Born and raised in Beirut, Lebanon, Tarek attended the American University of Beirut (AUB) in 2000 to study engineering, and graduated in 2004 with a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Computer and Communication Engineering. “After graduating from AUB, I left Lebanon for the Gulf region,” he says. “For the next five years I helped realise some of the biggest and most ambitious oil, gas and airport development projects in the region, working and living in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Bahrain and Qatar.”
 
Tarek decided to do the MBA as he felt the need to compliment his engineering and technical knowledge with a solid business education – something he saw as essential in order to reach his full potential. “In addition, the MBA opens lots of new doors and offers you wider career options,” he says. “I chose Oxford because the business school is part of a University (unlike many of the European schools) and one that has a great reputation and history. In addition to the reputation of the MBA for attracting an international and diverse cohort of students, the nature of the program goes beyond traditional business education to explore the connection between business and society.”
 
Tarek has enjoyed all aspects of his time at Oxford including social highlights like the Michaelmas end of term gala and the Sylvester Awards, plus the annual tug of war sporting tournament between Said and Cambridge Judge business schools. The roster of international speakers who gave talks at the University greatly impressed Tarek, and he found annual Business School events like the Private Equity Forum and Silicon Valley comes to Oxford extremely useful. “But the real highlight is the deep friendships you form during the course and the great interactions and discussions you have with your classmates.”

In his role as Senior Associate - Investment Advisory at Keystone Equity Partners, Tarek analyses potential investments and drafts investment analysis documentation. He coordinates and reviews the deliverables for different transactions works on the exit of portfolio companies through trade sales or IPOs. “Coming from an engineering background, I benefited a lot from the solid grounding the MBA gave me in corporate finance and valuation in addition to accounting, which enabled me to make the career shift to private equity,” he says.

The main challenge for Tarek is working in a business culture that has yet to fully discover private equity investments. “Private equity in the Middle East is still a relatively nascent industry, and the financial crisis has had its effect on it. But it also helped sort out the men from the boys,” he says. “Those with a proven model that is more adapted to the peculiarities of the region and its culture will succeed. I’m happy to be in the Middle East at this important point in history. I see myself remaining in private equity for the foreseeable future where I feel I can play a role in the region's economic transformation.”