Mikael Hajjar
Managing Partner
Mika is a business operator turned investor. He launched new products and scaled up ventures at early stage startups and Fortune 500 companies in the U.S., South Africa, China & France. He was born in Dakar, Senegal and raised in Nouakchott, Mauritania. He grew empathy and inspiration for founders from a young age coming from an entrepreneurial family as his parents and grandparents built businesses in West Africa for the past decades. He is a Berkeley engineer and Stanford MBA graduate.
Mika loves running and regularly goes on 10+ miles runs. He has been preparing for his first marathon for too long and plans to complete it in less than 3.5 hour. He also loves sleeping - he prides himself in taking impromptu naps at any point in the day and anywhere including on bumpy safari roads.
Hisham Halbouny
Managing Partner
Hisham is an investor, venture builder and a former investment banker. As a Partner at Man Capital, he spearheaded the global private markets investment platform that includes some of the most notable technology companies such as Uber, Bolt, Airbnb and Fairmarkit. He launched and has been on the board of several high growth companies in Egypt, Nigeria, Kenya, US, and India.
Prior to that he was a Managing Director at EFG Hermes where he advised on $10+B worth of M&A, IPOs and debt transactions across Middle East and Africa region.
Hesham is born and raised in Egypt. He may claim he isn’t a die-hard national soccer fan but would always ask for a break every time Egypt is defeated in international soccer competition.
Nada Abdelnour
Venture Partner
Nada has over 15 years of experience driving go-to-market strategies and monetization at startups across both seed and scale-up stages. She led product marketing roles at Yahoo, iZettle (acquired by PayPal) and Yoco.
Most recently, Nada co-founded Axis, a neobank for small businesses and solopreneurs in Egypt.
Nada holds an undergraduate degree in International Economics from Georgetown University and an MBA from INSEAD.
Ijeoma
Arum
Venture Partner
Ijeoma is a Nigerian American originally from Oakland, California who currently resides in Lagos.
She is the Chief Commercial Officer at Jumia Nigeria and has been in commerce 14+ years with prior roles at Google, Nike, and Target focused on improving operational efficiency, identifying consumer insights, and capturing market opportunities. She received her BA from UCLA and MBA from Columbia University.
Ijeoma is excited about the innovation coming out of Africa that will make people’s lives easier and look forward to getting connected with startups that aim to change the world.
Selva Govinden
Ops Director
Selva has over 15 years of experience in finance operations and fund management. Prior to joining P1 Ventures, he served for eight years as the Head of Operations at Savannah Fund. Selva loves working closely with African startup founders and support them reconcile and balance financial statements with operation growth.
Selva is an avid nature and outdoors enthusiast who loves hiking. Selva is from Mauritius - not to be confused with Mauritania!
Melody Ama
Investor
Melody was born in Nigeria and graduated from the London School of Economics. She was previously an investment banker in J.P. Morgan’s London office, working on M&A for financial institutions. She enjoys hiking, and is working towards climbing Kilimanjaro.
Bernard
Dalle
Senior Advisor
Bernard grew up in Morocco and co-founded Index Ventures in 1997 that he helped scale up to $20+B AUM. He led 20+ investments including Mimecast, one of the first African unicorns. He was previously in consulting at McKinsey and in product at P&G. He is an EFPL graduate engineer and a Kellogg MBA.
Emil
Michael
Senior Advisor
Emil is Egyptian and was Chief Business Officer at Uber, where he led the company through a period of exponential growth raising $15+B in 30 months and expanding to more than 80 countries in all continents. Emil is a graduate of Harvard College and Stanford Law School.
We’re expanding our team and looking for at least one junior investor (≤4 years of experience):
Must-have attributes:
● Entrepreneurial mindset → You take ownership, show initiative, thrive with autonomy, and are hungry to learn. You navigate nuance, challenge ideas constructively, and are comfortable with frequent travel + remote-first work across time zones.
● Ecosystem connectivity → You source early-stage startups across Africa and global diaspora markets. You have strong interpersonal skills and shine on building relationships with different stakeholders e.g. founders, angels, and accelerators, which provides you with early access.
● Investment chops → You conduct thorough market research and competitive analysis, and develop robust financial models. You formulate and present compelling investment theses across multiple sectors. You assist on deal structuring and execute deep-dive due diligence.
● Operational muscle → You work closely with portfolio companies on strategic initiatives, including follow-on capital raises. You know how to build and manage tools and processes to track operational and financial metrics and keep up with a fast-moving portfolio. You create data-driven reports and presentations for existing and prospective investors.
Bonus points if you bring:
● Extra language firepower (French, Swahili, or other languages).
● Domain expertise in AI, SaaS, FinTech, or blockchain.
● A track record as a founder, operator or investor.
You will work closely with our Managing Partners in an apprenticeship model on a fast-track pathway to senior roles within our growing firm. If you’d like to learn more, reach out to Mika Hajjar m@p1.ventures.
“If you want to go fast, go alone.
If you want to go far, go together”
— Old African Proverb