Shamel Aboul Fadl

Founder and Chairman

In 2010, Shamel Aboul Fadl founded Compass and grew the company to become one of the leading private equity firms in Egypt. Prior to establishing Compass, Shamel Aboul Fadl was a Managing Partner at Pharos Holding, which he helped transform from a boutique investment firm into a full-fledged investment bank. During his tenure at Pharos Holding, Mr. Aboul Fadl launched Pharos Asset Management, where he served as Chief Executive Officer. In 2005, he co-founded Paragon Asset Management, an independent asset manager headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland with AUMs of USD 950 million. Previously, Mr. Aboul Fadl worked with Citigroup in Geneva as Vice President, where he was mandated to grow assets under management with a focus on Egypt and the wider North Africa region. Mr. Aboul Fadl started his career in 1999 with Mansour-Maghraby Investment and Development Company where he specialized in Telecom and IT investments. He is also the Chairman of Bonyan for Development & Trade and sits on the Board of Rameda Pharmaceuticals and on the Board of Trustees of Al Joud Charity Foundation. Mr. Aboul Fadl holds a B.Sc. in Construction Engineering from the American University in Cairo and an MBA from The Wharton Business School, University of Pennsylvania.

Tarek Abdel Rahman

Managing Partner

Prior to joining Compass in 2018, Mr. Abdel Rahman spent five years as the Chief Executive Officer of Palm Hills Development where he led the successful turnaround of the company. Prior to Palm Hills, Mr. Abdel Rahman spent over 20 years within the financial sector.  He was a founding partner of Akanar Partners, currently Arqaam Egypt, which is a dedicated corporate finance and M&A advisory firm having  also served as its Managing Director from 2010 to 2013. Mr. Abdel-Rahman also held the post of Director and Co-Head of Beltone Investment Banking and was an Associate in the infrastructure and energy finance department with Citigroup  based out of London. Prior to that, he held key posts with EFG Hermes Private Equity and the Corporate Banking department of HSBC Egypt, where he had begun his career. He currently serves as the Chief Executive Officer of Bonyan and as non-executive member of the board of directors of Palm Hills Development and Rameda Pharmaceuticals. He holds a BA in Business Administration from the American University in Cairo and an MBA from London Business School.

Dr. Mohamed Farouk

Non-Executive Partner

Dr. Farouk is Managing Director and Chief Executive of ADES, an LSE-listed Egyptian oil and gas company that provides offshore and onshore drilling services for the MENA region, and has been a member of its board since inception in 2012. During his time with ADES, he led its expansion into new markets and services, transforming ADES into a leading international rig operator. Dr. Farouk joined the Group from Invensys Operations Management (IOM), a FTSE 100 company, where he was most recently senior vice president for global delivery and operations based in Texas. He served earlier with Invensys as Director of Invensys Global Engineering Excellence Centres in Egypt, India, China and Argentina, prior to which he was the General Manager of Invensys Engineering and Services in Egypt. He began his career in 1991 as a Project Engineer at ConiSys Egypt, a provider of control and instrumentation systems technology. He is also a member of the board of Bonyan for Development & Trade. Dr. Farouk holds a Bachelor of Science and a Masters degree in Electrical Engineering from Cairo University. Dr. Farouk completed his Ph.D. in Systems Engineering and Control at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio.

Ayman Abbas

Non-Executive Partner

Mr. Abbas is Founding Chairman of ADES, an LSE-listed oil services company he founded and played a key role in transforming it into a regional player. He has held managerial positions within the oil and gas industry since 1998, where he co-founded and served as managing director and board member of the Egyptian Chinese Drilling Company (ECDC). Mr. Abbas also serves as a board member of Advansys Systems, a group focusing on the provision of solutions for the oil and gas industry. Beyond oil and gas, Mr. Abbas has led investments in industries including real estate, trade and commercial representation, food and agriculture, and automation engineering. He served previously as Managing Partner at Invensys for Engineering and Services Egypt, a joint venture established in 2004 with Invensys Systems (IES), a FTSE 100 company focusing on outsourcing technology and engineering services worldwide. In 2015, he assumed the role of Chairman of the Board for Advansys Engineering Service & Consultancy. In addition, Mr. Abbas serves as a member of the board at: Rameda Pharmaceuticals, CI Capital, M2, and Bonyan for Development & Trade. Mr. Abbas holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Arts and Mass Communications from the American University in Cairo.

