THINK BIG! Bahraini entrepreneur, financial professional and startup veteran, Tariq Sanad, has a host of notable achievements to his name. In his current role as Chief Financial Officer at Tarabut, Mr. Sanad is honing his skills to further propel the company that is set to be a key player in the realm of Fintech. He tells Farah Baig about his career, the role of open banking, and the MENA region’s standing in the world of Fintech. “I grew up in Bahrain, and studied here too, a fact that I’m extremely proud of because people often ask me if I’ve done anything otherwise. I think it just shows what we’ve been able to do in Bahrain,” says Tarabut CFO, Tariq Sanad. The trailblazing Bahraini has led a successful career in the region, and played a leading role in the development of wellrecognised startups in the region. “A littleknown fact about me is that I started my career at Gulf Air, straight out of university, although I only stayed there for a few months,” states Mr. Sanad. In 2003, he moved to the UAE and joined the multinational consumer goods company Procter & Gamble where he took on various roles over the course of nine years. “I believe that really was my second school - working with a big Fortune 500 company and running businesses valued at above a billion USD,” he says. Becoming An Entrepreneur It was after his substantial start in the corporate world that he would discover his knack for entrepreneurship. “After my time at Procter & Gamble I invested, as an angel investor, in the company Lime & Tonic. This was how I got into the entrepreneurial spirit and met with the founders of Careem which led to me being one of the very first people at Careem,” he says. “It was a great journey where we really took an idea from infancy to a great success within the startup ecosystem in the region — something I’m very proud of.” Prior to being appointed at Tarabut, he served as the CFO of Pure Harvest Smart Farms, a sustainable agribusiness which notably was one of the highest-funded startups in the MENA region with USD387 million in funding. “It was a very interesting experience trying to grow fruit and vegetables in our climate which is one of the harshest in the world,” he says. “I think I’ve found my niche with companies that have raised significant amounts of money, reached their series A where their concept is proven, and tried to get them to scale up and really mature,” he adds. He was then given the opportunity to join the Bahraini startup, Tarabut, and work very closely with its founder and CEO, Abdulla Almoayed, who had established the company in 2018. “This was an offer I simply couldn’t refuse as it brings me back home,” he says enthusiastically. “I’ve been appointed as the CFO at Tarabut, but if you get into the entrepreneurial space, you have to be a jack of all trades and have a bit more of a pragmatic approach to solving problems because that’s really what entrepreneurship is all about,” he says. banking Bahrainthismonth.com 32 October 2023
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