Heba Ayad - Founding Partner & VP
Heba Ayad has over 25 years of experience in natural gas and energy. She is a leading female talent in the region, having been the first woman to lead petroleum joint ventures in Egypt. From 2015 to 2017, she served as Managing Director of Rashid and Burullus, operating the WDDM gas concessions in the Mediterranean for Shell (formerly BG Group). Heba was nominated for the role by BG Group, the concessions operator at the time. During her tenure, she managed all operational activities to achieve the objectives agreed upon by the Board of Directors, represented the companies in all contractual agreements, and acted as the primary interface between the partners and joint venture companies.
Before that, Heba was Deputy CEO of ELNG, the company operating the first natural gas liquefaction facility in Egypt, located in the port of Idku on the Mediterranean Sea in northern Egypt. ELNG is owned by Shell and its partners. Her responsibilities at ELNG included directing several departments, supply chain management, development of human resources, as well as leading on key operational, financial, and project financing matters which had a direct impact on ELNG and its shareholders. She also represented Shell as the most senior shareholder representative in ELNG.
Heba earned a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration from the American University in Cairo with honors. She started her career in 1998 as a Planning Manager at the Nile Valley Gas Company, a local Egyptian gas distribution company founded in the same year after BG Group (formerly British Gas) and its partners obtained a concession from the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation to build and operate a gas distribution network in Upper Egypt. She joined BG Group in 2001. In 2005, she headed the Performance Management department, which focused on coordinating the process of generating business plans and annual budgets, preparing annual results reports, preparing monthly forecasts, and preparing a risk register for the company's assets to identify and evaluate business risks and opportunities. In addition to that, she supported senior management and the business development team in providing annual strategic reviews of the company's existing business and development opportunities.
Heba then moved into a commercial role with the company from 2008 until 2011, where she worked as Commercial Director and Business Development Manager, leading the expansion efforts of the company's business by identifying investment opportunities in exploration, production, and exploitation of the company's infrastructure in the Mediterranean. Her final role in BG Egypt before moving to Rashid was the Vice President for Upstream, responsible for identifying, framing, and sanctioning all project ventures.