Nasr Eddine Benaissa

Nasr-Eddine Benaissa is a French-educated finance and luxury-goods executive who has combined a corporate leadership career with early-stage angel investing. He holds a degree from HEC Paris (1990–1993). Early in his career he worked at the United Nations in Geneva and at Ernst & Young in London and Paris within the Financial Services Group, before joining McKinsey & Company, where he spent roughly eight years as a Partner across the firm's Paris, Madrid, and Dubai offices. At McKinsey he co-founded the firm's Islamic Banking practice, co-led its financial institutions and retail practices in the Middle East, and co-authored articles in the McKinsey Quarterly on Islamic finance.

In 2007 he co-founded Eastgate Capital Group in Dubai, building it into one of the largest regional alternative-investment players, with commitments under management reported at around US$1.3 billion. He subsequently served as Chief Investments Officer at Mawarid Investments. Alongside these institutional roles he founded Leonem Capital Partners, a private investment vehicle targeting early-stage ventures in the digital and technology sectors.

Since September 2017 Benaissa has been Chief Commercial Officer at Breitling, the Swiss watchmaker, based in Grenchen, Switzerland. His earlier consumer-luxury experience includes a role as Regional Director for the Middle East and South Asia at TAG Heuer (LVMH group), where he set up and ran the brand's Middle East and India/Pakistan operations. In parallel with the Breitling role he has served as an Advisor and Board Observer at Wahed, a fintech he backed at seed stage.

• Invests as an individual angel at the seed stage, primarily in FinTech companies, with a documented tilt toward Islamic / Shariah-compliant finance consistent with his McKinsey Islamic-banking background.
• Focus geographies span the United States and emerging markets (Middle East, South Asia), reflecting his operating history across Dubai and India/Pakistan.
• Through Leonem Capital Partners he targets early-stage ventures in digital and tech sectors.
• Tends to co-invest alongside notable fintech operators and angel networks (e.g., in the Remitr round he appears alongside Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Kunal Shah, Singapore Angel Network, and others).