Private company

• Advised Family Offices on growth capital and pre-IPO opportunities in Education, Tech, and other sectors.
• Conducted deal-making and venture evaluations to identify lucrative investment opportunities.
• Collaborated with stakeholders to strategize and execute successful investments for high returns.

CEO / Operating Partner

TomouhCL

Member

OPUS

OPUS is a global community focused on empowering the next generation of business innovators. We believe community is the key driver of opportunity. Built on inclusivity and diversity, our community brings together carefully chosen individuals known for their talent and ambition.

Our mission is to become the world’s foremost connector of people and creator of opportunities.

Kïdo

* Spearheaded establishment and growth of the 3 UAE Schools via greenfield and acquisitions, conducted a successful exit to a strategic investor through an exceptional due diligence and negotiation process achieving high multiple ROI. 
* As part of executive committees / senior management, working across geographies to review, evaluate and plan corporate-wide strategies and organizational initiatives to build infrastructure, operations, sales processes and systems to achieve growth of the Revenue by 50% year-on-year.  
* Evaluating potential expansion via Joint Venture and Franchising with Private Equity, Regional Family Offices and Strategic Investors into Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt, Pakistan, Oman, Qatar and Africa. 
* Canvased for and engaged in multiple fund-raising discussions with Private Equity, Venture Capital, Individual and Strategic Investors globally. 
* Designed, implemented and championed a robust financial infrastructure (budgeting, forecasting and reporting) from scratch across geographies, subsidiaries and product verticals.

Group CFO & CEO, Middle East & Africa

Standard Chartered Bank

* Achieved performance beyond management expectations for the Sub-Saharan Africa Financial Markets Business to make it one of the best-performing segments by expanding cross-asset derivatives solutions across flow and bespoke structured deals. 
* Harnessed the transformative power of a new well-trained team and selected global stakeholders to increase revenue from 20x + in less than 4-years.

Head of Africa Structuring, SSG Group (Emerging Market Structuring)

* Closed the largest derivative trade in Pakistan for the Group. 
* Development of Islamic Shariah-Compliant Derivatives.

Derivatives Structurer - Middle East and Pakistan

* Set-up and fast-tracked the growth of the credit structuring business in London from less than USD 200k to USD 8mio during the credit crisis of 2007-2008. Cultivated a strong collaboration with European / US Sales teams to build distribution channels to pension funds, hedge funds, asset managers and private banks. 
* Successfully closed a USD 1 Billion+ Capital Relief Balance Sheet transaction for the Bank through a Structured Trade in December 2007, which was recognized by Head of Wholesale Bank and Group CEO.

Structurer

* Launched and developed the strategy for the MENA Capital Markets business across the Origination and Distribution business lines, product initiatives in the Structured Credit space, resulting in numerous firsts for the Bank. Contributed to increase in revenue by more than 200%. 
* Led the execution of 4 Structured IPO Lending transactions (Revenue USD 10mio+) for the largest local IPOs in the UAE in 2005-2006, coordinating structural requirements internally and liaising with sales teams and clients.
* Pitched and executed the first SCB IPO Lead Receiving Bank mandate for the Al Baraka Bank IPO in 2004. Put together a regional syndicate of 12 banks and the infrastructure to deliver a highly successful transaction.
* led the efforts to sell-down CDO equity tranches to institutional investors in MENA

Associate Director, Capital Markets

National Bank of Abu Dhabi

* Structured a USD 20mio Fund of Hedge-Funds - manager / strategy due diligence, risk evaluation, selection.
* Launched the FAB UAE Trading Fund which currently has an AUM of AED 141mio.

Investment Analyst

I am the man in the arena!

I’m a serial entrepreneur who started selling a hand-copied local newsletter at 8-years old, and I’ve never known what it’s like not to be responsible and be a leader. No set-back has kept me down, and I have always approached my next “adventure” with enthusiasm. I would put this down to my huge capacity to learn, my resilience, and curiosity allowing me to identify paths to reinvent myself and my organizations. 

I have enjoyed many executive positions in my career with my strong commercial acumen, and ability to deliver operational excellence with scale across multiple markets. I focus on delivering key outcomes, building amazing teams and collaborations and scaling to new heights. 

As Regional CEO / Group CFO for Kido, my experience has allowed me to gain extensive international knowledge of the learning markets and impact investments including early childhood education, edtech and school operations. We have leveraged technology and innovative pedagogy to improve delivery in Pre-School Education.

• I built, lead and grew the UAE Nursery Business over 7 years and orchestrated a successful exit.
• I have had extensive experience with creating finance strategy, managing cashflow, and optimizing pricing, costs and revenues. 
• I have contributed by advising on and executing M&A, capital raising (Private Equity and Venture Capital), build-out, tax optimization, strategic, corporate and legal restructuring transactions for portfolio companies across UK, US, India, UAE, Hong Kong, Singapore. 

At SCB, I joined in 2004 in the Capital Markets MENA team, was promoted in two years to be based in London to build and grow the credit distribution platform across Europe and North America. In 2009, I joined the Strategic Solutions Group in Middle East and within a year was asked to lead the team and expansion in Sub-Saharan Africa. I Implemented exceptional growth in revenue for the Africa FM Sales business and for all business lines multiplying sales by at least 3x to upto 20x and higher throughout. 

