Management Team

image

Stuart Whent

Managing Director

Years of Experience: 25 years

With over 25 years of industry and professional training experience, Stuart is a Chartered Accountant with FCA and FCCA designations. He qualified in 2001 while working in professional practice. Having a background in industry, commerce, and the financial services sector, he transitioned into education in 2003, specialising as a trainer in financial reporting and audit. 

Over the past 20 years, Stuart has successfully led multiple professional education businesses across the UK, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. As a seasoned expert in the finance and education sectors, he is highly regarded for his expertise, leadership, and commitment to excellence. 

Currently, Stuart is the Managing Director of Kaplan Professional ME, a role he took up in May 2023 following 9 years in Kaplan UK and Ireland as the Head of New Business Initiatives and 10 years with BPP in several senior leadership roles, including Managing Director and Director of Central and Eastern Europe.

image

Rahul Sonthalia CFA, CMA, AFM

Director of Learning - Finance and Business Skills

Years of Experience: 15 years

Rahul has more than 15 years of experience in the area of investment banking, equity research, macro-economic research and training. He has been teaching financial modelling and investment banking courses in UK, Singapore, and the MENA region 

He specializes in Financial Analysis, Equity valuation, Financial Modeling and exam prep trainings. His experience as a practitioner allows him to deliver practical and industry relevant courses. He has delivered advanced financial modelling related programs for Sovereign wealth funds and banks in the GCC and for large asset management companies in the UK and Singapore.  He was a guest speaker on “Best Practices in Financial Modeling” at Modeloff Global World Financial Modeling championship in London.

Rahul is an Economics graduate, a CFA Charterholder and a CMA. He also holds the AFM certification from the Financial Modeling Institute (FMI), CISI certificates for International Introduction to Securities & Investment and International Certificate in Wealth & Investment Management and Risk in Financial Services.

image

Waleed Minhas, MSc, ACCA, CPA, MCSI, UAECA

Director of Learning - Advanced Designations

Years of Experience: 12 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.

Trainers

image

Waleed Minhas, MSc, ACCA, CPA, MCSI, UAECA

Director of Learning - Advanced Designations

Years of Experience: 12 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.

image

Rahul Sonthalia CFA, CMA, AFM

Director of Learning - Finance and Business Skills

Years of Experience: 15 years

Rahul has more than 15 years of experience in the area of investment banking, equity research, macro-economic research and training. He has been teaching financial modelling and investment banking courses in UK, Singapore, and the MENA region 

He specializes in Financial Analysis, Equity valuation, Financial Modeling and exam prep trainings. His experience as a practitioner allows him to deliver practical and industry relevant courses. He has delivered advanced financial modelling related programs for Sovereign wealth funds and banks in the GCC and for large asset management companies in the UK and Singapore.  He was a guest speaker on “Best Practices in Financial Modeling” at Modeloff Global World Financial Modeling championship in London.

Rahul is an Economics graduate, a CFA Charterholder and a CMA. He also holds the AFM certification from the Financial Modeling Institute (FMI), CISI certificates for International Introduction to Securities & Investment and International Certificate in Wealth & Investment Management and Risk in Financial Services.

image

Bilal Ahmed CFA, CMA, ACCA

CFA Product Development Head - Dubai

Years of Experience: 14 years

Bilal has more than 10 years of corporate and training experience. He has worked as Head of Equity Research 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 suitable investments for various retail and institutional clients. 

He has more than 10 years of teaching experience. He has delivered training for the CIA, CMA, CFA and ACCA qualifications to corporates clients and in open programs. He is known for simplifying complex concepts and highly interactive style of training delivery.

image

Hattem AlHajery, MBA, CMA

Finance Trainer

Years of Experience: 21 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. 

Some of the courses Hattem specialises in are:

  • Financial Accounting
  • Financial Statements Analysis
  • Cost Accounting
  • Planning, Budgeting, and Forecasting
  • Variance Analysis
  • CVP Analysis
  • Corporate Finance
  • Capital Budgeting
image

Mohammad Al Nabulsieh, MBA, TOT

Finance Trainer

Years of Experience: 7 years

Mohammad is a certified trainer and lecturer who is creative, detail-oriented, efficient, innovative and organized with work experience as an accountant, financial assistant, lecturer and educational trainer. He possess strong analytical and problem solving skills, with the ability to make well thought out decisions, specialized in providing creative training sessions and productive lectures.

image

Sana Tariq, BSc, ACCA

Finance Trainer

Years of Experience: 9 years

Sana has over 3 years’ experience in teaching ACCA and CIMA with her expertise being in Cost and Financial Management. She has received professional tutor trainings held by the ACCA body.

