Yielders

Irfan Khan – Founder

Qualified Chartered Accountant & Financial Transformation Specialist

Irfan Khan, ACMA, is the founder of Yielders, the UK’s first Islamic FinTech crowdfunding platform to be directly regulated by the FCA. With over 17 years’ experience in financial services, he has delivered multiple large-scale technology transformation projects at top-tier financial institutions. Irfan is a tireless advocate for the industry, sitting on both the All Party Parliamentary Group on Islamic Finance and the UK Islamic Fintech Panel, as well as representing the industry as part of government delegations to Malaysia, Turkey and Brunei.

The inspiration for founding Yielders came when Irfan tried to invest his own money as a young professional, yet could not find investment opportunities that offered competitive returns without ethical compromise. Finally, in 2015, people could become part-owners of UK real estate from as little as £100.

Rewarded for his efforts, he was recognised as a ‘business big shot’ by the Times in 2017 and most recently named by the FT ‘Top 100 most influential BAME leaders in UK Tech’. Never one to rest on his laurels, Irfan capitalised on his earlier entrepreneurial success, guiding Yielders from bootstrapped startup to revenue-generating SME. The product of many late nights and weekends, the company successfully scaled and closed its Series A funding round in 2019, making it one of the largest Islamic FinTechs in the world.

Abdul Haseeb Basit – Senior Non Executive Director

Specialist in Digital Finance

Abdul Haseeb is a digital finance specialist and has over 17 years' experience working at the intersection of finance, technology and strategy. He is a Co-Founder and Principal of Elipses.

He is also the former CFO of Innovate Finance, the UK not-for-profit FinTech members association; Director of Yielders, a crowdinvesting platform and the first regulated Islamic FinTech in the UK; and a board member of Global Digital Finance, a not-for-profit promoting fair and transparent market for digital and crypto assets.

He has previously worked in tier-1 banks in technology transformation and strategy with a private wealth and asset management focus. He is a qualified management accountant and has an MBA (with distinction) from Imperial College Business School. Abdul Haseeb is an Islamic & ethical finance advocate and promotes the transformational impact of technology on the industry.

Zeeshan Uppal – Co-Founder & COO

KYC/AML specialist & Financial services compliance consultant

Zeeshan began his career in financial crime working on one of the largest transformation projects in the city. Zeeshan is a strategic thinker with proven ability to deliver innovative and effective solutions that positively impact business performance. He has designed and implemented, process improvements, strategies, operating models and governance on a number of global investment banking projects.

As part of his roles within global banks, he was able to study for his ACAMS making him a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist. With this very unique skill set he was able to encompass all he had learned within the banking sector and ensure Yielders minimises its risk profile and aligns to all FCA requirements.

A keen interest in property development, has ensured he was able to develop stringent and compliant processes within the Yielders operating model. His overall objective is to ensure continued development of the platform and aid in identifying investment opportunities for all Yielders!

Abid Karim – Co-Founder & CIO

Expert in Real Estate acquisition, development/management & Tax Consultant

Abid started his business career in 2005 and has been active in the fields of e-commerce, retail and property for over 15 years. He has been involved in buying, developing and consulting on a number of property deals and has delivered a strong track record of returns for investors. Yielders is the scaling up of what he has been doing for years. Part of Generation X he has seen the impact technology has had on the lives of everyone and strongly believes crowdfunding will change the way many of us invest. He believes in ethical investment in which risk and reward are shared and this underpins his investment philosophy.