Guiding You from Seed to IPO & Beyond 🚀
Our name, meaning 'People' in Arabic, perfectly encapsulates our mission to empower organizations in the Middle East to thrive and outperform in their industries by unlocking the full potential of their most valuable asset – their people.
Meet Our Advisory Team
Founder
Saif Kidwai
🔸 Former Chief People Officer at Eyewa:
Led Eyewa’s growth from Series B to C+, achieving 10x expansion.
Hired 1000+ employees in 2 years and opened nearly 100 stores.
Eyewa awarded "Best Companies to Work For" in Saudi, UAE, Kuwait, and Bahrain (2023).
🔸 Serial Entrepreneur - built and sold global recruitment company Digital Gurus to private equity, going from bedroom to boardroom and advising the likes of Google, Facebook and Amazon.
🔸 Investor & Advisor: Actively investing in GCC startups, with a focus on high-growth companies.
🔸 Expert in Building High-Performance Teams: Skilled in talent acquisition, organizational development, and culture building.
Senior Director
Ian Lee
🔸 15+ Years of Experience: Expertise across Food Tech, Private Equity, Data Science, and Management Consulting.
🔸 Proven Track Record: Led people strategies for top-tier, high-performing global organizations.
🔸 Qualifications: Chartered Fellow of CIPD, UK; Master’s in Applied Psychology; Certified Professional Coach.
🔸 Leadership at Renowned Companies: Led the People agenda at Kitopi, The Entertainer, and Johor Corporation (state sovereign wealth fund).
🔸 Expert in Employee Lifecycle: Specializes in optimizing talent acquisition, L&D, performance management, and building purpose-driven cultures for long-term growth.
Senior Director
Abbas Jeraj
🔸 HR Leadership Experience: 10+ years in tech, fintech, consulting, and retail across Europe and MENAP.
🔸 Worked with Leading Brands: Played a pivotal role in shaping people strategies at Careem & Currys, bringing a ‘Silicon-Valley’ experience to the organizations.
🔸 Major Transformation Experience: Led key organizational changes, including reorgs, recapitalization events, and IPOs.
🔸 Regional Expertise: Moved to the UAE in 2022 to bridge the talent gap, focusing on transforming the regional HR landscape.
🔸 People Experience at Careem: Instrumental in designing people experiences across multiple markets (UAE, Pakistan, Egypt, Jordan, KSA), improving engagement, talent acquisition, and organizational effectiveness.
Our Vision:
To be the leading partner for organizations in the Middle East seeking to elevate their performance through a people-first approach. We envision a future where businesses prioritize their human capital, cultivate a workforce of empowered and engaged individuals, and implement cutting-edge strategies to not only survive but thrive in the constantly evolving landscape of the region's competitive markets.
What We Focus On:
We’ve spent years refining & crafting strategies for some of the most exciting companies globally across the core fundamentals within the people space.
We want to partner with companies who understand that their people are the core drivers of business success and are committed to raising the bar when it come to talent attraction and retention.
