Draft:Rajaa Mekouar

Rajaa Mekouar is a Private Equity investor and financial entrepreneur with more than 25 years of experience across private markets globally. Throughout her career she has built an unparalleled network of private investors with whom she maintains trust-based relationships.

She is the founder of Calista Direct Investors, an advisory and co-investment platform dedicated to partnering with, and supporting, Family Offices in their private equity and venture capital sourcing, diligence and monitoring efforts.

Rajaa has a strong track record as an investor and advisor, having committed her own wealth alongside those of the families she has advised over the years.

Career
She started her career in 1995 at Procter & Gamble before joining Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein as an investment banker and then embarking her journey in private equity in 2002, at Draper Fisher Jurvetson's European arm.

Rajaa spent most of her years working as an investor in private markets focused on the mid market, based in London between 2000 and 2015, and Luxembourg since 2016.

Rajaa was elected President then CEO of the Luxembourg Private Equity Association (LPEA), which she led between 2018 and 2020. In this role, she launched the PE4W platform to promote Women in PE and elevated the «LPEA Insights» conference series bringing it to Philharmonie Luxembourg.

In 2020 she was awarded "Inspirational Woman in Finance" by InFinance Luxembourg.

In 2021, Paperjam Luxembourg included Rajaa in the list "100 women leaders: C-level and specialist commanders". In the same year she was included in the rating "50 Women who matter" by Challenge Magazine.

Rajaa sits on several PE-related family-owned boards in Luxembourg, as an independent director and experienced private equity investor.

Calista Direct Investors
In 2021 Rajaa founded her own company Calista Direct Investors an independent buyside advisory and co-investment platform dedicated to sourcing and selecting investments for private investors. The firm helps families to scale up their investment activities through outsourcing their deal team functions.

Calista is presided by Serge de Ganay, a scion of the Bemberg family who founded and still controls Quilvest.

The Board of Directors of Calista also counts HRH Prince Félix of Luxembourg, Simone Retter, John Holloway, Maha Daoudi and Lionel Catala.

Personal information
Rajaa was born and raised in Morocco, studied in France and spent most of her career in the UK, France and Luxembourg. She also lived in Germany.

She speaks 6 languages and is a graduate of HEC Paris (Grande Ecole) and INSEAD (MBA).

Rajaa is an amateur pianist and classical music fan. She supports musicians with her contribution to the PhilAPhil initiative at Luxembourg's Philharmonie and participates in social and caritative projects across Europe.

She is also a mentor to young female talent.

Appearances in public
BPI France, October 7th, 2021 Masterclass "Le capital investissement à la conquête des Français".

ALFI Conference, November 30th, 2021 "Diversity & Inclusion".

0100 Conference, November 2nd, 2021, "The rise of Family Offices as direct LPs: Fad or here to stay".

HEC We&men, June 9th, 2022, "Business Case Maison Direct Investors: Performance et luxe engagé".