Karim Zahran

Non-Executive Partner

Mr. Zahran is the Chief Executive Officer of Zahran Group, a diversified group with interests in supermarket retail chain and importer of household goods. He spearheaded the restructuring and positioning of Zahran in the Egyptian market. Prior to that, he served as a private equity director at Compass Capital. Mr. Zahran has held roles with HSBC Securities in New York where he focused on US based hedge funds and mutual funds investing in the EMEA region. He has also held roles with ACE Group and Citigroup Private Bank in Geneva.  Mr. Zahran currently sits on the boards of CI Capital and Rameda. Mr. Zahran holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance and a B.A. in Economics from Boston University

Nadia El-Tawil

Prior to joining Compass in 2011, Ms. El-Tawil worked as part of the Corporate Strategy Team at Orascom Telecom Holding where she was instrumental in developing the Group’s transformation strategy, aligning subsidiary and group targets and exploring new revenue sources for the Group. In 2010, Ms. El-Tawil worked alongside Oliver Wyman to develop Orascom Telecom Algerie’s (OTA) transformation strategy to improve the company’s operating, market and financial performance. Ms. El Tawil holds a Bachelor of Commerce in Finance from Dalhousie University.

Sarah El Shahed

Prior to joining Compass in 2011, Ms. El Shahed worked at Pharos Holding, where she played a vital role in setting up the asset management division and contributed to capital raising during the first year of operation. She aided in setting up Compass Asset Management including operational functions and pitching to prospective clients and was a dynamic contributor to the consortium that managed the acquisition of the Tenth of Ramadan for Pharmaceuticals Industries and Diagnostics Reagents (Rameda).  Ms. El Shahed holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from the American University in Cairo.

Ahmed Hussein

Prior to joining compass in 2018, Mr. Hussein accumulated more than 8 years of experience in the Banking Treasury, Dealing and Asset Management fields. He held various managerial posts in the Arab Bank’s Treasury Department, where he headed the Foreign Exchange, Capital & Fixed Income and Sales Desks. Additionally, Ahmed also partook in the Bank’s Management Committee, Asset & Liability Committee and strategy formulation. He is a certified ACI dealer and holds a BA in Finance and Master of Business Administration with concentration in Finance both from the American University in Cairo.

Fady Rafaat

Prior to joining Compass in 2018. Mr. Rafaat worked as an Investment Banking Analyst at CI Capital Holding where he worked on several buy-side and sell-side Merger & Acquisition and Equity Capital Markets transactions across various industries. He was an adviser to CI Capital on its EGP 1.7 bn Initial Public Offering and to Dr. Oetker, a leading German F&B Player, on the acquisition of Tag El Melouk, one of the leading Egyptian F&B players. Mr. Raafat holds an B.Sc. in Finance, Accounting and Management from the University of Nottingham and a M.Sc. in Finance from Hult International Business School.

Michel Said

Prior to joining Compass in 2021, Mr. Said worked as Senior Equity Research Analyst at CI Capital Holding covering a diverse range of stocks (Healthcare, Pharma, Construction, Fertilizers & Materials) in Egypt and UAE. He conducted Rameda and Macro Group Pre-Deal Investor Education roadshows and lead Abu Qir Fertilizers’ non-deal roadshow, part of the government privatization program. Prior to that, Mr. Said interned at Société Générale as an Equity Research Analyst, at FTI Consulting as an IR Consultant and at ETHIEA Gestion as a Buy-Side Analyst in Paris. Mr. Said holds a B.Sc. in Economics from Cairo University and a M.Sc. in Finance from Sorbonne University in Paris.

Aly Salem

Prior to joining Compass in 2019, Mr. Salem was an Investment Banking Analyst at HC Securities & Investments where he worked on several Merger & Acquisitions as well as equity capital market pitches across different industries. He was an adviser to Intro Group on its 100% acquisition of BariQ for Technology and Advanced Industries from Raya Holding. Mr. Salem holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting and Finance from Oxford Brookes University in England.

Michael Hebeish

Prior to joining Compass in 2022, Mr. Hebeish was a Senior Analyst at MASAR for Economic and Financial Advisory where he worked on Project Finance, Debt and M&A transactions across numerous industries including IT Infrastructure, Real Estate, Hospitality and FMCG. Mr. Hebeish holds a Bachelor of Science in Finance from the University of South Florida.