They say the journey of life is not a straight one and this is seen clearly in the life of Tarek Mouganie, Founder Affinity – a full-fledged digitally-driven financial institution that provides banking products to the underserved and unbanked.
Tarek founded Affinity in 2013. Prior to Affinity, Tarek was at GLG Partners, where he managed a financial portfolio – with a speciality in emerging markets – before joining the management team to grow the business and merger with Man Group. Prior to GLG, Tarek worked at Deloitte in their private equity advisory team. Tarek started his career as an academic and holds a PhD in Physics from the University of Cambridge and an Engineering degree from Imperial College London.
The fourth generation Lebanese-Ghanaian was raised in Kumasi and described his ‘Ghanaianess’ as his superpower.
Growing up, Tarek had a supportive family, with his parents encouraging him to dream as big as he could. To them, their son could achieve anything he set his mind to. He describes himself as lucky to have been born to the Mouganie family.
Young Tarek displayed a penchant for education and by age 16, he had entered the university. Tarek, who has always been reserved, still kept to himself and buried himself in his books even at the university; and it was not until his early twenties that he started flourishing and discovered himself as an individual.
The businessman, in an interview on the Y Leaderboard Series with Rev. Erskine – host of Y 107.9 FM’s ‘Myd Morning Radio’ show, revealed that in finding himself, he ventured into the sporting world. The now avid triathlete found sports really late while studying for his second degree.
He shared the story of how his friend, who suffered from a chronic disease, ran a marathon in memory of her mother. “She run the marathon although it wasn’t easy for her and at the end of it, “she tapped me on the shoulder and told me, if I have been able to do it, you can also do it”. As an over-achiever, that was how his triathlon journey kick-started.
Tarek has since taken part in numerous marathons and represented Ghana at the international level. He is a co-founder of the Ghana Triathlon Federation. To him, running is a form of meditation. He described sports as beautiful, saying: “It doesn’t matter what your background and your abilities are, everything is possible; and that’s the beautiful thing about sports”.
Throughout his life, the entrepreneur has been driven by family values. He says: “My dad was always making sure I did the right thing even if it was hard. He made sure I treated people right and that is how I was raised. This has grown with me and whenever I am doing anything, I make sure I stick to my values and surround myself with people who share the same values as I do”.
With these values and his love for all, Tarek works with the ‘Keep a Child Alive’ charity foundation based in the UK. The charity provides antiretroviral treatment to children and persons whose families have been devastated by HIV. He encourages all humans to share love with others in any little way possible.
According to Tarek, the most important thing in life is giving people the opportunity and supporting them to flourish.
Eddy Blay Jr., Programmes Manager of Y 107.9 FM described the Tarek Mouganie edition of the Y Leaderboard Series as an explosive one, and a reminder of what YFM stands for; “the young and young at heart, and the brand which presents the youths with all the opportunities they deserve”. He encouraged corporate bodies and the Ghanaian populace to provide the youth with every opportunity available to flourish. He also cautioned the youth against misusing these opportunities.
Eddy Blay Jr. sent out a heartfelt appreciation to Tarek Mouganie for sharing such wisdom with the Ghanaian youth on the Y Leaderboard Series.
