Find Your Mentor

• Currently an MBA candidate at Wharton
• Previously a private equity associate
• Completed two year investment banking analyst program focused on industrial services and manufacturing

• 6 years of investing and PE advisory experience across predominantly in India and select deals across broader SEA and North america
• Investor at a $10B+ AUM global growth equity fund focused on financial services and consumer sectors.
• Led investment execution and portfolio management across fintech, wealth management, lending, and consumer businesses.
• Evaluated growth and venture investments across financial services, technology, IT services, and consumer sectors.
• Former management consultant advising private equity funds on commercial due diligence and value creation opportunities.
• Worked with leading companies across consumer, logistics, healthcare, and technology sectors.

Ahmed Taieb is a principal-side direct investor at MARCOL Asset Management, a London-based family office with £3bn under management. He leads growth equity and venture transactions from origination through exit, with a remit spanning execution, portfolio value creation, capital raising for portfolio companies, and real estate joint ventures across the UK, Europe, and the GCC.

Over nine years across direct investing, M&A, and value creation, he has executed four direct growth equity and venture investments in digital healthcare and tech-enabled services, directed a portfolio value creation programme that delivered £10m of annualised EBITDA uplift, and raised more than £120m of equity and venture debt for portfolio companies. His investments include the medneo UK diagnostic imaging platform, exited to CVC DIF, and Qare, a leading French teleconsultation provider.

Before MARCOL, he led financial and operational due diligence for private equity clients at FTI Consulting in London. He executed buy-side and sell-side transaction services at Deloitte in Paris on deals ranging from €50m to €4bn. He holds the CFA charter and a Master in Management from ESCP Business School, and speaks French, English, and Arabic fluently.

Life Science VC

Multifaceted entrepreneurial executive experienced across multiple functional silos. Diverse experience focused on technology project management, operational facets and creating transparency in ROI/profit margin root causes and reporting.  Expertise derived from over 20 years of varied senior management positions with technology and financial service consulting firms plus national banks, and a proprietary trading firm. Acts as a thought leader with a focus on people, processes, controls, and technology. Leverages entrepreneurial business spirit and executes strategy with a sense of urgency while maintaining a culture of transparency and accountability across company teams. 

Private equity professional, previously worked at Bulge Bracket banks. 6+ years across PE, IBD and ER. 

I've sat on both sides of the recruiting table. I've been the candidate - through equity research, investment banking, and private equity processes - and I've been the one screening CVs, running case studies, and making the final call on intern and full-time hires at a bulge bracket. I know what gets someone into the interview pile, what gets them through a superday, and where strong candidates talk themselves out of offers.

Six years at top firms, across the desk in ER, IBD, and on the buy-side. I've done the internal moves, the lateral moves between bulge brackets, and the jump from banking to private equity — so I can help with the standard path and the non-linear one.

• Currently an Investment Associate working in private equity
• Previously M&A, ECM, and DCM execution in a European Bulge Brackets EMEA Investment Banking division
• Equity Research at US Bulge Bracket — sector coverage, financial modelling, investor-facing research
• Ran intern and full-time recruiting at a bulge bracket — screened applications and sat on the interview and case study side
• BSc from the London School of Economics
• Sectors: TMT, consumer, real estate

• Junior professional in the junior capital space (mezzanine and equity coinvest)
• Previously in PE buyout and investment banking, so between that and my current role I've seen lots of different sides of finance

Cesar Parra is a Partner at RSM where he heads the M&A Advisory Division.  Mr. Parra advises mid-market clients primarily in the broad Consumer, Agri & Retail sector.  He also possesses a strong knowledge-capital in the pharmaceuticals and animal health sector.

During more than 25 years, Mr. Parra has built a wealth of invaluable sector experience and expertise that he brings to every transaction with a wide understanding of the financial pressures, views on strategic opportunities and other major issues that Food&Agri and FMCG are dealing with.

In his time in the industry, Mr. Parra has been actively involved in advising public companies, private companies and financial sponsors on a variety of sell-side, buy-side and corporate divestiture transactions across the consumer, retail and pharma industries.

Mr. Parra joined RSM in November 2017.  Prior to that Mr. Parra was Head of M&A at BDO, in Madrid for four years and Leader of BDO’s Global Consumer & Retail M&A team at BDO International for two years.

Earlier to RSM, Mr. Parra worked as Director, Head of Food, Retail & Consumer in the M&A department at Deloitte Corporate Finance,, he evaluated numerous acquisition and investment opportunities for food corporations as well as for consumer-focused equity sponsors.  Furthermore, Mr. Parra was the Leader of Deloitte's EMEA Corporate Finance Advisory Consumer Business network encouraging day-to-day contact across European players to originate cross-border transactions.  He was also member of the coverage team of the Latin America M&A Consumer Network to promote regional deals and spread market intelligence.

Mr. Parra was the Head of Food&Agri M&A Iberia at Rabobank International, the world's leading specialist food and agribusiness bank, where he led several Cross-Border projects in Consumer Goods and Retailing.  Before joining Rabobank, Mr. Parra held investment banking positions with similar client responsibilities at Santander Group (Banesto) as Deputy Director of M&A supporting network of the bank’s companies in several sectors in the execution of multisectorial corporate transactions; Ahorro Corporacion, and Bankia managing M&A transactions, appraisals and other corporate matters.

Mr. Parra began his career in 1998 as an investment banking analyst in New York at Fredericks Michael & Co., a global boutique M&A investment bank, where he focused on Cross-Border M&A transactions in various industries.

Mr. Parra holds a Executive Program in Agricultural Enterprises Management by the San Telmo International Institute in Seville.  He also earned a Masters in Corporate Finance and Financial Management from Universidad Complutense de Madrid and holds a B.Sc. in Economics from Universidad de La Laguna.

Additionally, Mr. Parra has done specialization courses in corporate finance, private equity and finance at prestigious universities such as IESE Business School, The University of Chicago - Booth School of Business and New York University.

Mr. Parra speaks fluent Spanish, English and Italian and has a basic knowledge of German and Portuguese.  Lived and worked in Germany, Spain, United Kingdom and the United States.  He is a national of Spain.

Gizem Akkan | Equity Research & Buy-Side Investing

Finance professional with experience spanning equity research, buy-side investing, venture capital, and corporate finance advisory across fintech, technology, and consumer sectors.

Previously worked at $5B+ AUM asset managers on buy-side investing, covering tech and fintech venture investments across global and emerging markets. Earlier career includes corporate finance & valuation advisory, and equity research, covering consumer companies. Holds an MBA from Cornell (Johnson).

Currently based in London, actively investing and producing independent equity research.

Expertise

• Equity Research (Buy-Side & Sell-Side)
• Venture Capital & Growth Investing
• Financial Modelling & Valuation (DCF, Comps, LBO)
• Stock Pitch Development
• Investment Thesis Writing
• Fintech & Technology Sector Analysis

Currently working as an Investment Associate focused on Private Equity at a Multi-family office. The focus is generalist, with most mandates structured as co-investments or minority stakes. Previously did Investment Banking at Morgan Stanley, in the Industrials team. Before starting full time had summers at Goldman and BNP Paribas, all in M&A.