Abbas is an accomplished serial entrepreneur and investor who founded his first (of several) companies at 16 and numerous successful ventures later still has a burning passion for supporting entrepreneurs and getting involved with projects from a wide range of areas. A true Stakhanovite, some of the latest ventures that he has founded and runs include AFFINITY, When and Collegiate Capital. An academic scholar both at Westminster School and Oxford University (at New College), he has extensive work experience both in the startup-space and commercial world, including at the financial powerhouses such as BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and many others across finance, consulting, commodities, private equity and venture capital. He has worked alongside nearly all the leading private equity and sovereign-wealth funds in EMEA, including ADIA. Abbas is particularly passionate about technology innovation, advising and investing in some of Europe’s current and future technology superstars. Chairman and refounder of the illustrious Oxford Guild, which he has built into the largest university society in the world, CEO and founder of the Oxford Accelerator and a former UK Undergraduate of the Year award winner, Abbas has been named as one of the Entrepreneurs of the Year by NACUE and as a 'One to Watch' by Freshminds. Abbas is also the President and founder of the Collegium Global Network and of I on the Future at the Institute of Economic Affairs. He has won several awards, holds various fellowships (including at the Royal Society of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce) and board advisory positions, and has featured in the BBC, the Financial Times, the Telegraph, TIME and many other media outlets around the world in four continents thus far. He enjoys mentoring budding young businesspeople and public speaking at events and conferences such as this, and especially at Universities – he is keen to further develop entrepreneurial ecosystems on campuses and empower future generations of students.

Collegiate Capital, where Abbas is Managing Partner, aims to be the most entrepreneur friendly venture capital firm and company builder and is looking to invest over a $100 million in the coming years into both building and growing the most exciting and disruptive companies and into commercialising cutting edge university research.