Michel Shamil Orloff

Michel Shamil Orloff is a Swiss businessman, of Egyptian-Russian origins, residing in the United Arab Emirates.

He is the CEO of Sandrock Capital Group, based in the United Arab Emirates.

His career, spanning decades, is in the fields of finance and private equity investments, agriculture and the food value chain, and manufacturing and operations.

He got actively involved in the promotion of sustainability in finance and business.

He is a recognized expert in the food value chain and food security with a track record on different continents.

In the finance and private equity investment fields, he held senior positions at Credit Suisse, INVESCO, and The Carlyle Group.

In the agricultural field, he was the founder and CEO of Black Earth Farming Limited and The Ambika Group and served as an advisor and on the boards of several agriculture companies in Europe and Africa.

In the public sector, he worked at the United Nations in the office of the General Director of the World Health Organization at the start of his career.

He worked in the public and private sectors in Switzerland, the US, Russia, the former Soviet Union, Egypt, and Africa.

Michel Shamil Orloff was born in Lausanne, Switzerland, on 2 September 1966.

He is a descendant of the Egyptian Royal Family on his mother's side and the Russian Aristocracy on his father's. His parents were Pierre Alexievitch (Said) Orloff and Princess Fadia of Egypt.

Orloff's grandparents were King Farouk of Egypt and his first wife, Queen Farida.

Orloff completed his Master's degree in Economics from the St. Gallen School of Economics, Law, Business & Public Administration in Switzerland.

He is married to Alexandra and is the father of two children.

Orloff began his professional journey as a Technical Officer in the Director General's Office at the World Health Organization (WHO).

During his tenure, he contributed to the World Bank's Working Groups, focusing on facilitating the transition of former USSR countries to market economies, particularly in the healthcare and public health sectors.

Specifically, he assisted Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan in establishing their first health budgets as independent nations.

Following his role at the WHO, Orloff served at Credit Suisse, conducting in-depth analysis and monitoring of banking institutions.

His responsibilities included evaluating creditworthiness, establishing credit lines, and facilitating offshore asset management relationships, including establishing a network with corresponding bank relationships.

Orloff transitioned to INVESCO, where he was the Executive Director of the office for Eastern Europe and the former USSR.

In this role, he directed private equity investments, acquiring controlling stakes in diverse companies across the region.

Orloff's role focused on post-acquisition restructuring, driving operational improvements, and revenue optimization.

As the Managing Director and Head of the Office for the former USSR and Eastern Europe at The Carlyle Group, Orloff spearheaded private equity investments in markets spanning from Washington DC to Moscow.

His strategic initiatives focused on FMCG, consumer goods, and pharmaceutical sectors, contributing to successful investment outcomes and mitigating risks through pro-active strategic support to investee companies.

Orloff founded Black Earth Farming Limited, serving as Founder & Executive President.

Under his leadership, the company managed over 330,000 hectares of agricultural land in Russia, positioning itself as a worldwide leader in the agricultural sector.

He played a crucial role in positioning agriculture in the former Soviet Union as an important and attractive asset class for international investments.

He intensively performed technology transfers to increase the efficiency of all aspects of operations from selection and seed multiplication to modern agronomics and the use of modern agricultural machinery.

He also massively participated in the strategic re-training of Russian farmers to operate efficiently in a market economy for which he has been presented the Stolypin Award by the Minister of Agriculture for the most effective investment in Russian agriculture.

Orloff led the company through an IPO on the Stockholm Stock Exchange, raising US$630 million in equity over 3,5 years and achieving a market capitalization of US$1.35 billion.

Orloff founded The Ambika Group and served as its President for a decade.

It specialized in providing advisory services in agriculture, food security, and technology transfers across Eastern Europe and Africa.

Orloff facilitated technology transfers aimed at revitalizing agricultural estates and contributing to large-scale farming resurgence.

One of his main segments of activities was related to seed selection and seed multiplication.

In parallel, he developed significant authority in the fields of food security as well as food sovereignty, a concept, that he introduced dealing more and more with countries, for which it is a question of survival.

In his most recent role as a Senior Expert at the Higher School of Economics, Orloff conducted innovative research in food security and supply chains.

Orloff founded Black Earth Farming Limited in 2005, listed the company on the Stockholm Stock Exchange in 2007, then with a market capitalization peaking at over $1.35 billion, and exited at the end of 2008.

In 2008, Orloff received the Stolypin Award from the Ministry of Agriculture in Russia.

In 2014, he received the Anders Wall Award from the Swedish Anders Wall Foundation for the rural project "Danilovka" in Kaluga Province.

He also co-authored several articles on Islamic finance, commodity trading, food security, and global food value chains.