Our Team

Kenny Kim

Founding Partner & Chief Executive Officer

Prior to co-founding Ikhlas, Kenny was at RRJ Capital, one of Asia’s largest private equity funds. He was a core member of its senior investments team and also a member of its Executive Committee.  

Prior to RRJ Capital, Kenny had a 22-year career at CIMB Group from 1993 to 2015, spending his first 11 years in Investment Banking and his second 11 years as Group CFO and CEO of Strategy & Investments. Kenny led CIMB’s transformative multi-country M&A strategy, successfully building the fifth largest universal bank in ASEAN. He also spearheaded and implemented 7 bank acquisitions within 5 years and was the Lead Director for 3 major post-acquisition Merger Integration Committees. As Head of Investments, he built a strong portfolio of strategic investments for CIMB and raised more than US$300 million for CIMB’s private equity division.

Kenny is also a Director of CDL Hospitality Trusts.

Kenny holds an MSc in Finance from Lancaster University Management School. He is also a fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, UK, a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants England & Wales, CF Faculty and a member of the Malaysian Institute of Accountants.

Gita Wirjawan

Founding Partner & Alternate Chairman

Prior to co-founding Ikhlas, Gita was Indonesia’s Minister of Trade from 2011 to 2014, and Chairman of Indonesia’s Investment Coordinating Board from 2009 to 2011. He is also the Chairman of Ancora Group, an Indonesian group which he founded in 2008 with interests including real estate, technology, education and natural resources. His other previously held positions include President Director of JPMorgan Indonesia and Vice President at Goldman Sachs.

Gita sits on the advisory boards/panels of Axiata Group Berhad (where he was previously an Independent Non-Executive Director), the CHUBB group of insurance companies, Traveloka Group, and Alpha JWC Ventures. He also had a stint as Commissioner of state-owned oil giant, Pertamina.

In education, he sits on the Council of Global Advisers for Yale University School of Management, the Board of Governors for Asia School of Business (MIT Sloan), the Advisory Board (Institute for Societal Leadership) of Singapore Management University, the Dean’s Leadership Council of Nanyang Technology University (RSIS) and the International Advisory Board of Center for Strategic and International Studies. 

Gita holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Texas, an MBA from Baylor University and an MPA from Harvard University’s John F Kennedy School of Government, as a Mason Fellow. He was also a certified public accountant (“CPA”) in the U.S. state of Texas.

Cesar Purisima

Founding Partner

Prior to co-founding Ikhlas, Cesar was the Secretary of Finance of the Philippines and the Chair of Economic Development Cluster of the President’s Cabinet from 2010 to 2016. He briefly served as Finance Secretary in 2005 and Trade and Industry Secretary from 2004 to 2005. Additionally, he was a member of the Monetary Board of the Philippines Central Bank, and the Governor for the Philippines at the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank. He served as Alternate Governor for the Philippines at the International Monetary Fund. Under his leadership, the Philippines received its first investment-grade ratings. He was named Finance Minister of the Year seven times in six consecutive years by a number of publications, a first for the Philippines.

Cesar is currently an Asia Fellow of Milken Institute, a global non-profit, non-partisan think tank. He currently serves as Independent Director of Ayala Corporation, Ayala Land, Bank of the Philippine Islands, Jollibee Foods Corporation and Universal Robina Corporation. He is also on the boards of AIA Group, BPI Capital Corporation, De La Salle University, International School of Manila and World Wildlife Fund-Philippines. In addition, he is a member of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (“SMBC”)’s Global Advisory Council, Singapore Management University’s International Advisory Council in the Philippines and ABS-CBN’s board of advisers. Cesar is also an Executive-in-Residence of the Asian Institute of Management and a mentor for Endeavor Philippines.

Prior to his stints in the government service, Cesar was the Chairman & Country Managing Partner of the Philippines’ largest professional services firm SGV & Co., and was a member of the Global Executive Board and Global Practice Council of Ernst & Young. He was also the Area Managing Partner for Asia-Pacific for Assurance and Business Service of Andersen Worldwide, the first and only Filipino to head the Area practice of a Big 4 accounting firm. 

Cesar holds a BSc in Commerce, majoring in accounting and managing financial institutions, from De La Salle University and subsequently topped the CPA licensure examinations. He completed his MBA in international economics, finance and marketing at the JL Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University and was conferred Doctor of Humanities, Honoris Causa, by Angeles University.

Tony Mok

Director

Tony has an extensive career covering investment banking and workforce development. He has served as an independent director of Ikhlas Capital since 2018.

He is currently a Senior Vice President of GP Strategies Corporation, a global workforce development company responsible for Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa. Prior to his current role, Tony was a Senior Vice President of Leadership Development at Temasek Management Services Academy in Singapore and Head of the Asia Learning Centre at Thomson Reuters.

Tony has also spent a decade in investment banking and relationship management with Carr Indosuez and ABN AMRO and was involved in numerous corporate finance, direct investment and equity capital market transactions in South East and North East Asia. His last position was as a Senior Relationship Banker and Head of the Consumer Industries Group covering Hong Kong and China.

Tony sits as Director of all GP Strategies companies under his remit.

