management team

The management team brings with them a wealth of experience across corporate finance, venture capital, strategy, accounting and budgeting. They have worked with startups, SMEs and multinationals across multiple disciplines and have a strong network of contacts throughout the region.

omar farha

Omar is the Founder and President of Kyudu (http://www.kyudu.com), an online business networking and collaboration platform.  Prior to starting Kyudu, Omar spent 5 years in the consulting industry.  He began his career at the Corporate Executive Board, a publicly listed consulting company based in Washington D.C., where he started off advising multinational corporations on I.T. Infrastructure-related issues, before moving onto Compensation and Human Resources.  Omar then joined the Hanover Research Council, a start-up consulting firm that provides broad strategic guidance to small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from all over the United States.  Having spent 3 years at Hanover, Omar decided to try his luck with his own venture and launched Kyudu in 2008.  He is currently pursuing an MBA at New York University's Stern School of Business in parallel with his work at Kyudu.  Omar holds a BEng in Industrial Engineering and a BA in Economics from Northwestern University.

amir farha

Amir started his career in London at CLS Capital Partners, a venture capital firm targeting opportunities in telecoms, media, technology and clean energy sectors in Sweden and the UK. During his time there, he helped structure the acquisition of Sweden’s largest online social network, Lunarworks, the exit of a cable company in the UK, WightCable (North), and the sale of a portfolio of minority investments held by the group. After 3 years in the UK, Amir relocated to Dubai, where he worked as the Arab Business Angel Network (ABAN) Manager and was responsible for screening, analysing and developing business plans, sourcing and evaluating investment opportunities, coordinating due diligence, negotiating and executing transactions. Amir holds a BSc (Hons) in Computer Information Systems and an MSc in Management from the University of Bath in England. Amir has also completed executive courses at London Business School.

rabih brair

Rabih began his professional career at Andersen in Montreal where he worked in both corporate finance and audit. After obtaining his CPA, Rabih returned to Dubai and continued his audit career at PwC. He then joined the FMCG sector holding a number of positions in finance at Mars. Throughout his 5 year tenure at Mars, his responsibilities progressed from regional financial planning and budget control to become the Finance Manager for Mars’ UAE operations encompassing accounting, planning, credit control and senior management team responsibilities. Rabih managed a team of 8 people and most notably led the local roll-out of a Mars Inc. global cash flow improvement initiative. Rabih holds a B.Comm in Accounting from Concordia University in Montreal Canada and a CPA from the State of Delaware.