Our Firm & Global Network
Independent, high-conviction corporate advice driven by long-term value creation.
Activus Consulting was established to address a critical gap we consistently observed in the Saudi market: high-potential businesses, government entities, and international investors with real momentum, but without a trusted, independent partner capable of turning ambitious strategy into capitalized, executed outcomes.
We are a premier corporate advisory and market development firm. Our team brings decades of collective experience across investment banking, private equity, venture capital, and sovereign advisory. We combine strategic clarity with practical execution to accelerate growth, secure capital, and build enduring value in the Middle East's most dynamic economy.
Our mandate is straightforward: to deliver independent, senior-led advice that helps a select group of clients execute their capital programs and growth strategies with confidence.
Established to Close the Gap
Our Mission & Vision
Our Mission To deliver independent, high-conviction corporate advice and structured capital solutions that empower Saudi Arabia's most strategic growth initiatives — connecting the Kingdom's ambition with global expertise and capital.
Our Vision To be the most trusted and impactful advisory and investment platform bridging Saudi Arabia and the global economy, recognized for the quality of our advice, the integrity of our governance, and the transformative scale of our mandates.
Deep Regulatory & Compliance Intelligence
Beyond standard financial analysis, our value lies in understanding the non-public regulatory, compliance, and operational dimensions of the Saudi market. Whether navigating Ministry of Education records, NEOM procurement frameworks, or the National Data Center Strategy, our specialized due diligence uncovers the risks and opportunities that standard advisors simply cannot access.
Relationship-Driven, Not Transactional
The Saudi market operates on trust, long-standing relationships, and the ability to secure exclusivity before an opportunity becomes widely known. We are not a transactional firm. We partner with a select group of clients with a strategic, long-term, and sustainable value focus — investing our own relationships and reputation in every mandate we undertake.
Global Expertise, Local Execution
As the Middle Eastern arm of Activus Capital, we combine deep local knowledge of the Saudi regulatory and commercial landscape with international investment banking standards, governance frameworks, and investor networks. This dual capability — local intelligence backed by global reach — is a rare and decisive advantage in executing complex, cross-border transactions in the Kingdom.
The Activus Advantage
Strong Governance Standards
We apply rigorous decision-making and risk frameworks with clear accountability. Our objective is to provide a process and standard of advice that clients can rely on — particularly in complex, multi-party transactions involving public entities, sovereign capital, and international investors.
Our Relationship with Activus Capital
Activus Consulting SA is the Middle Eastern strategic advisory and market development office of Activus Capital Pty Ltd, a Corporate Authorised Representative of Activus Financial Services Pty Ltd (AFSL #240409), headquartered in Sydney, Australia.
This relationship gives our Saudi clients direct access to:
A Global Platform, Anchored in the Kingdom
Landan Dunn
Landan is responsible for sourcing and structuring private equity and infrastructure opportunities across Activus’s global mandate. He brings deep transactional expertise across resources and commodities, mining services, and critical minerals, with an investment philosophy anchored in long-term value creation and disciplined capital allocation. His sector focus extends across circular economy, food, water and energy sustainability, and Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) technologies — areas increasingly central to Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 diversification agenda. Landan works closely with institutional investors, sovereign funds, and project sponsors to structure and execute complex cross-border transactions from mandate origination through to close.
Abdulaziz Albakr
A visionary executive with 20 years of experience across technology, consulting, and enterprise solutions in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf. He currently serves as Executive Chairman of Arab Tank Terminals Ltd. and Vice Chairman of Saudi Arabian Refineries Company (SARCO), where he chairs the Audit and Acquisition Management Committees. He founded and scaled Digicom Systems Corp. to rank among Saudi Arabia’s top ten IT integrators, delivering landmark projects for Aramco, SABIC, and the Royal Saudi Air Force. He holds a Sloan MSc from London Business School, an MBA from Kingston University, and holds CFA ESG and APMG PPP certifications.
James Mollison
James brings more than 25 years of experience across corporate advisory, investment banking, private equity, venture capital, and asset management in Australia and internationally. He has worked closely with boards, founders, and institutional investors to structure and execute capital programs, strategic partnerships, and growth initiatives across a wide range of industries and geographies. James has a particular strength in advising businesses at critical inflection points — whether navigating a capital raise, a transformative acquisition, or a cross-border market entry — and is known for combining strategic clarity with rigorous execution discipline. His leadership of Activus reflects a long-held conviction that the most impactful advisory is delivered by senior principals who remain personally accountable throughout the entire transaction lifecycle.
Spiro Pappas
Spiro is an international business leader with more than 35 years of experience spanning banking, capital markets, corporate governance, and cross-border growth across Australia, Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. He has held senior executive and board roles at some of the world’s most respected financial institutions, and currently serves as Chairman of multiple listed and private companies across technology, infrastructure, and education. Spiro brings to Activus an exceptional global network of institutional investors, sovereign counterparties, and strategic partners, as well as the governance standards and fiduciary discipline required to execute the firm’s most complex and high-profile mandates. His chairmanship provides clients with direct access to a level of seniority and international reach that is rarely available in a boutique advisory firm.
Our Senior Team
Senior-Led, Every Mandate
Every client engagement at Activus is led by a senior principal.
We do not delegate critical advisory work to junior staff. Our team's backgrounds span the world's leading investment banks, private equity firms, and corporate boardrooms.
Ahoud Alshaikh
With 28 years of leadership across Saudi Arabia’s education, government, and private sectors, Dr. Alshaikh brings unparalleled access to the Kingdom’s education ecosystem. She served as Founding CEO of GEMS Education KSA and as Strategic Advisor at Tatweer TALEMIA, the executive arm of the Ministry of Education, where she designed PPP frameworks for national-scale school reform. Her expertise spans M&A, greenfield school development, and investor-facing advisory across the K-12 value chain. She holds a PhD from the University of Exeter, a Harvard CSML certificate, a Master’s from UCL, and an APMG CP3P certification in Public-Private Partnerships.
Scherazade Jamali
An institutional architect and transformation leader working at the intersection of governance, education reform, and sustainability across North America, the GCC, and South Asia. Scherazade designs scalable systems that align leadership development, digital innovation, and environmental responsibility with national development priorities. She holds an MBA from both Columbia University and London Business School, and brings extensive experience in ESG framework design, impact-driven venture mentorship, and cross-border institutional partnerships. At Activus, she leads the firm’s ESG advisory practice and international partnership development.