The company was co-founded by Michel Chabbouh, Chief Executive Officer, and Dr. Mohammed Al-Fadhel Al Kahtani, Chief Academic Officer. Between them they bring decades of experience in global banking, trading and investment education across the Middle East and beyond.
The gap in finance education
Finance education today often sits at one of two extremes. On one side are long, expensive qualifications that take years to complete. On the other are short, unstructured videos with no assessment and no recognised outcome.
Learners in between have few good options. Career changers, junior analysts and ambitious students need practical skills, a clear path and a credential employers recognise. They also need support when a concept doesn't land the first time.
At the same time, finance itself is changing quickly. AI is reshaping research, trading, risk management and client service. Professionals now need to understand both the markets and the tools used to analyse them.
What Capital Academy set out to build
From the start, the founders defined three principles for the platform:
- Practitioner-led content. Every class is designed and reviewed by people who have worked in the markets, not only taught about them.
- AI-native learning. AI is part of how learners study, practise and get help, not a bolt-on feature.
- Structured, recognised outcomes. Learning follows clear pathways that lead to professional certification.
Built for international learners
Capital Academy is designed for an international audience from the outset. The founding team planned a multilingual platform that could serve learners and institutions in the Gulf, the wider Middle East, Asia and beyond.
The first phase of work focuses on curriculum architecture and the product concept: deciding what a complete finance learning journey should look like, from first principles to professional mastery.
What comes next
Over the coming months, Capital Academy will build its content production team, map its full curriculum and begin recording its first classes. Follow the Capital Academy newsroom for updates as the platform takes shape.