Our Leadership

Mr. Rafik Nayed

Rafik Nayed is the Group CEO of Al Salam Bank-Bahrain (ASBB), a pioneering Shari’a-compliant Banks in the Kingdom of Bahrain. He is a seasoned banker with over 25 years’ experience.

He joined Al Salam Bank from Deutsche Bank where he was the Vice Chairman of the MENA region, Chief Country Officer for the UAE and Senior Executive Officer of Deutsche Bank AG Dubai (DIFC). Before joining Deutsche Bank, Rafik was the Chief Executive Officer of the Libyan Investment Authority after working in the oil and gas and financial services industries in a variety of international senior positions for many years.

Mr. Ahmed Said Bajaber

Ahmed Said Bajaber was the financial controller of Al Fadeed
Commercial & Industrial Investment Company in Saudi Arabia – in charge of African Investments.

He has over 25 years’ experience and has been involved in setting up large investment projects across the world.

He has also served on one of the investment boards of Citigroup Venture Capital Group (CVC) and is currently the Chairman of API Limited (Ethiopia), the largest Bio-diesel farm in the world.

Mr. Admassu Tadesse

Admassu Tadesse is the 4th President and CEO of The Eastern and Southern Trade Development Bank (PTA Bank), appointed in late 2011. Prior, he served for 10 years with the DBSA in South Africa, as EVP responsible for international finance and corporate strategy. Earlier, he served in various capacities in international institutions and funds, mainly in Johannesburg and
NY. He has and continues to serve on several boards.

He holds an MSc from the LSE, an MBA from WBS, and trained at Harvard and INSEAD in banking, private equity and executive leadership. He is a member of the Institutes of Bankers, and Institute of Directors, South Africa, and recipient of various honors/awards.

Ms. Nawaal Mohamed Salim

Nawaal Mohamed Salim is the first independent woman Director of Gulf African Bank. Nawaal had worked in various state corporations before joining the Central Bank of Kenya where she served as the Branch Manager, Mombasa till her retirement in June 2015.

She also served on the task force that drew up recommendations on rules and regulations to guide the Ministry of Mining.
Nawaal has attended various local and international trainings on Leadership, Public Procurement and Corporate Governance. She currently sits on boards of two local schools in Mombasa, and is also the chairperson of Mbaraki Women’s Vision Self-Help Group.

Mr. Richard Showell

Richard Showell is a Director within Dubai World’s Corporate Finance team with a broad role throughout the Dubai World Group. He has direct asset management responsibility, and serves as a Non-Executive Director, for a number of Istithmar World’s investments across a range of sectors including financial services, IT, hospitality, energy and commercial real estate.
Richard was a key part of the team that successfully refinanced USD14.6m of Dubai World Group debt across a syndicate of lenders in 2015 and he continues to play an active role in lender and risk management. Prior to Dubai World, Richard was a Corporate Finance Director with BDO LLP specialising in Transaction Services and Buy and Sell side M&A.
Richard is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales and gained a BSc (Hons) degree from the University of Birmingham.

Mr. Junaid Rahimullah

Junaid Rahimullah has been the Group Chief Financial Officer at Dubai World Group since 2011, and is responsible for managing the finance functions at the holding company level. He was previously involved in setting up the finance functions within The Group since 2005. Mr. Rahimullah has also served as the Senior Advisor at Arthur Andersen, providing professional consultancy to various service industries for almost 12 years.
Mr. Rahimullah is a qualified Chartered Account by profession and has completed his CPA at Illinois, USA.

Ms. Jyoti Patel

Jyoti Patel is a qualified and experienced Accountant, with 18 years of experience in the Accounting and Auditing field, in Manufacturing, Hospitality and specialised in the Banking and Financial services industry focused on Finance and Enterprise risk management.

She is a fellow member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (FCCA) and a member of Institute of Certified Public Accoun tants of Kenya (ICPAK), with an MBA from the Warwick Business School, University of Warwick, UK. She is a member of the Institute of Directors, Kenya, trained in Corporate Governance and Certified in Enterprise Risk Governance (CERG) with the Enterprise Risk Management Academy, Singapore.

