Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 Honoree
2017
Founder & CEO
The Rumie Initiative
Tariq founded The Rumie Initiative after a notable career at the intersection of finance, technology and emerging markets. Prior to Rumie, Tariq led a successful career in finance, beginning as a Palo Alto-based technology investment banker in the group that led the IPOs of Google, Amazon and Cisco. He next joined NYC-based private equity firm MHR Fund Management, where he became the firm’s youngest partner in 2006 after leading numerous successful turnarounds of technology companies. In 2004, Tariq led early work to bring mobile phones into emerging markets as a ‘leapfrog’ innovation, back when the idea of the masses from Cairo to Calcutta skipping landlines altogether to go directly to mobile phones sounded far-fetched to many. Tariq sees a similar ‘perfect storm’ of market forces enabling a pragmatic, market-based solution to global education that will usher in another watershed moment in international development. Today, Rumie has projects in over 20 countries. Tariq was born and raised in Canada to parents who emigrated from Kenya and speaks four languages.
Please note: Company names and biographical information here may reflect the role and activity held at the time of receiving the award.
