Professional History: Issam is Mastercard Advisors, Director of West Africa. He is also a Co-Founder and Managing Director at Suguba, a platform fostering regional integration, regional trade, and unleashing entrepreneurial talent across Francophone Africa. Issam co-founded Suguba with Fayelle Ouane, another Tutu Fellow, of the Class of 2017. Issam's experience, spanning 10 years, has been focused on launching successful entrepreneurial ventures, structuring funds, configuring financial reporting and ESG systems, leading transactions due diligence & valuations, managing stakeholders, and building networks. Throughout his career, he has led more than USD $500 million in commitments to funds globally.

Prior to starting Suguba, he was Regional Manager at the Islamic Development Bank. He invested in Private Equity funds across Africa and Southeast Asia, structured the first Venture Capital fund in Saudi Arabia and the first global Trade Finance fund of ITFC. He also structured Trade Finance deals for Governments in Africa and South America.

Issam is also the Founder of Africa Impact Group, award-winning research and advisory firm focused on impact investing in West and Central-Africa. At AIG, Issam advised both the Private and Public Sectors on impact investing. His most notable clients include the World Trade Organization (WTO), the Dangote Group, and the Republic of Congo.

Prior to launching AIG, he spent over three years with EY (Ernst & Young) in Boston where he led various audit and due diligence missions of Private Equity clients.

Issam started his career at HarbourVest Partners in Boston in charge of financial reporting and due diligence for dozens of Private Equity funds and their related portfolio companies.

Issam holds a Bachelor in Finance and Accounting from Suffolk University Boston and a Master of Science in Accountancy from the University of Notre Dame. Issam has an Executive Certificate in Private Equity and Venture Capital from Harvard Business School.

Outside of his work in early-stage financing, Issam is on the board of Africa Development University (ADU).

Academic and professional credentials: Bachelor in Finance and Accounting from Suffolk University, Boston
Master of Science in Accountancy from the University of Notre Dame
Executive Certificate in Private Equity and Venture Capital from Harvard Business School

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