About Karim
After a career spanning multinational businesses and the Big Four, I now work independently, taking on situations where senior judgement and hands-on responsibility matter.
I don’t assume that what worked somewhere else will work here. I start by understanding how an organisation actually makes decisions, and work from there.
I work personally, directly and independently.
Personally
I lead mandates myself, from the first conversation through the work itself.
Directly
I work close to the people making the decisions, without unnecessary layers between us.
Independently
I bring an outside perspective and call the situation as I see it.
I’ve worked in ventures I built myself and in large institutions, including government and sovereign-backed organisations. In some settings, decisions could be made directly. In others, authority was spread across formal structures, functions and governance.
Where accountability really sits is rarely obvious from the organisation chart.
My work has crossed very different industries, countries and management cultures, and much of it has been cross-border.
I’ve worked on the buy side, through acquisitions and integrations, and on the sell side, through carve-outs and separations.
Deal decisions are often concentrated among a relatively small group. Implementation reaches much further into the organisation: across functions, legal entities, management teams and the parties on the other side of the transaction.
That is where much of my work has sat, and where I think a transaction is really decided: whether each decision has a clear owner, a route to escalate and an order people can actually execute.
INSEAD
Management Acceleration Programme
CISI Certificate in Corporate Finance
ACSI - Associate member of CISI
IHRDC
International Petroleum Management Certificate Programme
King’s College London
BSc (Hons) Business Management
ICF-ACC
International Coaching Federation Associate Certified Coach
Certified Professional Co-Active Coach (CPCC)
Leadership Circle Profile
Certified Practitioner for LCP360, CLA, BRITE, Pulse
GC Index
Certified Practitioner
Memberships and certifications (ICF credentials verifiable on Credly)
Two environments where standards are not negotiable, judgement is tested in real time, and you are responsible for other people.
What began as a personal interest became a profession. I became a skydiving instructor at Skydive Dubai and have completed more than 2,000 jumps.
I also developed safety and emergency-response protocols and SOPs for high-risk operating situations.
I was a PADI IDC Staff Instructor and an Emergency First Response Instructor Trainer.
I trained divers, future instructors and specialty instructors.