Zachary Cefaratti is Chief Executive Officer and principal founder of Dalma Capital Management Limited.

Zachary has over 12 years' professional experience in the financial services industry, having initially worked his way through his studies at Franklin University Switzerland, Foster School of Business at the University of Washington, London School of Economics and University of Pennsylvania while operating independent mortgage brokerage, merchant and insurance businesses. He holds a dual bachelor’s degree in International Finance and Banking and International Business Management.

Zachary began his search for alpha at age 7, when he began trading bonds and equities in an effort to grow assets he earned as a childhood film and television SAG/AFTRA actor. Throughout his career and education, he has been an active member of the investment community – he founded the Franklin University Investment Club and spearheaded the formation of the AIMA Middle East Executive Committee, representing the Alternative Investment Management Association in the MENASA Region. He was the principal organizer of the AIMA Middle East Hedge Fund Investors Summit and went on to found AIM Summit, the largest gathering of Hedge Fund, Private Equity, Venture Capital and Private Debt professionals in the Middle East. He regularly speaks at global industry events and has been a regular Market View contributor to the Khaleej Times.

His efforts at Dalma Capital have been dedicated to seeking alpha generating portfolio managers and strategies, providing a platform on which they can maximize their alpha realization and capture. This is achieved by significantly reducing barriers to entry, substantial complexity, distribution hurdles, time to market and operating costs without compromising the robust operational, regulatory, legal and technological infrastructure that institutions demand.

Howard was previously Senior Managing Director for the entire group of Argent Companies and McMahan Securities LP, he was responsible for implementing Argent Financial Group's international hedge fund and investment banking operations by establishing a global structure, establishing offices, financial platforms and operational teams in the UK, India and Dubai. He achieved UK FSA licensing for Argent and they became the Dubai International Financial Centre's first Category 3 license holder and Hedge Fund Manager. Howard also established the first DIFC domiciled Hedge Fund. He was involved in the commercial initiation of Hedge Fund rules reform in India through SEBI and established financial analyst platforms in India. Howard has held a Registered General Securities Principal (Series 24) and Representative (Series 7) with the US FINRA, and Licensed Partner and Authorized Individual status with the FSA and DFSA in relation to the operation of Hedge Funds.

Howard is a former Royal Navy Commando Pilot and UK Special Forces Officer; he was twice decorated for gallantry by the order of the Queen. In 2003 he was invited by the US Government to accept a (post 9/11) senior advisory position constructing and commanding a night capable, heli-borne militia force on the Pakistan/Afghan border. He took a year out from the financial industry and became accredited by the Department of State as making the "single most important individual contribution" to border security in this infamous region. He is an accomplished author and has published a book recounting these exploits.

Howard was educated in the UK and attained a Queen's commission from Britannia Royal Naval College in 1981. He graduated from Camberley Army Command and Staff College in 1994, he was the first British officer to take temporary command of a United States Marine Corps Squadron. Howard was recruited to Dalma Capital in 2013 and has led the Company through its Dubai FSA and Malta FSA regulatory approvals.

Mishal Kanoo is one of the most iconic business figures in the Middle East and has a reputation as a futurist and strategist with a strong track record in forecasting economic developments in the region. As Chairman of KAAF Investments, Mishal Kanoo tries to help people reach their professional dreams. The excitement of helping others achieve their goals, both big or small, is what drives him. Playing a role in bettering people's lives is a great instigator for doing what he does. Kanoo has been investing on a personal and company level since 1991.

Mr. Kanoo currently serves as the Chairman of The Kanoo Group, one of the largest, longest running and independent family-owned groups of companies in the Gulf region. Furthermore, he is a professional and motivational speaker, writes articles for local and regional media, is published in business journals on a regular basis, and holds chief positions as Chairman/Director of various reputable companies, including AXA Insurance Gulf, Gulf Capital, KHK & Partners Limited, Dalma Capital, and Johnson Arabia LLC.