Professional Skills
Strategic Planning | Transformational Leadership | Team Development | Product Roadmap | Portfolio Strategy | Deal Making | Investment Analysis | M&A | Financial Systems | Global Expansion

Domain Knowledge 
Investment | Private Equity | Capital Markets | Education Management | Education Consulting | EdTech

Umair Tariq

Another excellent session arranged by TomouhCL !

Excellent and though provoking discussions and great to meet leaders from across the region!

li_at

JSESSIONID

Talks about #strategy, #education, #investment, #impactinvesting, and #entrepreneurship

Family Office Advisor | CEO | CFO | Private Markets Deal-Maker | Buy-and-Build & Portfolio Operations | Education Strategy | Ex-Standard Chartered | CFA Charterholder | GCC • UK • US • Africa

A year of consistent engagement with UCEA - Family Office Group events has reinforced a fundamental truth: the most valuable deals rarely come from cold pitches but they emerge from trusted relationships built over time.

Last week's gathering was another testament to Michael Reeves and his team's ability to curate not just investment opportunities, but meaningful dialogues. What makes these events exceptional isn't simply the quality of dealflow presented, though it consistently impresses, it's the intentionality behind who's in the room.

Throughout this year, I've watched this community evolve from individual connections into a genuine ecosystem where family offices and institutional investors can think collectively about complex allocations. The conversations have shifted from transactional to strategic, from reactive to proactive.

A particular highlight from last week: the cross-border opportunities that wouldn't typically reach traditional channels, presented with the kind of operational transparency that serious allocators demand.

To the UCEA team—thank you for understanding that effective capital deployment starts with effective relationship building. The consistency and quality you've maintained throughout the year hasn't gone unnoticed.

Already looking forward to the next one.

#FamilyOffice #InstitutionalInvesting #PrivateMarkets #CapitalAllocation #DealFlow

UCEA - Family Office Group

Regional Investment Manager @ UCEA Family Office | Relationship Development

"It is better to lose time than temper in a negotiation"

#FamilyOffice #Dealmaking #Investing #Growth #Leadership

An Excellent Biography. 

I've been very interested in John Malone's deal-making and structuring creativity since reading "The Cable Cowboys". 

While not that much in-depth on the structuring part, its a must-read for entrepreneurs on fast-changing industries, mergers, acquisitions, deal-making and growth and challenges. 

I now need to research on tracking stocks, spin-offs and the various structures used by John Malone throughout his career and look forward to that study. 

#Mergers #FamilyOffice #PrivateEquity #ReadingClub #Leadership

“Reality will pay you back in equal proportion to your delusion.”

— Will Smith

#Entrepreneurship #Leadership #Growth

Every year end, many review the Investment Outlooks from various banks and investment houses, navigating through differing opinions in extensive reports. 

This year, I utilized NotebookLM to help summarize the information, and it is impressive to see how it synthesizes data and documents into a coherent summary. 

While I still recommend reading the original documents in full, you may find this #2026 #MarketOutlook Compendium useful. 

#Investing #AI #Markets #FamilyOffice #PrivateEquity #VentureCapital

Compendium of 2026 Outlooks

“I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.”
- Michaelangelo


#Entrepreneurship #Leadership #Growth #Creativity

“An object in possession seldom retains the same charm that it had in pursuit.”

- Pliny the Younger: Roman senator, lawyer, and author 


#Leadership #Growth #Goals #Entrepreneurship

23mile Capital

23mile provides restructuring support and capital to help VC-backed founders achieve profitability and regain control of their destiny

Where others see distress, we build success for the long run

Co-Founder

Caena

We help private equity and venture capital funds optimise portfolio value - from pre-investment diligence to portfolio management and restructuring. 

Our specialised financial services span investment validation, fund modelling, and financial turnaround solutions for underperforming assets. Powered by people - supported by data and technology

Founder & CEO

Founding Member of OPUS UAE, a community dedicated to shaping the future of entrepreneurship through collaboration

Founding Member

Kaktos Capital Limited

Kaktos Capital provides front office workflow solutions for capital market firms - PE, VC, family offices and investment banks

Founder

Standard Chartered

Director, Leveraged Finance Africa

Origination, financial modelling, structuring, credit analysis, coordinating lending syndicate, reviewing due diligence, managing internal processes and  loan documentation

Associate Principal

Developed corporate banking and country strategy and managing strategy tracking process
Supported Head Wholesale Banking & Country CEO in day-to-day running of the organisation 
Initiated and executed projects across corporate finance, credit analysis, risk, new business development and change management

Strategy and Business Intelligence Manager

Supported Head Retail Banking, West Africa and Head, Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Nigeria on development of retail banking strategy & business analytics respectively
Originated and managed SME portfolio in a new branch

Graduate Associate (Strategy, Sales, Product and Credit Rotations)

Co-Founder & CEO at Caena

As a Partner at 23mile, I step in when venture-backed startups face their toughest moments. My focus is bringing clarity to chaos.

