Investment Forum | MENA

Kamel Tawil joined Equinix in September 2020 as Managing Director MENA (Middle East and North Africa) and he is responsible for developing MENA markets to deliver world class digital infrastructure solutions, building a network dense ecosystem. Prior, Mr. Tawil spent 18 years at Oracle in various leadership roles across ECEMEA (East Central Europe, Middle East and Africa) where he led major digital transformation projects.

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Sreekanth is a seasoned investment and infrastructure advisory professional with over 15 years of experience across leading global firms, including DataVolt, Boston Consulting Group, KPMG, and Morgan Stanley – with ~ 12 years of experience in GCC’s infrastructure transformation. As a Director in DataVolt’s Investments and Financing team, he focuses on capitalizing on the rapid growth of digital infrastructure, including data centers within GCC and beyond.

His expertise spans infrastructure investment, PPPs, project finance, M&A, and large-scale privatizations, with a strong track record in structuring and executing complex transactions across the GCC and South Asia. Previously, he played a pivotal role in advising government entities and private investors on multi-billion-dollar infrastructure projects across transport, utilities, and real estate.

With a Post Graduate Diploma in Management from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, and a Bachelor of Engineering from Mumbai University, he is able to provide a unique perspective on the investment opportunities and challenges within the rapidly evolving MENA data center market."

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Luke Hanson is the Sector Lead for Telecoms Structured Finance in EMEA at SMBC Group, based in London. He joined the firm in 2014, bringing experience from KPMG's Infrastructure Corporate Finance group.

Luke has played a pivotal role in SMBC Group’s involvement in data center financings across EMEA, leading transactions totaling more than €5.3 billion in 2024 and €3 billion in 2023. His expertise spans both lending and advisory mandates across digital infrastructure, transport, and social infrastructure sectors.

He holds a Master of Engineering degree from Oxford University and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales.

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Gulfraz has a distinguished track record advising communications operators and infrastructure providers on strategy, mergers and acquisitions, capital raising and other investment banking business. Over a career spanning 24 years, he has accumulated deep and diverse experience across markets, sub sectors and with a multitude of clients and capital providers. He has advised on hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of advisory deals and successfully executed over $100 billion of strategic capital raising for large corporates and investors. Today, Gulfraz’s major clients are global, Western European and emerging markets large-cap telecom operators. Gulfraz has held offices in London, New York, Singapore and Dubai.

Gulfraz holds a Masters in Finance from London Business School and a BSc with first class honours in Mathematics with Computer Science from University College London.

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Raahem is a Riyadh-based finance professional overseeing Infrastructure Finance and Portfolio Management at Tamasuk Investments (Quantum Switch Tamasuk), focusing on data center investments across the MENA region. An alumnus of PricewaterhouseCoopers, his background spans private equity, B2B tech, and public companies, with a strong emphasis on operational efficiency, risk management, and strategic expansion. He has extensive experience in financial planning, IFRS compliance, and cross-border transaction management.

Raahem holds a specialization in Private Markets Investments from the University of Oxford, Saïd Business School, and is currently pursuing a specialization in Global Finance and Banking at King’s College London.

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Thomas is a highly experienced professional in infrastructure development and investments with over 20 years of experience, having advised on the development and financing of over USD 10Bn of infrastructure assets in the Middle East, Africa, South and South East Asia.

Thomas has previously held leadership positions with the Big 4 advisory firms, his previous position being the Capability Leader/ Head of KPMG Lower Gulf’s Infrastructure, PPP and real estate advisory practice, involved in advising clients in structuring and project financing of complex transactions in the Utilities, Transport and social infrastructure sectors in Middle East, S. Asia, S.E. Asia, Africa and CIS region.

As the Head of Investments & Financing at DataVolt, he is part of the Management Committee and leads the team responsible for evaluating and developing financing solutions of both greenfield and brownfield data centre assets being developed globally, with sustainability, innovation and scalability at the core of DataVolt’s business model.

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Anisha is a Manager with Analysys Mason, bringing over 8 years of experience in the TMT (Telecom, Media, and Technology) consulting space. Based in Dubai, she has led multiple high-impact projects, including advising on several data centre transactions and developing go-to-market strategies for new entrants in the data centre space. Notably, she advised on the recent strategic partnership between KKR and Gulf Data Hub, aimed at scaling GDH's data centre platform across the region. Anisha’s expertise lies in delivering strategic insights and driving transformative outcomes in the rapidly evolving data centre industry.

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Colm has over 35 years of industry experience, working with leading global technology companies including Fujitsu & IBM, in semiconductor, corporate real estate, data centre and critical infrastructure positions.

Colm joined JLL’s Data Centre team as a Senior Director in 2020 to manage all corporate data centre requirements. He works with corporate clients, owners and occupiers of data centres, providing strategic advisory and execution to help drive returns, operational efficiency and profitability, and deliver on critical sustainability goals.

Also a member of the TIC council supporting the EU Joint Research Council (JRC) transforming the EU Code of Conduct in to an auditable framework , referenced in the European Taxonomy for Data Centre sustainability reporting

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As Head of Data Centres at Knight Frank, Stephen brings with him a wealth of expert experience across all transactional services including colocation acquisition, site acquisition and sale, Sale & Leaseback and general investment. He has acquired colocation space across 30+ global markets and has advised on over $1bn of data centre transactions. Stephen has a detailed knowledge of the EMEA, APAC AND LATAM markets and an extensive sector network including colocation customers, data centre operators, telecommunication providers and hyperscale cloud.

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Matthew Humphreys is a strategy consultant focusing on data center strategies for DC operators & growth strategies for telecom operators. His past experience was in a top tier global law firm. Matthew is a atrong entrepreneurship professional with a Master of Laws (LLM) from University of Pennsylvania as well as a Business Certificate from the Wharton School of Business.

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Scott is responsible for all DC Byte commercial activity in the EMEA region. Scott has vast experience in the data centre industry with nearly twenty years of experience having worked across the region offering equipment, software and consultancy services. 

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