Mishal Kanoo adheres to family values and ideals in pursuit of quality and excellence. Over the years, the Kanoo family has always been associated with the progress and development of the entire region combined with a sense of philanthropy.

Mishal grew up in the United Arab Emirates and finished his early schooling in Dubai. Thereafter he obtained two MBAs, one in finance from the University of St. Thomas, in Texas, and one from the American University of Sharjah. He began his professional career within the family business before going to university to get his first Master’s Degree. He then worked as an auditor outside his family business with Arthur Andersen in Dubai, before Re-joining The Kanoo Group in 1997 as the Deputy Chairman.

An experienced Corporate Development Director with nineteen years of experience across UK, Europe, US and Asia. Specialized in M&A, Strategy, Integrating and Restructuring companies and, managing/ transforming organizations from takeover through to disposal. He has an excellent understanding of the Legal, Financial, Regulatory, IP, Cultural and Environmental factors impacting M&A of both public and private companies. James also has an excellent negotiation, influencing and selling skills at all operational levels including that of foreign governments. Strong and proven ability across the whole M&A process from creating opportunities for new business and building a pipeline of M&A targets, through due diligence, legal documentation, completion and integration. Mr. Masacorale has a sector Experience: TMT, Electrical, Explosion Proof (EX), Construction Products, Logistics.

An energetic and outgoing business leader with experience of managing and developing large multicultural and cross border teams. James’ specialties are Strategy, Mergers, Acquisition and Disposals.

David Gibson-Moore is the President of Gulf Analytica, with the role to assist the business development of companies in the Gulf region and undertake investment advisory mandates for leading institutional and private office clients in the GCC. Mr. Gibson-Moore is a Senior Advisor of LGT Group Foundation on which he advices to the Liechtenstein Foundation and the Princely Family of Liechtenstein on matters in connection with the Middle East: this includes relationships with Ruling Families in the Gulf and business opportunities in both financial and other business sectors. He holds over 10 senior executive roles all over the GCC region.

Mr. Gibson-Moore has had a career in general management as well as corporate finance, investment banking and asset management. He has specialised in private equity since 2000. From 2009 to 2014 he was CEO and Managing Director of LGT Bank covering the GCC countries. LGT is a bank privately owned by the Princely Family of Liechtenstein focusing worldwide on institutional and family office asset management.

Before joining LGT Group, he was Chief Executive Officer Middle East for the Robeco Group office based in Bahrain with responsibility for their institutional asset management business in the ME region. Mr. Gibson-Moore was a Member of the Middle East Advisory Board of the Robeco Group from 2008 - 2010.

He previously worked with Chase Manhattan Bank (subsequently JP Morgan Chase) for 15 years where he was Chairman of the Boards of Chase Manhattan Bank in Switzerland, Luxembourg and Jersey and Swiss country manager. In addition, he was Head of Private Banking and Institutional Asset Management in Europe, Middle East and Africa for 8 years, based in Geneva, and was also responsible for business development for Global Investment Banking based in New York.

Following his time at Chase Manhattan, he was a founding partner with responsibility for investment banking at The International Investor (TII), a Kuwaiti-based Islamic investment bank. Following the successful flotation of TII he then completed a 4-year assignment in Riyadh where he was responsible for instigating and then running the investment banking, investment management and share trading divisions of Al Rajhi Bank, the largest Islamic bank in the world, reporting directly to the CEO.

Mr. Gibson-Moore was a Member of the Advisory Board of Heritage Bank, Geneva until 2011. He was Founder of the Bahrain Oxford and Cambridge Society. He was Deputy Chairman of the Standardisation Commission of the European Society of Investment Analysts for 10 years. He was Chancelier of the Chaîne des Rotisseurs in Bahrain from 2005 – 2014.

He is currently Director and Board Member and UAE Country Officer for Rotary Foundation District Committee at the Rotary Club of Dubai and was a Board Member of the Rotary Club of Manama (Bahrain) from 2005 to 2011.

