Home: Vancouver, Canada; Dubai, UAE. Age: Early forties. Birthplace: Saudi Arabia. Profession: Venture Capital. Organization: Founders Round Capital; Catalyst Communications DMCC. Title: Founder and Managing Partner. Alma mater: McGill University (Finance, B.Com.).
Current project: Scaling AI-powered chemical recycling technology across North American and Middle Eastern markets through portfolio company Aduro Clean Technologies (NASDAQ: ADUR, CSE: ACT, FSE: 9D5). Recent recognition: 270% return on Aduro Clean Technologies from April 2025 lows validates early thesis on chemical recycling market transformation. Latest accomplishment: Successfully facilitated cross-border capital deployment connecting Gulf sovereign wealth funds with Canadian cleantech innovation. What's been your big (or biggest leap)? Leaving a secure senior director role at PwC after 12 years to launch Founders Round Capital with no guaranteed income. Hobbies: Financial modeling (yes, really), reading academic journals on polymer chemistry, documentary films. Last book read: The Innovator's Dilemma by Clayton Christensen (fourth reading; lessons deepen each time). Recently viewed and recommended: Rewatched The Big Short. The psychology of contrarian investing never gets old.
Personality profile: Analytical, contrarian, methodical. INTJ with a practical edge. What one word would your closest friend use to describe you? Rigorous. Moral compass: The Golden Rule, filtered through PwC's due diligence standards. Verify everything, assume nothing. How do you define a perfect friendship? Intellectual honesty combined with genuine support during difficult decisions. What is your greatest joy? Watching a technology I backed three years ago finally achieve commercial validation. What is your guilty pleasure? Spending hours in obscure chemical engineering journals looking for investment signals. What occupation, other than your own, do you most admire? Chemical engineers who can explain complex processes to non-technical investors. What is at the top of your bucket list? Witnessing one of my portfolio companies scale from pilot plant to full commercial deployment. How do you relieve stress? Long walks with no destination. Forces mental processing without the distraction of a screen.
What was your first paying job? Financial analyst at Imperial Oil in Toronto. Learned that energy and environment would define my investment career. What was your favorite college course? Corporate Finance at McGill. The moment financial theory clicked into practical application. Besides your parents, who has had the greatest influence on your life? My first PwC mentor in Saudi Arabia, who taught me that the best deals come from understanding businesses at ground level, not just from spreadsheets. What's the best advice you received in your career? Never invest in something you can't explain to a smart twelve-year-old. Keeps me from hiding behind jargon. What modern technology innovation do you most appreciate? Large language models. Not for the hype, but for their ability to process vast technical literature and identify patterns humans miss. What is your go-to source of news and information? Bloomberg Terminal for markets; direct conversations with operators for ground truth. What company or organization do you most admire? Shell's GameChanger program. A major corporation that actually funds breakthrough technologies without suffocating them.
What is your big idea?
Chemical recycling powered by AI can unlock the 60% gap between current (10%) and achievable (70%+) global plastic recycling rates. A $300 billion opportunity.
What change are you working on to effect in your profession or field? Demonstrating that ESG investments can deliver superior returns when you target regulatory-driven compliance markets rather than discretionary consumer behavior. What message do you want to send out into the world? The most valuable investment opportunities exist at the intersection of different knowledge domains. Learn to operate where others can't. What widely held belief do you reject? That AI's biggest economic impact will be in knowledge work rather than physical industries like waste management and healthcare delivery. What mega-trend most excites you? The convergence of global regulatory frameworks around circular economy principles. Creating unprecedented alignment across previously fragmented markets.
What title would you choose for the movie about your life? The Gap. It would be about finding value in the spaces between markets, industries, and continents. Who would you like to spend an evening with, in heaven? Benjamin Graham. I have questions about how value investing principles apply to breakthrough technologies. As a kid, what did you first want to be when you grew up? Engineer, which explains why I am drawn to deep-tech investments rather than pure software plays. What advice would you give your younger self? Start building the Dubai-Vancouver bridge five years earlier. Authentic cross-border relationships take longer than you think. What day in your life would you choose to re-live? The day I signed the term sheet for Aduro. That rare moment when years of analysis crystallize into conviction. What period in your life would you do differently, if you could? My late twenties. I would have been more aggressive pursuing non-obvious opportunities instead of optimizing for resume prestige.
Personal mission: To prove that capital can generate both exceptional returns and meaningful environmental impact when deployed with intellectual rigor at the intersection of technology and regulatory necessity. Personal motto: "Verify, then trust. Never the reverse." Favorite quote: "The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now. (Chinese proverb).
