Co-CEO
Dino Skandalis
Dino has over 27 years of experience in global trade finance and debt markets both in the banking and investment management sectors. He has served as global head of trade finance related products for Standard Chartered Bank, Standard Bank, and Banco Santander where he managed trading and investment portfolios in the trade finance related sector and market leading origination and trading desks.
He has spent the last eleven years in the DIFC where he set up and managed regulated investment management entities and structured, launched and oversaw trade finance related investment funds. He started his career in currency options trading with Midland Global Markets and has also worked in Export and Project Finance at Samuel Montagu and as a senior EM debt trader at West Mercant Bank.
Dino was educated in the U.K. and holds a BA (Hons) in Economics from Coventry University and an MA in Finance and Investment from the University of Exeter.
He was a co-founder of the International Trade & Forfaiting Association and has previously served as its chairman.
Co-CEO /
CFO
Dhruva
Acharya
Dhruva has over 10 years of experience in Investment Banking, Equity Research, Private Equity and Venture Capital. His experience covers a diverse range of asset classes including public equities, private and proprietary investments and early stage funding.
Dhruva has worked on 7 IPOs and FPOs. He has also raised capital for 3 startup ventures in technology, education and fashion ventures Dhruva has structured and established fund structures in multiple geographies. He has structured several complex private investment deals in technology, infrastructure and real estate sectors.
He has advised large mutual funds and pension funds on investments in public equities (breweries, real estate, agriculture, airlines, abrasives, consumer sectors) and private investments.
Dhruva has an engineering degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi and has his MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore.
CIO /
CTO
Shakti
Chauhan
Shakti oversees Snyder Global DMCC (precious metal trading company) and Snyder Prime Ltd, which manages Snyder Group’s investments across financial sector, natural resources, and non-manufactured precious metals.
Shakti has robust experience in designing and developing absolute return based investment strategies, leveraging his past experience and academic background in Computational Finance (Computer Science, Mathematics and Finance) from Georgia Institute of Technology and Columbia University.
COO
Houssam Alshaikh
Houssam is an Emirati national with over 18 years of experience in wealth management, investment and retail banking in sales and product development. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Ajman University of Science and Technology, and an MBA from the American University of Hawaii.
His expertise ranges from strategic planning, operations, administration, business & market analysis, with core knowledge in development and implementation of strategic initiatives for market and revenue enhancement. Houssam has extensive experience with previous assignments in large banks in the United Arab Emirates. He served with Noor Bank where he was involved in setting up Bancassurance and held the positions of Department Head as well as Area Head. Prior to that he served with Emirates NBD in various positions, principally in the retail banking segment. Houssam is skilled in end to end management of projects related to enhancing operational efficiency and business profitability.
