Tom Speechley is a Senior Partner of Abraaj Capital and the Chief Executive Officer of Riyada Enterprise Development (RED), Abraaj’s small and medium enterprise (SME) investment platform. He joined Abraaj Capital in 2006 and is a member of the Abraaj Holdings Board of Directors, as well as the group’s Executive and Investment Committees.
Mr. Speechley is responsible for the firm’s SME investment program including the RED and Kantara Funds totaling some US$ 650 million of capital through which he has overseen several investments in various sectors and countries across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Mr. Speechley has more than 15 years experience in the private equity industry in Europe, the US and the MENA region. He was responsible for creating and launching 'wamda.com', Abraaj Capital’s on-line portal dedicated to supporting entrepreneurs across the MENA region and speaks and writes frequently on the topic of entrepreneurship.
Elie Habib is Lebanon Country Manager of Riyada Enterprise Development (RED), a member of the Abraaj Group. He established and leads an experienced team targeting investments in small and medium enterprises with significant growth potential, proven products or services and the capacity to expand regionally.
Prior to joining RED in April 2010, Mr. Habib consulted with numerous startups in the Silicon Valley and most recently acted as an executive consultant at Cradlepoint, a leader in 3G/4G mobile connectivity solutions located in the US. In August 2006, Mr. Habib co-founded a VC-funded startup called Vusion in Silicon Valley and served as its CEO and President. Vusion was an innovator in the domain of HD video streaming over the internet.
From 2001 to 2006, Mr. Habib held several senior positions within Nokia most recently acting as Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Security and Mobile Connectivity (Silicon Valley) business unit. Mr. Habib has also held executive positions at Ramp Networks, a Silicon Valley SMB networking company that achieved IPO and was acquired by Nokia in 2001. Earlier in his career, he held executive positions at Bay Networks (acquired by Nortel Networks). Mr. Habib co-founded and served as President of Lebnet (1999-2010), the premier network of Lebanese and Lebanese high-tech professionals in the Silicon Valley and San Francisco Area. He is currently a board member of Cradlepoint, US.
Mr. Habib holds a M.S. in Computer Science from France and the US, and completed the Nokia Executive Progam and the Stanford Executive Program. In Lebanon he is involved with Endeavor as a Venture Corps advisor, MIT Forum, and has been on numerous panels and speakers engagements with the World Bank, IEEE, Berytech, GEW, IDAL and many others.
Prior to joining Riyada Enterprise Development, Mr. Kabrit was a Principal and Partner with Siraj Capital, where he focused on the UAE, KSA, and Lebanese markets and led 4 SME investments in the telecom, retail, IT, and F&B space. Mr. Kabrit sat on the board for each of the 4 SME investments.
Prior to moving into Private Equity, Mr. Kabrit was with Deutsche Bank's Merger and Acquisitions team based out of London and then Dubai. As part of Deutsche Bank's Merger and Acquisitions team, Mr. Kabrit executed over US$ 2bn worth of M&A deals and advised on the largest MENA IPO to date.
Additionally, Mr. Kabrit spent almost 4 years as a strategy consultant with Booz and Co. principally in Beirut. At Booz and Co., he focused on the telecom, healthcare, and industrial sectors and worked on projects all over the MENA region.
Mr. Kabrit holds an MBA from INSEAD, an MSc in Finance and Economics (with merit) from the London School of Economics, a BA in Economics (with distinction) and a BSc in Biology from the American University of Beirut. He is also a CFA level 2 candidate.
