Shimi Shah
Passionate About Inspiring Others
Shimi's first board experience was of a smoke filled room at a very well known shoe manufacturer where the average age of the board was 72. Since then Shimi has been a board director or advisor in over 25 companies, in many as Chair. She has experienced everything there is in relation to great boards to those that were off the dysfunctional scale.
Shimi spent over 20 years in venture capital investing over $500m in over 50 investments in early and expansion stage transactions, of which many have been successfully exited with superior returns for investors in Europe, the US, and the Middle East. Over the last decade, Shimi has founded and built up a leading advisory business which is now a known leader in building and designing boards and providing scale up assistance to SMEs.
Shimi is also the Executive Chairperson of Carousel Solutions Group Ltd, an advisory business she had established focusing on designing and building high performance company boards for private equity, sovereign wealth funds, family offices and corporates globally. She has successfully implemented and built over 30 boards over the last 10 years that have delivered above market qualitative and quantitative returns for their shareholders. She is now transitioning the board advisory work and taking the deep experience she has gained and levelling up to create ultra-high impact boards and NEDs, in a new collaboration called NEDx. The joint venture will still be managed and operated as part of Carousel Solutions Group.
Shimi is also an active independent director and advisory board member. She is currently Chairperson of Impact Holdings Group, a $500m industrial and commercial property holding and investment company. She is also on the advisory board of the £250m North East Regional Development Fund in the UK. Shimi has been a board director for over 25 years in public and private companies globally.
She really has seen it all when it comes to boards!
Shimi started out in project finance covering Africa and Asia, with Citigroup, where she joined as a graduate associate, having graduated from Queens’ College Cambridge. Shimi is an active member of the Young President’s Organization (YPO). She is of Indian origin, born and brought up in Kenya, but a true citizen of the world.