I help founders understand the numbers, right-size their burn, and make the critical decision: reset the strategy, raise capital, or pursue a sale. When a transaction is the right path, I manage the process from start to finish.

My work is built on a diverse foundation:

🔹 For Founders: Hands-on support in cash management, strategic financial planning, and end-to-end M&A / fundraising execution.

🔹 For Financial Institutions: Designing and delivering expert training on Restructuring, M&A, Private Credit, Financial Modelling, and the practical application of AI for deal teams.

My perspective is shaped by experience on all sides of the table: as a founder (Caena.io), a debt and acquisition financing professional (Leveraged Finance at Standard Chartered), and now as an advisor.

I explore these themes further as the host of the 23mile Podcast, where I speak with leading founders and investors about building resilient companies.

Off the clock, I'm usually training for my next marathon.

Kayode Odeleye

Super proud of what my wonderful wife Funkola O and her partners Odunoluwa Longe and Oby E. have achieved in the Nigeria tech ecosystem

Having advised most of the country’s top startups and investors over the past 11 years, their work is increasingly being recognised globally 

If you’re as interested in exits as I am - really that should be everyone interested in startups - then take a look at this awesome TLP Advisory report on exits in Nigerian VC space   

Link in comments 👇🏾

Investing in distressed venture-backed startups | Host, 23mile Podcast | Trainer to investment banks & VCs

No alternative text description for this image

One of the biggest benefits of entrepreneurship is being able to model behaviour to our daughter 

She is really proud of her mum’s achievements and this drives her to go over and beyond with her studies and extra curricular activities 

P.S: I was privileged that TLP Advisory asked my views on startup exits and I got featured in the exit report

VCs don’t fund great ideas 😳

This is something else I wish I knew when i started 

I hear founders say “we’ve validated the idea and built MVP, we just need money to scale”

Hmm… you’ll be waiting a long time 

VCs fund two things and two things only:

1️⃣ Pedigree: name recognition say by exiting a previous company or leadership team of big tech

2️⃣ Out of this world growth and traction. Ideally, combination of user growth and revenue 

For first time founders who successfully raised from VC, which of the 2 did you nail?

My first trip to Cambridge after 15 years off and on in the UK

And it was definitely worth it 

Epic event put together by the team at Mishcon de Reya LLP 

Too many gems to mention but I’ll call out a few from the sessions with 😃 David Fogel Xann Schwinn  Cici Muldoon Marieke Christmann Hanadi Jabado DL Camilla Dolan Julia Elliott Brown Erika McIntyre Nicola McConville  

✅ Angels are essential to fund traction till institutional round but also as critical first believers

✅  Fundraising is a simple equation. Care + Greed = Funding 

✅ To change the abysmal stats around funding for women and minorities there’s a lot of systemic changes needed BUT founders can also “play the game” today 

Plus priceless gems from two amazing exited founders and legends of UK tech @martina and Liz Upton and Martina King 

Was great to chat all things M&A and distress investing with the team Charlie Fletcher Kym Jesse  

 
P.S my moon boots made a proud appearance and I’ll definitely miss the “memory hook” as Chris Keen aptly described it

This is why founders and VCs fall over themselves to start venture-backed companies

When it works, it dam.n works!

▶️ Kalshi is now an 11 billion dollar startup, 7 years after founding

▶️ Y Combinator is up an estimated $350 million on their $150k investment 6 years ago (2,500x)

▶️ Co-founder Luana Lopes Lara is now the youngest self-made billionaire in history

Reminder that when you play the VC game there's a 0.1% chance it ends like this or in abject failure. That's the Power Law distribution

P.S: this doesn't imply support for the startup or what they do. It's an illustration of how venture works

A few weeks ago, I received feedback from a founder - "we need to hear more about fundraising in your podcast"

My initial response was - it's an exit-focused podcast so we only talk about fundraising in passing

But I realised over the course of the first ten episodes, we'd touched on so many fundraising gems 

1️⃣ Negotiating payment terms > Series A fundraising Maarij Rehman (Scaling Envoi to 8 figures)

2️⃣  $50M bootstrapped can beat $1B with VC (after dilution) 🌈 Mike Bank(Former VC)

3️⃣ VCs have fund timelines which is often hard for founders to meet. If you can bootstrap it, do it. You'll be happier. Dan Schiffman (GFreely, TVision)

4️⃣ Early stage is 50% team, 30% market, 20% traction. Ziyaad Ahmed (Sold Spotii twice...)

5️⃣ Saying NO to investors can be the power move. Edwina Sharrock OAM Sharrock (Birth Beat - rejected Shark Tank yet sold for life changing money)

6️⃣  Patience beats speed. 13 years, not 3. Yasen Dimitrov (IntelligenceNode - $100M exit to Fortune 500)

If you find this useful (damn sure you will), do follow and subscribe to 23mile wherever you get your podcasts for more amazing insights 🚀

taplio

The Battle

Umair Tariq

Kayode Odeleye

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance ScoreUmair Tariq's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreKayode Odeleye's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

Umair Tariq

Kayode Odeleye

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Umair Tariq's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreKayode Odeleye's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreUmair Tariq's LinkedIn Performance