Mr. Gibson-Moore has both Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Natural Science from Oxford University and MSc (cum laude) in Financial Economics and a Diploma in Econometrics from London University. He is a Chartered Accountant, having qualified at PriceWaterhouseCoopers in the City of London, a frequent speaker on finance and investment issues and has published numerous articles on banking and investment.

After 12 years with Credit Suisse in Structured Derivatives and Investment Advisory, Mr. Strasky moved to HSBC in 2010 to Head Investment Advisory and Trading within HSBC Private Bank UAE. He now oversees UHNWI and Family offices in the UAE and Kuwait at LGT Private Bank as Managing Director.

Prior to joining Dalma Capital as its DFSA approved Financial Officer, Amir Anwar gained international and regional experience as a Financial Controller and Financial Officer in the Aviation and Financial sectors, respectively. Amir began his twenty year career as a finance professional as an external auditor for one of the big four global auditing firms (PwC) and from that foundation he enhanced his specialization in order to gain pivotal executive roles in government and non-government related entities in the UAE.

Amir first became a Regulated Financial Officer in the Dubai International Financial Centre in 2008. He commenced his role as a financial controller with Dalma Capital in 2014 and was promoted upon merit to become Dalma’s Financial Officer in 2015.

Senior financial services lawyer specialising in the establishment and operation of investment funds and asset management businesses. 

Practice covers a broad range of asset classes and strategies (including open- and closed-end, private equity, real asset, hedge, hybrid, venture capital, debt and secondaries).

Extensive experience of both sell-side and buy-side investor negotiations (including SWFs, DFIs and U.S. state plans).

Specialist knowledge of co-investment schemes and carry structures, Islamic Finance and capital raising in the GCC.

Previous experience as a Senior Associate at Dechert LLP for 4 years and Lawyer at Clifford Chance LLP for 10 years. Qualified as a Solicitor in the UK and educated at the UCL and Merchant Taylors' School.

Majed Kabbara is the Managing Director - Asset Management at Dalma Capital and Founder & Managing Director at Quencia Capital. Mr. Kabbara has more than 17 years of experience - his most recent role was Managing Director and Head of Asset Management at EFG-Hermes in charge of the firm's asset management business in Saudi Arabia. During his 9-year tenure at the firm, he turned around the company's flagship Saudi equity fund to become the leading fund in its category, grew AUMs from a low of around SAR 70m in 2011 to a peak of more than SAR 1b in 2015, launched and managed a number of Saudi equity portfolios and mutual funds, and consistently delivered strong investment returns.

Before EFG-Germes, Mr. Kabbara worked as Loyalty and Portfolio Manager at American Express Saudi Arabia. Prior to that, he held business advisory and management consulting positions at Riyadh based UTC Nexia International and Beirut based TQC International respectively.

Mr. Kabbara is a CFA Charterholder and holds a MBA degree from the American University of Beirut. He also holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance and Banking with honors from the Lebanese American University.

Zahid Aslam is a Senior Investment Professional specialising in structuring, marketing and launching Islamic and conventional capital markets instruments, private equity solutions and investment funds. He has a wide network of clients and investors including sovereign, banks, investment firms, corporates and HNWI.

Zahid began his career in Investment Banking with roles at Bear Stearns, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley where he was initially on the Emerging Markets Desks and later in Risk Management. He later moved into Hedge Fund and Asset Management arena with Portfolio Manager/Trading/Risk Roles at a number of funds, and has invested/managed a number of strategies including Long/Short Indian Equities, Long/Short US Equities, G10 Fixed Income and MENA Equities. He has significant experience in designing novel products which provide superior risk/return profiles in assets classes that include trade finance, real assets, real estate and insurance related investments. He has advised and structured a number of products and solutions for clients looking to raise capital to fund a number of projects in the GCC, Asia and Far East.

Zahid has a M.A. in International Business and Finance from the International Capital Markets Association Centre (ICMA), University of Reading, UK.

