The Board of Directors has been selected from the shareholders and independent individuals based upon their professional capabilities, experience and personal reputation. As is the case with shareholders, the Board includes people from various nationalities and faiths.
Mr Suleiman Said Shahbal, Chairman (Kenyan)
Mr Shahbal has over 20 years experience in banking. He served in Citibank where his last assignment was as the Head of Private Banking for the Gulf and Yemen. Before founding GulfCap Group (United Arab Emirates), he was the Deputy General Manager – International Operations at ankMuscat SAOG (Oman) where he was instrumental in setting up banks in India, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. The setting up Gulf African Bank was his first priority when he established his investment company.
Mr Ahmed Abdalla Mazrui, Deputy Chairman (Kenyan)
Mr Mazrui, one of Kenya's most prominent bankers, was formerly the Deputy Governor of the Central of Kenya. He also served as the Chairman of the Kenya Commercial Bank and as a director in the World Bank. He has the distinction of being the first Chairman of The Kenya Bankers Association. He holds directorships in other prominent institutions, including The Transparency International.
Mr. Mustafa Kamal Beg (Pakistani)
Mustafa Beg is currently working as Executive Director at Istithmar. In this capacity Mustafa manages investment made by Istithmar globally across various sub sectors of financial services industry including banks, asset management companies, insurance companies and specialty finance.
Prior to Istithmar Mustafa was actively involved in making private equity and venture capital investment across a broad spectrum of industries in Middle East, South Asia and North America.
Mustafa is also a board member of BMI Bank in Bahrain, and Brokerage World Solutions –an insurance brokerage company with operations in Dubai and Rotterdam.
Mustafa has done his Masters in Business Administration and Bachelors in Civil Engineering. Mustafa is also a CFA charterholder.
Dr. Michael Gondwe (Zambian)
Dr. Gondwe is the President of the PTA Bank. He has extensive experience in the region and is respected as a pre-eminent banker. He holds law degrees from University of Zambia and the University of Virginia as well as a Masters in Business Administration. He is an alumnus of the Advanced Management Programme of the University of Oxford.
Mr. Ahmed Mohamed Abdullah Al Abri (Omani)
Mr Ahmed Al Abri is the Chief Operating Officer of BankMuscat SAOG, the largest bank in Oman commanding a domineering market share. He is also a member of the board of BankMuscat International in Bahrain. He has over 30 years of banking experience. He holds a Masters degree from the University of Lincolnshire and Humberside (United Kingdom), and participated in General Managers program at the Harvard University and Advanced Management Program from London Business School.
Mr Ahmed Said Bajaber (Kenyan)
He is the Chief Financial Officer of the Al Romaizan Group in Saudi Arabia. He has over 20 years experience and been involved in setting up large investment projects across the world. He also served on one of the investment boards of Citigroup Venture Capital Group (CVC).
Mr Jamal Ali Al-Hazeem (Bahrain)
Jamal Ali Al-Hazeem is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Bahrain retail and commercial banking institution, BMI Bank having taken on the role in May 2010, with a commitment to build on the Bank's strength as well as deliver on its commitment to provide customers with unique and innovative financial products and services.
Jamal was earlier the managing Partner of Arthur Andersen – Bahrain for 22 years before being appointed as Chief Executive Officer of Economic Development Board (EDB) – Bahrain in 2000. In his next role, Jamal worked in Kuwait with The International Investor and return back to Bahrain in 2007 to take on the role of CEO of First Investment Bank, a $200 million Sharia-compliant investment bank headquartered in Bahrain.
