Kamal Al-Samarrai

A serial entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience in banking and recruitment in the UK and UAE, Kamal Al-Samarrai is known for his ability to find pragmatic solutions for the challenges that lie across these sectors.

As the father to a young family, he is now tackling a more personal challenge – to help parents teach their children what they learned late. With the launch of Verity, the family banking and financial literacy app built for the Middle East, Kamal and his co-founders are set to change the way regional youth adopts and builds money management skills, ultimately nurturing a financially smart next generation.

Kamal’s entrepreneurial journey began in 2012, when he founded Dawaam, a highly successful recruitment firm based in Dubai. Learning from his experiences and driven by his passion to continuously explore new ways to disrupt the industry, he went on to launch 2dgres – a fully digitised online marketplace that gives companies direct access to a network of independent recruiters across the globe. In 2020, 2dgres was selected to participate in the second cohort of the coveted Wamda X fellowship program.

Before entering the world of recruitment, Kamal was an investment banker, starting his career with Merrill Lynch in London, and then joining Al Mal Capital in Dubai.

Kamal holds a BSc(Eng) in Telecommunications Engineering from Queen Mary, University of London, and an Master’s degree from Imperial College London. When Kamal isn’t seeking out the next big innovative solution, he can be found enjoying quality time with his family and, if time permits, getting an early morning workout at the gym or squeezing in a late evening video game session.