Mr. Zayed Al-Amin

Zayed Al-Amin is a Bahraini Businessman with over 20 years of experience in the finance and investment sectors. He is currently serving as the Executive Director at A. R. Al-Amin Group and is a Board Member of various organizations including MIDAD Gulf Energy (MGE), AL-SALAM Bank Bahrain (ASBB), Gulf African Bank (GAB) Kenya, Gulf Gourmet Group (GGG) KSA. He is a former Board Member of Food Storage Co. (FSCO KSA), RAMAKAZA Logistics Qatar and TOMATO Publicity. Prior to his current responsibilities at Al-Amin Group, he worked for National Bank of Bahrain “NBB” and Towry Law International “Tilney”.
He holds a Post Graduate Degree in Finance and Investment from London School of Business & Finance “LSBF”. He has also attended many executive courses in management, finance and investment.

Abdalla Abdulkhalik

Abdalla Abdulkhalik has served as the Bank’s Managing Director for a period of 9 years. He brings over 25 years of work experience. He was previously with SAMBA Financial Group, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia where he last served as Assistant General Manager & Head of Treasury for Western Region. Prior to that he worked at Citibank Kenya as assistant General Manager and Country Treasurer.

He has been part of a special committee at the Central Bank of Kenya and a part time lecturer at Kenya School of Monetary Studies. Abdulkalik was recently appointed to Kenya Bankers Association’s (KBA) Governing Council – to join other industry leaders in implementing various progressive initiatives aimed at stabilizing the banking industry in Kenya. He holds an MBA from Washington International University and is a certified Islamic Banker from The Islamic Finance Institute, London. In addition, he has attended various professional qualifications, advanced technical analysis among others. He is currently the Managing Director at Gulf African Bank.

Anuj Mediratta

Anuj Mediratta is the Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Anuj is an accomplished banker with over 25 years’ experience. Prior to his appointment as CEO, Anuj was the Bank’s Deputy CEO and Head of Banking. In this role, he was responsible for overseeing the Corporate, SME and Retail Businesses and Product Development. Before joining Gulf African Bank, Anuj held several senior positions at Standard Chartered Bank including Managing Principal – Head, Commercial Banking Kenya & East Africa and Executive Principal – Head, Commodity Traders & Agribusiness Africa. Anuj also worked for Barclays Africa. He is a chartered accountant.

Mr. Joseph Nyaga

Joseph joined Gulf African Bank on 1st July 2022 as a Chief Operating Officer. He oversees Operations, Customer Service and Projects.

Joseph joined us from Transunion Africa where he was the Chief Operations Officer- Rest of Africa, until his recruitment by the Bank. He has extensive experience in operations gained during a career spanning 15 years.

Joseph holds an MBA, Strategic Management from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture & Bachelor of Arts, Economics & Mathematics from Kenyatta University.

Mr. Isaak Ibrahim, CFA, CPA (K

Mr. Ibrahim a CFA Charterholder since 2006, has over 20 years of extensive experience gained from working in Banking, Asset Management and Auditing. He is a member of the CFA Institute as well as the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya (ICPAK). He previously worked with HSBC Bermuda and Deloitte, both in Kenya and Bermuda. Mr. Ibrahim is a BCom graduate of the School of Business, University of Nairobi.

Ms. Saada Abdullah Mohamed

Ms. Saada Abdullah Mohamed is a seasoned banker with over 10 years experience, cutting across growth of business, customer service management, credit analytics and corporate banking. She joined Gulf African Bank in the year 2015 as the Senior Manager Corporate Banking.

Prior to this she held various positions at First Community Bank Ltd with the latest being Manager Asset Finance and Mortgage. She holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance (Hons) and is a Certified Investment Financial Analyst (CIFA-) fellow. She is currently finalizing her MBA in Strategic Management at Kenyatta University. She has also attended various local trainings.

Mr. Benjamin Adeya

Benjamin Adeya joined Gulf African Bank on 1st November 2018 as Assistant General Manager, Operations, to spearhead the streamlining of operations processes and enhancement of productivity and accuracy/quality at the Head office and branches. Benjamin has extensive experience in Operations and Compliance gained through a long banking career in Citibank from September 1993 to May 2016 (except for September 2000 to October 2001 when he was at Stanbic Bank East Africa as Regional Head of Audit). Benjamin holds a BSc., Electrical Engineering fom the University of Nairobi.

Mrs. Amina Bashir

Mrs. Amina Bashir holds a Master of Laws from the University of Cambridge and a Bachelor of Laws, University of Nairobi. She is an advocate of the High Court of Kenya of 20 years’ standing, and has worked in private practice, with the Law Society of Kenya, where she was involved in public sector work and as company secretary for the Sameer Africa Group, where she had oversight over Sameer Africa Limited and its subsidiaries in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.

Mrs. Bashir is a member of the Institute of Certified Public Secretaries of Kenya as well as the Law Society of Kenya. She has worked as the Bank’s principal legal adviser and company secretary since 2006.

