About Hawalad

Finance, done with conviction.

Hawalad was founded in 2016 in Minneapolis, rooted in community finance — helping families and small businesses reach capital that traditional banks overlooked. A decade later, we have grown into a full-service financial firm: financial management, project and loan financing, investment advisory, treasury and wealth planning, and risk and compliance counsel.

What has not changed is the standard we were founded on: advice we would sign our own names to, priced so our interests sit on the same side of the table as yours.

Founded
2016 — Minneapolis, MN
Ownership
Independent, partner-owned
Disciplines
Six, one standard
Clients
Families, founders, institutions
2016Founded in Minneapolis
$0.0BAssets under management
0+Projects financed
0+Advisors & specialists
Mission & values

The principles we answer to

Our mission is simple to state and hard to do: bring the rigor of institutional finance to every client — family, founder, or institution — with the candor of a community bank. Four values govern how we work when no one is watching.

Integrity first

We tell clients what we would want to hear — including ‘no’. Every recommendation is one we would defend to a regulator, a journalist, or our own families.

Radical transparency

Fees, risks, and trade-offs in plain language, before you sign. If we cannot explain a structure clearly, we do not offer it.

Rigorous analysis

Opinions are cheap; models are not. Every mandate is stress-tested against the scenarios nobody wants to discuss — especially the unlikely ones.

Client outcomes over fees

We are paid for results, not activity. When a cheaper, simpler product serves you better, that is the one we recommend.

Our story

A decade, six milestones

Growth was never the goal — it was the byproduct. Each chapter of Hawalad began the same way: clients asked for something we did not yet do, and we built it properly.

2016

Hawalad is founded in Minneapolis

Hassan Ahmed leaves a decade in community banking to build a firm that pairs neighborhood trust with institutional discipline. First office: one room, two desks, and a conviction that good advice should not require a private-banking minimum.

2018

Loan financing arm opens

Begins structuring secured loans for families and small businesses overlooked by traditional lenders — transparent terms, no prepayment traps, underwriting that looks at the whole picture.

2020

$500M under management

Crosses half a billion in client assets during the most volatile year in a generation — without a single forced liquidation across discretionary portfolios.

2022

Project financing division

A dedicated team for housing, energy, and infrastructure — taking projects from feasibility study through capital structuring to financial close.

2024

Treasury & wealth launches

Cash, reserves, and long-horizon wealth planning brought under one roof — so operating businesses and families manage liquidity with the same discipline as investments.

2026Today

$2.4B under management

Today: 340+ projects financed, 40+ advisors and specialists, clients across a dozen markets — and the same one-room standard applied to every mandate.

Leadership

The people accountable

No layers, no hand-offs. The people below set strategy, sign off on risk, and answer the phone — their names are on every mandate we take.

Hassan Ahmed

Founder & CEO

Founded Hawalad in 2016 after a decade in community banking — and still sits across the table from new clients himself.

Ayaan Nur

Chief Investment Officer

Directs portfolio strategy across public and private markets; previously ran multi-asset research for a regional institutional manager.

Maryan Ali

Chief Operating Officer

Keeps the firm precise — operations, client service, and the thousand details clients should never have to think about.

Ilyas Omar

Head of Project Financing

Structures capital for housing, energy, and infrastructure — 340+ projects taken from first sketch to financial close.

Sahra Warsame

Chief Risk & Compliance Officer

Sets the firm’s risk appetite and keeps every mandate inside it — no exceptions, no fine print, no surprises.

Abdiqani Yusuf

Head of Client Advisory

The first call for families and founders — turning goals into plans built to survive real life, not just good years.

Careers at Hawalad

The next chapter is unwritten. Help us write it.

We are hiring advisors, analysts, and operators who believe finance can be both rigorous and decent — and who want their work to carry their name.

Join the teamTalk to an advisor