Huda Al Lawati

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Partner, Gateway Partners

Huda Al Lawati’s career has spanned 17 years in private equity and investments across emerging markets.

As Chief Investment Officer for Savola Group, she was responsible for business and investment strategy, portfolio management, M&A and investor relations for one of the largest publicly-listed strategic investment holding groups for food & retail businesses in the Middle East and North Africa region. Prior to Savola, Huda was a Partner and Chief Investment Officer for MENA at the Abraaj Group, where she deployed over

$1 billion in equity capital into MBOs, LBOs, venture capital, growth capital and structured equity transactions and arranged over US$1.5 billion in acquisition and related financing across a broad range of sectors.

Ms. Al Lawati holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Neuroscience and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Economics (Honors) from Brown University.

She has served on the boards of Panda Retail Company, Herfy, AlKabeer, Savola Foods Company, SMG, The Entertainer and Kudu. She is currently a member of the board of directors the Young Arab Leaders and the Middle East Investor Relations Association and a member of the advisory board of Global Ventures.