Ms. Irene Cherwon

Ms. Irene is a seasoned HR practitioner. Before joining Gulf African Bank she held several senior positions in different institutions including:

• Head of HR & Administration- Life Care Hospitals
• General Manager, HR – Equity Bank
• HR Manager- COOP Bank
• HR Business Partner – CFC Stanbic
• Senior HR Officer- Retirement Benefits Authority (RBA)

Irene holds a Masters in Business Administration HR, Bachelor of Arts in Psychology degree and a Foundation Diploma in Purchasing and Supplies and CHRP.

Washington Kathurima

Washington joined us in September 2016 from Chase Bank (currently SBM Bank) where he was a Senior Manager, Credit Approvals from 2014. Prior to this, he worked at Imperial Bank Ltd from April 2010 to December 2013 where he held various positions within Kenya and Uganda namely Credit Analyst, Assistant Manager Credit and Manager Credit Risk. He started his banking career with KCB as a Graduate Trainee Financial Analysis, Credit Department in 2007 to 2010. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Nairobi and CPA III [sect. 5]. Additionally, He has attended various training programs both locally and internationally among them Programme for Management Development (PMD) from Strathmore University

Benedicto Cheserek

Benedicto joined Gulf African Bank in January 2018 from Kenya Commercial Bank where he held several roles that included Head of Audit at the KCB Sudan subsidiary between August 2013 & March 2017, Audit Manager between 2009 & 2013, and an Auditor between 2007 & 2009. He also worked in the Finance department of KCB between 2004 & 2006. Benedicto holds a Masters of Business Administration-Finance Major & minor in Strategic Management,
a Bachelor of Commerce in Finance and a Certified Public Accountant of Kenya (CPAK).

Mr. Omar Abdallah Omar

Mr Omar Abdalla Joined the Bank in 2007. Prior to which he worked at
Standard Bank London where he worked for 3 Months from January –April 2006, he later moved to Stanbic Bank Tanzania where he worked as a dealer from August 2004, African Banking Corporation Ltd where he worked as an Officer and a dealer from 1995-1999.

Mr. Omar holds an executive MBA from JKUAT, Post –Graduate Diploma in Islamic Banking and Insurance –IIBI-London, UK, Bachelors of Arts in Economics at Moi University –Eldoret, Kenya. Additionally he has attended various trainings both locally and internationally.

Professor Mohamed S. Badamana

Prof. Mohamed Salim Badamana Is the Chairman of Department of Animal Production, University of Nairobi. He holds a PHD in Islamic studies from the University of Khartoum. He has lectured and examined MA and PHD students at the University of Nairobi and Kenyatta in the department of Philosophy and Religious studies. He has presented papers at many international forums as well as published in many journals and papers. He is a leading figure in the society’s collective attempts towards Islamic welfare in Kenya. Professionally, his interests
lie in Veterinarian, Animal Nutrition, Livestock Production Systems and Dairy Cattle, in which his contributions have been acknowledged internationally.

Dr. Mohammed Burhan Arbouna

Dr. Mohammed Burhan Arbouna is currently the Head of Shari’ah Compliance at Al Salam Bank Bahrain and also served as the Shari’ah Head and Shari’ah Board member in the Seera Investment Bank BSC Bahrain; He holds a PhD in laws with specialization in Islamic banking and finance from International Islamic University Malaysia, and Masters in Comparative Laws; He also holds BA degree in Shari’ah and Higher Diploma in Education from Islamic University, Medina. He is an expert in Islamic banking and finance since 1997; He has also served as a consultant for the Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI) – Bahrain. Dr. Arbouna is a member of Islamic Money Market Framework (IMMF) steering committee initiated by Central Bank of Bahrain

Mufti Ahmed Suliman 

Ahmed is a Shari’ah Scholar of high repute in the Islamic Banking, Investments and Insurance space. He has served as a Shari’ah Advisor for, and as a Board Member on, various financial institutions for the past 18 years, both inside and outside South Africa. He completed a BA/MA Alim course (Higher Islamic Studies) and thereafter completed the Ifta course (Islamic Jurisprudence and issuance of Fatwa [Islamic verdicts]), at Darul Uloom Zakariyya.

For three years, he served as a Mufti for the Jamiatul Ulama KZN (Council for Muslim theologians) where he looked after the Fatwa and Judicial Departments and was a member of the Mediation and Arbitration committee. On behalf of Jamiatul Ulama KZN, he served as a member on the Board of Muftis of South Africa