Keba Keinde is Chief Executive Officer of Millennium Finance Corporation Ltd. Prior to joining Millennium Finance Corporation Ltd, Keba was Managing Director, Head of the Middle East, Africa, Turkey & Iran at BNP Paribas for four and a half years. Prior to that, he spent four years at the International Finance Corporation (World Bank Group) in Washington ("IFC"), where he was in charge of privatisation transactions in Africa; four years at Lehman Brothers in New York and London, where he worked in the telecommunications investment banking department; one year at the IFC in Washington DC as an investment officer in the telecommunications division; and three years at IBM France. Keba has been advising numerous governments and international corporations, such as DP World, Mittal, MTC/Celtel, the Savola Group, Etisalat and DIB. These projects encompassed M&A, privatisations, private equity and IPO transactions in various sectors, most notably telecom, public utilities and metals & mining in emerging markets, including: Turk Telekom's USD 6.55 bn privatisation; Maroc Telecom's USD 1 bn IPO; Iran's USD 3.3 bn GSM licence sale; Etisalat's USD 3.5 bn GSM licence acquisition in Saudi Arabia; Mittal Steel in Algeria, Mauritania and Senegal; Electricity and water privatisations in UAE, Lebanon, Senegal, Niger and Cameroon; Airline privatisations in Saudi Arabia and Africa; Airport privatisations in the Middle East; and Cement privatisations in North Africa.

Tom is a corporate partner in Lovells' Dubai office.  With over three thousand people operating from 26 offices in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and the United States, Lovells is one of the largest business legal practices in the world.  Described in Chambers Global 2008 as having a "pragmatic approach and outstanding attention to client needs", Tom has experience of a wide variety of work comprising M&A, private equity, investment funds and equity capital markets.

Robin Amlôt is Managing Editor of CPI Financial. He has worked as an award-winning financial journalist for more than 25 years in print, radio, television and online. He has worked in Southeast Asia and the United Kingdom and covered all aspects of business and finance in his career, including as Financial Editor of Independent Radio News, UK; Senior Business Producer, Sky News; as a national newspaper columnist; and author of Dawn Trader’s Guide to World Markets (Boxtree 1992). Robin was educated in England, has a B.A. (Politics) from Lancaster University and holds the Chartered Insurance Institute’s Financial Planning Certificate

Mark Smyth is a founding partner of the group and has contributed to Failaka's development since the firm's inception in 1996. Mr. Smyth began his financial career in 1992 with the Bank of Montreal's Harris Trust and Savings Bank in Chicago, gaining experience in lending, mortgage banking, and sales management. Afterwards, he became a partner with The International Investor of Kuwait, managing one of the firm's direct investments in New York before becoming involved with the firm's acquisition strategy from their Kuwait City office. In 2004, Mr. Smyth joined a leading commodities brokerage becoming a respected broker and currency analyst whose market commentary was widely syndicated online and in print

Ihsan Jawad founded zawya.com in the year 2000 and has been overseeing its tremendous growth since then.  Prior to founding the company, Mr Jawad was an investment banker in London first working with Merrill Lynch and later at Schroders. Mr. Jawad graduated in 1993 from Imperial College where he also completed his Masters in Physics in 1994. Ihsan is a board director of the Gulf Venture Capital Association.