StelaNavis | The Small States Asset Class
Experience & Conviction
Experience
& Conviction
Ambitious ideas demand experienced leadership. StelaNavis brings together seasoned professionals with deep institutional knowledge, sound judgment, and complementary expertise.
Adnan Hassan
Founder, Chairman and CEO
Adnan Hassan is a global investor, entrepreneur, advisor, author, and philanthropist whose work spans more than 50 countries. He is the CEO and founder of the global Small States Asset Class Initiative, based in Bonaire, a special Dutch municipality within the Caribbean Netherlands.
Mr. Hassan is a former senior executive of the World Bank Group, supporting over 50,000 staff across six continents and a $270+ billion portfolio. He advised the President and served three terms as a Special Advisor to the Boards of Directors in Washington, D.C.
He currently chairs the Board of Trustees of the BIG Ideas Foundation, a Dutch stichting in the Caribbean Netherlands, and leads a private family office, Mindful Ventures, B.V. His prior roles include board-level advisory positions with the Amsterdam Institute of Finance and the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia.
Mr. Hassan has led startups, authored a leading book on sovereign wealth funds, and pioneered early internet-based trading platforms in 1994. A permanent resident of Bonaire, he is American of South Asian descent and holds U.S. and Pakistani citizenship.
Shabu Qureshi
President and COO
Shabu Qureshi’s work in the financial industry has spanned a number of roles including emerging markets asset management, investment banking and securities trading.
Over his career, he has been responsible for investing in a number of asset classes including emerging markets debt and US and international equity, private equity, real estate and digital assets.
He most recently ran a US family office, and prior to that was a Managing Director at EMP Global, responsible for a private equity fund focused on infrastructure investments in Middle East, North Africa and Asia. Prior to that he worked on an emerging markets trading desk at Salomon Brothers and as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs.
Managing Principals & Advisors
Managing
Principals
& Advisors
Our leadership team has spent their careers understanding how the world works, building institutions, and turning ambitious ideas into reality. Now, we bring that experience to a shared conviction: that Small States have the strengths, ambitions, and ingenuity to shape their own futures, and that together, we can help give them the tools, opportunities, and influence to do so.
In Alphabetical Order
Sana Ahmad
Coordination & Execution
Early-stage scaling, ERP implementation, operational coordination, LUMS, UMKC MBA
Mo Azeem
Cortex, AI, Intelligence
High-growth e-commerce scaling, AI-enabled finance and operations, cross-continental team leadership
Tonnie Chamblee
Strategic Communications
AT&T, Metropolitan Opera, National Geographic, and the US Dept. of Treasury
Greg deSantis
Brand Strategy
ExxonMobil, GEICO, Microsoft, The Ritz Carlton, and the US Comptroller of the Currency
Paul Disch
Origination, Deal Flow
CEO-level across Asia, Africa, Latin America
Hanh Disch-Le
M&A Advisory, Legal
Corporate advisory, institutional partnerships, CVC, U. of W, JD
Pippa Malmgren
Geopolitics
Former White House Special Assistant; C10 Labs, MIT, UBS, Bankers Trust, LSE PhD
Steve Meltzer
Legal
International corporate law, cross-border structuring, Harvard JD/MBA
Humphrey Polanen
Tech, FinTech
Digital transformation, innovation strategy; CloudLending, Heritage Bank, Sun, HP
Arshad Sayed
Sovereign Strategy
Rio Tinto (CVC), RT Ventures, Peabody Energy, World Bank, Columbia SIPA, MA
The Making
of a Market
A new global asset class is taking shape, creating remarkable opportunities for Small States, their economies, and those investing in their future.
Through a
Sovereign Lens
Every Small State has its own history, distinctive strengths, and ambitions. Taken together, they represent a world of extraordinary potential.
Where Futures
Take Shape
From international forums to conversations across a table, we’re building the relationships and partnerships that advance Small States worldwide.
StelaNavis | The Small States Asset Class
Our vision is becoming a reality. Relationships are growing, partnerships are developing, and new possibilities are coming into view.
For those who share our conviction, this is a chance to help build something remarkable and participate in the value it creates.
© Copyright 2026, SAC International Inc.
An Initiative of The BIG Ideas Foundation | Mindful Ventures B.V.