Sofiane Lahmar

CEO at Development Partners International (DPI)

Speaker

Sofiane Lahmar joined DPI in 2010 and was appointed Chief Executive Officer, effective 1 April 2026, after serving as senior Partner and Head of the Investment Team. Sofiane has over 20 years of experience in African PE, alongside extensive expertise in finance, including private equity investing, M&A investment banking, and option trading.

Prior to joining DPI, he was a Partner and Co-Chief Investment Officer at Kingdom Zephyr Africa Management (KZAM), a Pan-African private equity investment firm majority-owned by Kingdom Holding Company, the investment vehicle of HRH Prince Alwaleed bin Talal. Earlier in his career, Sofiane served as a Vice President in the M&A group at J.P. Morgan in New York, where he helped advise on over US$25 billion worth of M&A transactions. He started his career in Boston on the FX options trading desk at FleetBoston Financial.

Sofiane has received multiple industry recognitions, including being named among the Financial News 100 Rising Stars in 2008, Africa Private Equity Manager of the Year by Jeune Afrique in 2010, and one of Africa’s Leaders of Tomorrow by Jeune Afrique in 2013.

He holds an MA in International Economics & Finance from Brandeis University’s International Business School (Boston) and a Maitrise in Management from Dauphine University (Paris).