Our expert trainers
Yasir Ali, CFA, CMA, ACCA, FRM, ACMA, CGMA
Associate Head - Exam Prep
Years of Experience: 15 years
Yasir has worked across multiple industries, advising the implementation of Foreign Investment Appraisal, Risk Management, preparing financial models, planning, budgeting and forecasting etc.
Yasir has been teaching ACCA, CFA, CIMA and FRM courses since 2001. He brings to the class a mix of valuable, regional financial expertise backed by excellent professional qualifications.
Yasir is a Senior Manager and Trainer at Kaplan Genesis
Rahul Sonthalia CFA, CMA
Head of Finance Technical
Years of Experience: 13 years
Rahul has more than 13 years of experience in the area of investment banking, equity research, macro-economic research and training. He has been teaching financial modeling and investment banking courses in UK, Singapore, and the MENA region
He specializes in Financial Analysis, Equity Valuation, Financial Modeling and exam prep training. His experience as a practitioner allows him to deliver practical and industry-relevant courses. He has delivered advanced financial modeling related programs for sovereign wealth funds and banks in the GCC as well as for large asset management companies in the UK and Singapore. He was a guest speaker on “Best Practices in Financial Modeling” at the Modeloff Global World Financial Modeling championship in London.
Rahul is an Economics graduate, a CFA Charterholder and a CMA. He also holds the CISI certificates for International Introduction to Securities & Investment and International Certificate in Wealth & Investment Management.
Waleed Minhas, MSc, CPA, MCSI, FCCA
Head of Exam Prep
Years of Experience: 10 years
Waleed has over 10 years of training experience in the region, focusing on Financial Management and Management Accounting. He was the lead trainer at PricewaterhouseCoopers where he also managed professional qualifications, degree programs and Train the Trainer courses.
He brings 8+ years of industry experience in the UK and UAE where he has been involved in setting up and controlling finance functions of diverse businesses. It was late 2015 when he switched to full time training and has since enjoyed exceptional pass rates. He has also trained many national, regional and global prizewinners.
Waleed’s training approach is built around adding value on courses and incorporating memory and exam techniques to help students ace their exams.
Natalie Al Samarrai, BSc (Econ), MSc, FCCA
Head of ACCA
Years of Experience: 13 years
Natalie has over 16 years of training experience with Kaplan UK and various providers in the UAE. Her students have successfully passed their ACCA, ICAEW, CIMA, and AAT exams and many have been regional and global prizewinners. She is best known by her students for her positive attitude and approachability. Her tips to ace the ACCA exam have been published by the ACCA for Think Ahead.
Natalie is the Head of ACCA in Kaplan Professional Middle East
Bilal Ahmad, CFA, CPA, ACCA
Head of CFA
Years of Experience: 10 years
Bilal has over 10 Years of experience in teaching and providing corporate training services in the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa region. His expertise is in the arena of Equity Valuation, Portfolio Management, Corporate Finance, Financial Management, and Financial Modeling.
Bilal’s keen interest is in teaching CFA, CMA, CPA, Equity Valuation, Cash Management, and Other Finance courses. His participation as an Academic Head in BSP Group, Mauritius provided him with wider exposure as a trainer. He rendered service to trained finance professionals relating to financial institutions, including CIM Finance.
Recently he was worked as Head of Equity Analyst at Backers & Partners, a well reputed Financial Institution which deals in Stock Brokerage and Investment Management services. His area of responsibility included equity valuation and identification of Value and growth stocks for Value Tilt portfolios.
Bilal is a CFA charterholder, has ACCA Membership, and a CPA.

Shanin Thomas, CFA
Head of Abu Dhabi
Years of Experience: 6 years
Shanin has over 10 years of work experience in equity research, portfolio management, investment banking, and financial modeling.
He was a partner at Esta Capital, a boutique investment research and advisory firm. Previously he worked in JPMorgan’s Investment Banking Division in Mumbai and New York offices covering North American banks and asset management companies.
He has over 6 years of experience in CFA training and corporate training on programs such as financial modeling, finance for non-finance professional courses, business valuation, equity research, value investing, and derivatives.
He is a CFA charter holder and has also cleared the FRM exam.

Murtaza k Shabazkar, CFA
Finance Trainer
Years of Experience: 15 years
Mr. Murtaza is a CFA Charter holder with 15 years of experience spread across commercial banking, corporate finance advisory, equity research, stock brokerage and information technology sectors.
In addition to 15 years of industry experience, Mr. Murtaza has also been serving as Finance Faculty in a number of academic institutions and is currently performing his duties as a Finance Trainer with Kaplan Professional Middle East.
Mr. Murtaza completed his bachelors with honours from the University of Nottingham in the UK in E-commerce and Digital Business and his MBA from the Institute of Business Administration (IBA) in Karachi, Pakistan.

Shiv Mehta, CFA
Finance Trainer
Years of Experience: 6 years
Shiv has over 11 years of work experience in equity research, private equity, investment banking, credit research and financial modeling.
He has worked in Equity Research at Deutsche Bank, covering the European TMT sector. Previously, he worked as an Investment Banking and Private Equity Associate at TresVista Financial Services. At TresVista, he also worked as Training Head, where he trained more than 500 Analysts, Associates and AVPs. He has over 9 years of experience in CFA and CMA training and corporate training on programs such as Financial modelling, finance for non-finance, business valuation. Previously he has taught CFA at corporates such as ADIA and ADNOC. He is a CFA charter holder and has also cleared the FRM exam.

Hattem Alhajery, MBA, CMA, CDIF
Associate Trainer
Years of Experience: 13 years
Hattem AlHajery is a finance and accounting professional and trainer, with over 13 years of corporate experience, mostly in multinational organizations. Over his tenure, Hattem has delivered virtual as well as in-person training programs and helped organizations optimise their finance department by integrating them into business operations.

Mira Raley
Product Head - Leadership and Professional Development
Years of Experience: 15 years
Mira heads our leadership and behavioural development division and has over 15 years of expertise designing and delivering behavioural programs related to leadership, diversity and inclusion, graduate development, employee performance, team-building, nationalization and more. She also works closely with clients in analysing, designing and implementing L&D strategies and employee learning journeys.
With a dual nationality, Mira has been delivering courses in both English and Arabic for a range of industries in the region. She is a qualified assessor, executive coaching, and specialises in Kirkpatrick evaluation and measurement.

Yasir Ali, CFA, CMA, ACCA, FRM, ACMA, CGMA
Associate Head - Exam Prep
Years of Experience: 15 years





Shanin Thomas CFA
Head of Abu Dhabi
Years of Experience: 6 years

Sana Tariq, ACCA
Trainer
Years of Experience: 3 years

Murtaza k Shabazkar, CFA
Finance Trainer
Years of Experience: 15 years

Shiv Mehta, CFA
Finance Trainer
Years of Experience: 6 years

Hattem Alhajery, MBA, CMA, CDIF
Associate Trainer
Years of Experience: 13 years