Tony is also an active volunteer, spending his time between several government and volunteer organisations as well an educational institution. He was awarded The Public Service Medal by the President of Singapore for his contributions to the community in the 2020 National Day Awards.

He holds a law degree from Queen Mary & Westfield College, University of London.

Ek Ming Tay

Managing Director

Ek Ming has over 16 years of private equity, investment banking and corporate finance experience, with extensive M&A and capital markets deal execution and origination experience in Asia, US and Europe.

Prior to joining Ikhlas, Ek Ming was an Executive Director at Goldman Sachs’ investment banking division covering the technology, media, telecommunication and consumer sectors, and a co-founder of The Asia Investor, an SME-focused financial services firm. Ek Ming joined Goldman Sachs initially in Hong Kong before relocating to Singapore to focus on Southeast Asia and was one of the youngest to be promoted to Executive Director at Goldman Sachs. Prior to joining Goldman Sachs, Ek Ming was at Deutsche Bank’s investment banking division in Hong Kong.

Ek Ming holds a BEng (First Class Honours) in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from University College London and was awarded on the Dean’s List for outstanding achievements.

Kah Wye Ngau, FCCA

Chief Financial Officer

Kah Wye has over a decade of finance, operations, treasury, compliance and tax experience.

Prior to joining Ikhlas Capital, Kah Wye was the Head of Family Office Investments in the Wealth Management Department of an international accounting firm, specialising in Family Office Investments & Advisory. His prior experiences in CIMB Strategy & Investments includes portfolio monitoring, reporting and compliance in private equity, and varios audit related experiences from Crowe Malaysia such as external audit, financial due diligence, and IPO of companies in various industries across Asia Pacific.

Kah Wye is a fellowship member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, and holds a BSc in Applied Accounting from Oxford Brookes University. He is also a Chartered Accountant in Malaysia.

Tommy Santoso

Vice President

Tommy has over 13 years of private equity, corporate finance, business management with extensive M&A, deal execution and origination experience in Indonesia.

Prior to joining Ikhlas, Tommy was a Vice President at Ancora Capital Management, where he served in a principal investing role, of Singaporean and Indonesian fund management companies, overseeing private equity fund investments in Indonesia. Tommy was responsible for sourcing, evaluating and executing investment / divestment opportunities. Tommy also served as Finance Director for real-estate portfolio companies. Prior to that, Tommy was with Ernst & Young Transaction Advisory Services, where he was involved with M&A and Corporate Finance advisory services for clients in various industries in Indonesia.

Tommy holds a Bachelor of Economics from University of Pelita Harapan.

Haiqal Ali

Vice President

Haiqal is a seasoned investor and has had more than a decade of experience in private and public equities across Southeast Asia, with expertise in deal origination, execution, and transformative corporate restructuring.

Formerly at Khazanah Nasional, Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund, Haiqal last covered private equity investments in ASEAN and India, spanning consumer, financial services, business services, healthcare, and tech sectors. In his earlier years with the fund, he focused on the strategic overhaul of Malaysia Airlines and managed the renewable energy and power sector portfolios, which includes overseeing one of ASEAN’s largest utility companies.

He also served on the board of Philippines’ largest publicly listed affordable housing developer and assumed various Board Observer roles for Khazanah’s privately owned companies.

Haiqal holds a Master of Engineering (MEng) in Chemical Engineering from University College London.

Tony Kor

Associate

Tony has over 8 years of M&A experience, focusing on deal origination, deal execution, and SPA negotiation in Malaysia and Singapore.

Prior to joining Ikhlas, Tony was part of the PwC Malaysia Deals team, where he was involved in advising clients on their mergers and acquisitions transactions. While he was with the team, he had hands-on experience in deal origination, financial due diligence, valuation and SPA negotiation.

Tony holds a Bachelor of Finance from The Australian National University. He is also a MICPA member.

Fuad Omran

Associate

Fuad has over 6 years of experience in private equity and strategic investments with expertise in direct investments, portfolio management and fund strategy across multiple sectors.

Prior to Ikhlas, he was with Ekuiti Nasional (Ekuinas), a US$1 billion Malaysian private equity firm, and Khazanah Nasional, Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund. At Khazanah, his experience included leading the acquisition and operationalisation of an MRO facilities firm, managing global real estate and infrastructure fund investments, overseeing the closure and liquidation of aviation assets, and playing a key role in establishing a US$1.4 billion Impact Fund.

Fuad holds an MEng in Chemical Engineering from University College London.

Zachary Seng, CFA

Analyst

Zachary Seng, CFA has over 4 years of experience in the investment industry, with expertise in fundamental equity research based on long-term valuation, business strategy, and sustainable competitive advantage. 

Before joining Ikhlas, Zachary was with Morningstar’s Equity Research where he specialized in Asian technology and hardware stocks. He also has buy-side experience covering US-listed small and mid-cap technology equities and did a stint in corporate finance advisory.  

Zachary holds a Bachelor of Science in Business ("BSB") from University of Minnesota, majoring in finance, and graduated with High Distinction. He is also a Chartered Financial Analyst ("CFA") charterholder and is certified in ESG Investing by CFA Institute.