She has worked as a financial analyst for leading banks at a corporate level. She tends to find several solutions to a problem, in order to satisfy every candidate as per their thinking process.

Sana has done her BSc honors in Applied Accounting through research and analysis project. and has even mentored other candidates for their thesis. She is a global high achiever in ACCA too.

image

Amar Mehra, CIMA

Senior Finance Trainer

Years of Experience: 23 years

Amar is an experienced trainer specialized in Tax teaching across all the UK accounting bodies such as ACCA, CIMA, and ICAEW for over 23 years. He has consistently ranked as a top tutor based on student feedback scores and has regularly achieved the highest pass rates in the country.

During his corporate tenure, he was appointed as the head of international business for FTC Kaplan after successfully managing the business restructuring process and leading the growth of top-line revenue from £500k to £7m which was responsible for the business being awarded the prestigious Queens award for enterprise in international trade.

image

Taha Zia, ACA, FCCA, BSc

Finance Trainer

Years of Experience: 7 years

Taha is a lecturer since 2015, in the areas of economics, management accounting and business strategy. He is a fellow member of the ACCA since 2018 and holds the ICAEW membership too. He has also been a member of the ACCA marking team for a professional level exam and has produced several country and regional prize winners across modules. His prior work experience includes working as a business analyst for a data company and an investment analyst for a capital firm in the UAE.

image

Fizzah Fatimah

Finance Trainer

Years of Experience: 4 year

Fizzah is a qualified accountant and holds an accounting degree and credentials in Artificial Intelligence. She is a specialized tutor for ACCA’s applied knowledge level and has expertise in exams within this module of the ACCA qualification. She has been an active member in ACCA student circles, supporting students in their development and career mentoring for many years.

She has also worked for a long time in a stakeholder engagement role for an internationally accredited NPO, working on diverse projects and liaising with key stakeholders. At Kaplan Professional ME, she also works within the Advanced Designations team closely on the operational improvement of multiple qualifications. She looks at areas within B2C/B2B projects, student recruitment, and employability programs and assists the product heads in improving their offering.

image

Sheema Shiraz Ali, CFA, FRM

Finance Trainer

Sheema Shiraz Ali is a seasoned professional with over 14 years of experience in various areas of banking and training in GCC and Pakistan. Having hands-on industry expertise in risk management, banking and regulatory compliance fields, gained through her career at the Central Bank of Pakistan, she also led numerous professional trainings in the areas of advanced financial management, management accounting, risk management and other similar domains with top professional training institutes in GCC.

Some of the topics Sheema specializes in include financial management, risk and governance, financial accounting, budgeting and forecasting, corporate finance and other specialized domains which are part of ACCA, FRM, CMA and CFA curricula.

image

Akshay Bhandari,CFA

Finance Trainer

Years of Experience: 10 years

Akshay has 10 years of experience in areas of investment banking, management consulting and training. As an investment professional, He has advised and executed diverse set of transactions and projects for startups and businesses globally. 

As a trainer, He specializes in corporate finance and investments and has delivered trainings on varied subjects in these domains to learners across age groups, professions and qualifications. His diverse professional experience, across industries, enables him to deliver practical and industry relevant courses. Hands-on industry exposure and penchant for staying ahead of latest developments has seen him deliver modules on upcoming domains like cryptocurrency, NFT’s and other diverse financial topics.

Akshay is an engineer, MBA and CFA Charterholder. An avid reader, he believes that learning is the only true free lunch in today’s integrated economy.

image

Ali Hussain, CFA

Finance Trainer

Years of Experience: 5 years

Ali has over 5 years of training experience in the finance industry. After several years of effectively managing a credit portfolio exceeding USD 80 million in sectors such as Textile, Sugar, Cement, and Chemicals, he transitioned into a full-time trainer with a robust financial background. He has conducted training for banks throughout the Middle East and has coached numerous CFA candidates globally.

Client Relations

image

Ghada Nasr Abdelbaky

Business Development Manager - UAE

Years of Experience: 10 years

Ghada has 10 years of experience in the areas of training, business development and customer services. She had worked closely with many governments and private entities in the UAE handling training courses related to professional qualification, national development programs and leadership programs. Her customer excellence driven attitude is established in a telecommunication industry, moving to her current role.

Request a Call Back

The answer to your doubts is just a click away! Simply fill in your details in the form, and we will get in touch with you shortly.