Engineer and computer scientist, startup co-founder and CEO, McKinsey consultant, tech multinational C-suite. Now Founder and Managing Partner of an AI-native venture firm.
A Master's degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, with a dissertation in Artificial Intelligence & Computer Vision, then co-founded an AI startup in San Francisco focused on speech recognition and voice portals. I joined McKinsey & Company as a consultant, leading strategy, corporate finance and transformation programmes across industries.
For the past seventeen years I have worked on the ground in the Middle East and Africa: in strategy and business development roles, in C-suite positions with LG Electronics and Philips, inside a healthcare consulting practice within a multinational, and in advisory work that included public-private partnerships, complex technical solutions and national AI programmes.
What I have seen firsthand: AI is transforming the Gulf faster than most outsiders realize. National AI strategies backed by real sovereign capital. Government and enterprise buyers committing real budgets. An expanding ecosystem built to attract and support startups. A new generation of AI-native founders building globally competitive companies. Yet the ecosystem still has critical gaps, in smart early-stage capital and in the capability to move AI from pilot to core strategy.
I founded Nexan Ventures to operate at that intersection: investing in pre-seed AI founders with a substantive connection to Saudi Arabia or the UAE, and advising the wider ecosystem on AI strategy and adoption.
Venture Capital. Pre-seed investments via Nexan Fund I in AI founders with a substantive connection to the UAE or Saudi Arabia, plus Nexan Select for deal-by-deal co-investments in AI companies sourced through the Nexan Network.
Ecosystem Advisory. Working with corporations, governments and ecosystem builders on AI strategy, adoption and venture building across the Middle East.
Conferences, corporate events, government summits, podcasts. For booking, see the contact section below.
A few of the things I do when I am not operating a venture firm.
Raising a round for an AI company with a Gulf connection. Navigating AI strategy or adoption. Planning a conference, podcast or corporate event. Each lane below goes straight to the right place.
