring smaller concession holders and players and the initial team that worked to conceptualise, negotiate and sign the Framework Agreement for what later would become the Egyptian Refining Company (ERC), a USD 4.4 billion refinery.

ElAfifi previously worked in London as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs’s UK M&A and Industrials and Natural Resources teams. He started his career at EFG-Hermes Investment Banking. With both Goldman Sachs and EFG-Hermes, he worked on a number of high-profile M&A and capital market transactions across a multitude of sectors. Clients include BP, Shell, Petroplus, BG, InterGen, MOL, SAS, ICI and Saint-Gobain, Orascom Telecom, Orascom Construction, Al Ahram Beverages, Etisalat and J Sainsbury

He is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), and holds an MBA from the Wharton School of Business with a concentration in Finance, Strategic and Entrepreneurial Management and a BA in Economics and Business Administration from the American University in Cairo. He is the recipient of the Joseph Wharton fellowship for outstanding academic achievements. ElAfifi was a member of the Board of the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt from 2015 to 2019, Treasurer from 2017 to 2019 and is currently a member of the Chamber’s Strategy Committee which is responsible for the complete revamp of the Chamber’s operations.