Ms. Nadine Benchaffai

A strategic marketeer and entrepreneur with over 20 years’ experience within the F&B. Nadine started her career in the world of FMCG at the likes of Kraft Foods, Nestle Purina and Yoplait. During that time, she covered a variety of roles from brand management, to strategy development and innovation.

In 2006, she co-founded Tortilla Mexican Grills which today has over 50 stores in the UK and listed on the AIM LSE market in 2021. In Dubai, she co-founded and launched Taqado Mexican Kitchen and went on to build a family of homegrown brands under Abfab Foods which she exited in 2022.

More recently, Nadine’s focus has shifted to the Agritech field through some of her advisory work where she now leads the Venture Builder for DANA Global. The Venture Builder supports women led start-ups in Desert Technologies (Agritech, Water technologies, Food Technologies and Renewables) where Nadine capitalises on her experience as a founder as well as an investor.

Nadine holds an MBA from London Business School. She’s also an investor and advisor in start- ups across a range of sectors both in Europe & the Middle East.