Azmat Taufique is a senior business leader and investment executive with over 30 years’ experience spanning global businesses, including 20 years with the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) and 10 years in the private sector. He is a recognized global expert in banking, private equity and fund management, including structuring, executing and managing international equity and debt investments across a broad range of asset classes and industries. He has a strong track record of managing complex stakeholder relationships and governance at Board levels, mentoring senior management teams, creating new businesses, as well as in developing and executing strategies in both developed and emerging markets.

In addition to his current role as the Founder and Executive Chairman of Blue Monsoon, Azmat is Chairman of the Investment Committee of Feronia Capital Partners, a Switzerland based fund manager which manages a portfolio of investment vehicles, including a listed infrastructure fund and a real estate fund in Turkey and Chairman of the Investment Committee of Tamil Nadu Infrastructure Fund Management Company (TNIFMC), an asset management company which manages several investment funds, including a US$ 1 billion infrastructure fund and a US$750 million affordable housing fund in India.

Prior to establishing Blue Monsoon, Azmat headed Gulf Growth Capital, a private equity business he established for Investcorp Bank, at the time an LSE listed investment house with principal offices in London, New York and Bahrain. He served as Managing Director of Investcorp, and was a member of Investcorp’s Management Committee which oversaw Investcorp’s business lines in private equity, real estate investments and hedge funds across North America, Europe and the MENA regions.

Prior to joining Investcorp, Azmat spent 20 years in senior executive roles with IFC based in Washington, D.C. and in IFC’s regional offices working across multiple emerging markets in Latin America, Asia, Africa and the former Soviet Union. Among his various leadership roles at IFC, Azmat established new regional hubs in Dubai and Hong Kong, spending several years as IFC’s regional Head in Dubai and in Hong Kong.

Azmat holds a BA with Honors from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi; an MBA with Distinction from the Asian Institute of Management in the Philippines and attended the Executive Development Program at Harvard Business School.