Akbar Ahsan

Akbar Ahsan has a wealth of experience in the finance industry. Akbar began their career in 1999 as an Associate at Barclays Capital. From 2002 to 2003, they were a part of the origination team covering European sovereigns and frequent issuers, having raised over US$30bn equivalent for clients across various currencies. Akbar also had responsibility for international debt capital market coverage of Africa and the Middle East, and was involved in derivative and structured solution origination for Middle East and African clients. In 2001, they moved to Johannesburg to assist in the establishment of a pan-African investment banking team and was involved in origination of corporate and sovereign bonds, power, oil and gas, telecom and infrastructure project finance, and aircraft and tax-driven structured finance transactions for local, regional and international institutions across sub-Saharan Africa. In 2008, they were appointed Head of International Finance, Structured & International Finance at QIB. In 2010, they became Head of Corporate Finance at QIB (UK), where they lead a cross-border multi-product team and repositioned a loss-making team into the largest revenue generating business unit within 18 months. Akbar also established advisory, capital markets and private equity platforms. In 2011, they became Non Executive Director & Chairman of IOTA NanoSolutions Limited, and Board Observer of b3 International. Akbar joined The Vasari Group as an Advisory Board member in 2012, and that same year became a Partner at Magellan Capital, a London headquartered boutique advisory with a focus on deal origination, business intelligence, due diligence, deal structuring, capital raising, deal execution and post transaction implementation and monitoring. In 2018, they co-founded and became Chief Operating Officer of Storfund.

Akbar Ahsan completed their secondary education at King's College School Wimbledon in 1994. Akbar then attended Imperial College London, where they obtained a BSc in Biotechnology in 1997. After that, they attended UCL and earned an MSc in Applied Molecular Biology & Biotechnology in 1998. Finally, they returned to Imperial College London, where they earned an MSc in Finance in 1999.