Amyn Esmail

Founder & Managing Partner at Amal Sustainability Partners

Speaker

Amyn Esmail is the Founder and Managing Partner of Amal Sustainability Partners, a Dubai-based ESG and sustainability advisory firm operating at the intersection of capital, policy, and performance across the Middle East and Africa, where it partners with institutional investors, family offices, and corporates to embed sustainability into strategy, governance, and investment readiness, turning ESG from a regulatory obligation into a source of capital access, competitiveness, and long-term value. Alongside Amal, Amyn is a founding partner of Imara Commodities, a metals trader connecting frontier markets with established buyers worldwide; sourcing copper, tungsten, rare earths, and other critical minerals from complex geographies, Imara buys directly from primary producers, vets every source against ESG and human rights standards, and acts as the execution bridge between upstream supply and global demand, giving Amyn a direct, market-side view of how African mineral output reaches buyers on bankable terms.

Amyn is actively working to connect Gulf capital with African investment opportunities across critical minerals, infrastructure, agribusiness, and manufacturing. He has advised diversified family groups, venture funds, growth-stage businesses, and corporates throughout the GCC and Africa, leading pre-transaction ESG due diligence and building frameworks that align enterprise performance with investor expectations and international disclosure standards.

After almost a decade in private banking, product development, and investment advisory with ABSA Bank and First National Bank Private Wealth in South Africa, Amyn moved into the agribusiness and trade sectors, where he built and ran operations across East and Southern Africa. His work centered on developing agricultural value chains, lifting smallholder farmer productivity, strengthening market linkages, and bringing global food brands into emerging markets.

That operating experience gave Amyn a grounded understanding of the private sector's role in inclusive growth, and equipped him to offer organizations such as UNHCR, WFP, and DFID a private sector lens on sustainable development, livelihood creation, and food security.

He later served with the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED) as Regional Agribusiness Development Lead for Central Asia, working alongside the IFC, World Bank, and other partners to advance sustainable investment and strengthen portfolio governance. Spanning finance, commodities, investment, and sustainability, Amyn's experience lets him convene stakeholders across the value chain to design and implement strategies that build more resilient and sustainable systems.

A regular voice on sustainable finance and emerging market investment, he has previously spoken at SuperReturn Africa and at COP28, where he addressed the role of technology and governance in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Finance with a Minor in International Studies from Bentley University and continues to focus his work on linking global capital with opportunity across African markets.