Fahd Al Tarzi, CEO of CI Capital KSA: Each week, My Morning Routine looks at how a successful member of the community starts their day — and then throws in a couple of random business questions just for fun. Speaking to us this week is Fahd Al Tarzi (LinkedIn), CEO of CI Capital KSA. Edited excerpts from our conversation:

I am Fahd Al Tarzi. My career began over 20 years ago. After graduating from AUC, I spent a year and a half in corporate finance at Concord in Egypt under Sherif Raafat and Mohamed Younes. In 2005, I moved to Merrill Lynch for three years, where I had my professional training as a banker. In 2007, coinciding with the oil boom when prices hit USD 120 / bbl, I shifted from the sell-side to the buy-side, relocating to Jeddah to become the chief investment officer for the Sharbatly family’s Al Nahla Group.

I eventually founded my own boutique firm, Midrara, a name inspired by the Quranic meaning “abundant returns.” We handled wealth management and corporate finance, notably acting as sell-side advisors for Al Borg Labs’ sale of a 36% stake to Investcorp — one of the largest healthcare transactions in the Kingdom at the time. While I returned to Egypt in 2016 to invest in a local investment bank during the economic reforms, covid changed my business model entirely. Unable to see my Saudi clients for over two years due to strict lockdowns, I realized remote work wasn’t sustainable for dealmaking.

This is Saudi 2.0 for me. Having witnessed the Kingdom before and after the transformation, I joined CI Capital two years ago with a specific mission: To establish, lead, and grow our presence here.

My primary role right now is everything. As we are in the setup phase — finalizing licenses with the Capital Market Authority after obtaining approvals from the investment and commerce ministries — I don’t have a full team yet. I do everything from photocopying mandates to leading transactions. I am currently building a team in Riyadh to piggyback on the vast resources and execution kitchen CI Capital has in Egypt.

Our primary focus is investment banking, specifically debt capital markets (DCM). We are pioneers of DCM in Egypt, and Saudi is the fastest-growing DCM market in the region. With loan-to-deposit ratios in Saudi banks exceeding 100% (reaching 105-108%) due to financing megaprojects, many large entities cannot access traditional bank financing. This creates a massive opening for non-banking solutions like securitization, which we have mastered in Egypt with our leasing and microfinance arms, Corlease and Reefy, to sustain funding.

We are targeting medium-sized enterprises — which are massive in Saudi terms. These companies are the engine of the economy but are often largely unserved by the giant local banks that focus on mega transactions. While everyone focuses on the main Tadawul market, we also see immense value in the Nomu market, which is extremely dynamic with regular IPOs. We are nimble enough to structure exotic transactions that larger institutions might overlook.

My morning routine isn’t typical, but I’ve become an early riser. I sleep early now, which wasn’t always the case. I start my day reading the Quran and morning Adhkar. Then, I dive immediately into the news — I read Aleqtisadiah, Argaam, Asharq Al Awsat, and of course, EnterpriseAM (both Egypt and Saudi editions).

I work until I sleep. The first quarter of my day is dedicated to regulatory work, while the rest is for following up on tasks and meetings that start from 1pm and go late into the evening. Saudi is a country that stays up late, so you can’t view this as a 9-to-5 job; to make the best of this phase, I don’t expect much leisure time during this establishment phase.

My work-life balance is practically nonexistent right now, but sports are my anchor. I work out about six times a week to manage stress. I also smoke a cigar every afternoon to wind down. My wife recently joined me in Riyadh, so I spend time with her, and I video call my daughters daily — that always puts me in a great mood. My true passion is hunting, which can be physically demanding but mentally relaxing.

I am a voracious reader, focusing on business and politics. A book that influenced me greatly is The Mystery of Capital by Hernando de Soto, which is crucial for understanding economies with large gray markets like Egypt’s. I also recommend Freakonomics for opening your mind to everyday econometrics, and biographies like Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike. I read about figures like Winston Churchill and Larry Ellison to understand perseverance.

The best advice I ever received was from my father: “Just put your head down and work.” We live in a world of distractions, especially with social media, which often only shows the glamorous fruits of success rather than the labor. If you get distracted, you’re like a car with slipping gears — burning energy but going nowhere. In a competitive world where everyone has access to the same resources, diligence and hard work are the only things money can’t buy, and that truly makes you stand out.

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