EMEA / Middle East

Mo Bississo can paint a detailed picture of the private equity landscape in the Middle East. In 2007 between his first and second year as an MBA student at Fuqua, he interned at the private equity group of an alternative investments firm, Gulf Capital, based in Abu Dhabi and experienced firsthand the quantum growth that the Middle East—particularly the Gulf Cooperative Council (GCC)—was experiencing.

Bississo spent two enjoyable and educational months there during his internship, and upon graduation in 2008, decided to join Gulf Capital in a full-time capacity as an associate. Over the following six years, he witnessed not only how Gulf Capital survived a tumultuous storm that wiped out most of its regional and international competitors, but he also helped the firm grow into one of the region’s premier private equity groups, today with more than USD 1.6 billion assets under management.

He has now taken this “for the region, by the region” approach and is in the process of starting a search fund, which employs an amalgamated approach of private equity and entrepreneurship. He shared his insights on private equity and the general economic backdrop in the Middle East in a Fuqua Q&A.