Could you provide a brief journey of how you arrived where you are today?
I started my path to professional life by pursuing medicine, a discipline for which I had a particular passion. However, I was never inclined towards the practice of medicine as a career. Hence, directly after earning my Bachelors degree I completed my MBA in order to pursue a career in business. In order to utilize the benefits of my scientific background, I entered the world of business through of the field of healthcare, combining both fields throughout my career path. I have also had the opportunity to reform organizations, managing change and launching new culture. I was privileged to have such rich exposure across North America and the MENA region. I have always placed both self-development and advancing the community in which I operate as personal and professional goals.
What does your role involve?
My role comprises three major folds under which several functions lie:
a) New investments: Sourcing new investment opportunities, undergoing the investment analysis process, leading the business due diligence and then structuring the closing of the deal legally and financially.
b) Portfolio management: Growing our investments as I also represent the company as a director of the board of our portfolio companies and as the managing director of our 100%-owned subsidiaries.
c) Strategy leadership: Formulating and delivering the corporate vision and strategy at the company and its subsidiaries.
Which of your products/services deliver the best results?
We are an investment company whose goal is to create maximum value for our portfolio companies. The investment strategy that provides us with our edge is our full support of long-term growth of our portfolio companies, not only financially but also operationally. We become present in the company at a board level and participate in any way possible to facilitate expansion. We spare no effort to take the companies to the next level, regardless of whether we hold a minority or majority of the shares in the company.
What are the strengths of your business?
We offer a unique value proposition as we are the first healthcare-dedicated private equity holding (long-term) investment company across the MENA region. Our deep understanding of local, regional and international markets dynamics plus our non-operating, investment focus have allowed us to look beyond competition for management and instead provide the operators with our full support.
What is your greatest achievement to date?
Transforming the company’s functional framework into one with a more dedicated objective by coming up with a focused investment strategy, adhering to it, and building a strong track record implementing it. This change has established us as pioneers in our specialization. Thus, at the level of portfolio companies, we have amassed solid successful records, as we have expanded our turnover by multiple folds over the last five years.
What are the factors contributing to the success of your company?
We believe that the success we have reached today is mainly due to our commitment to integrity and honor in all our pursuits. We also work with the mission of providing good healthcare, improving life sciences, and bringing economic development to the region. On a smaller scale, the strong, steadfast principles, focused strategy, and hard work of everyone across our firm are what fill up our success indicators.
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Balancing between the need for retaining innovation and advancement in the field and the need for accommodating the demands of the country.
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Identifying good investment opportunities across the value chain of healthcare and life sciences in Saudi Arabia.
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Dealing with the regulatory constraints of Saudi Arabia as ours is such a highly regulated sector.
I see the industry undergoing an exponential growth across not only the Islamic countries but also in the west. I anticipate more in-depth participation in a wider range of sectors, a greater, more practical input in global financial services, and a more prominent influence on the world’s economy.
I would love to see more Islamic products to compete with the traditional ones and suite the real-life demands of business. For example, I hope for more practical functions in the domain of corporate financing and more varied opportunities in that of personal financing