Saad Majid is GCC's top scorer of Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) and holds an Accounting and Finance degree from University of Birmingham (UK). He is an Assessor for Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce and Industry's prestigious Sheikh Khalifa Excellence Award.

Saad had worked closely on an innovative initiative for introducing a range of Islamic Insurance and Re-Insurance (Takaful) products for the UK. Saad also has extensive knowledge of blockchain and digital-assets and has been closely following the changing fundamentals and dynamics of the cryptocurrency markets for the past few years. Saad holds the position of Associate at Dalma Capital.

Dr. Nasser H. Saidi heads Nasser Saidi & Associates, a niche consultant and advisor to the banking and financial sector, government, central banks, regulators, multinational and regional companies. He is the former Chief Economist of the Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC) from 2006-2012, where as a senior executive he built and promoted the center and its strategic development and developed the links with governments, central banks, IFIs, banks and financial institutions and international financial centers. Dr. Saidi is the Founder and former Executive Director of the Hawkamah Institute for Corporate Governance and the Mudara Institute of Directors from 2006 to 2012. He was a senior adviser to the UAE Minister of Finance from 2004 to 2006. Dr. Saidi was the Minister of Economy and Trade and Minister of Industry of Lebanon between 1998 and 2000. he was the First Vice Governor of the Central Bank of Lebanon for two successive mandates from 1993 to 1998 and 1998 to 2003, a period of spanning reconstruction of Lebanon's economy and its banking and financial sector. He was a Member of the UN Committee for Development Policy (UNCDP) for two mandates over the period of 2000 to 2006, a position to which he was appointed by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, in his personal capacity. Dr. Saidi is also the Chairman of the regional Clean Energy Business Council, promoting clean energy solutions and policies in the MENA countries. He is a member of the IMF's Regional Advisory Group for MENA and a member of the Advisory Board of the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum (OMFIF) and a member of the Private Sector Advisory Group of the Global Corporate Governance Forum, an institution of the IFC/World Bank driving global corporate governance reforms, and Co-Chaired OECD MENA Corporate Governance Working Group. He is active in crowdfunding, VC and seed funding in MENA. In 2013, he was named among the 50 most Influential Arabs in the World by The Middle East Magazine, for the fourth consecutive year and named among the 500 Most Powerful Arabs in the world by Arabian Business for the second consecutive year. He is the author of numerous articles and has written a number of books and publications addressing macroeconomic, capital market development and international economic issues in the MENA region, the GCC countries and Lebanon. His research interests include macroeconomics, financial market development, crowdfunding, payment systems and international economic policy, corporate governance, clean energy and information and communication technology (ICT). Dr. Saidi was a private banker and served as an economic adviser and director to a number of central banks and financial institutions in Arab countries, Europe and Central and Latin America. Prior to his public career, Dr. Saidi was an academic, serving as a Professor of Economics in the Department of Economics in the University of Chicago, the Institut Universitaire de Hautes Etudes Internationales (Geneva, CH), and the Université de Genève. He also served as a lecturer at the American University of Beirut and the Université St. Joseph in Beirut. Dr. Saidi holds a Ph.D. and a M.A. in Economics from the University of Rochester in the USA, a M.Sc. from the University College, London University and a B.A. from the American University of Beirut.

Omar Anis has more than 12 years of experience in investment banking in the MENA region. His most recent role was Portfolio Manager at Etihad Capital leading their MENA flagship fund (NMGF Fund) at their office in Abu Dhabi. Prior to Etihad, he worked at Naeem Holding in Egypt as Portfolio Manager, helping the boutique investment bank to increase its asset base from 100m EGP to 1bn EGP in the period of 2 years.

Previously, Mr. Anis was an Associate Vice President at EFG-Hermes Asset Management in UAE. He was part of the team that managed AUMs of $8bn from 2006-2011.

Mr. Anis has graduated with a BA in Economics from the Faculty of Economics and Political Science, Cairo University and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.