He resigned from one of the world's largest hedge funds after his mom said he'd changed. Tarek Mouganie’s journey is anything but conventional, taking him from a PhD in material science to the trading floors of London, and back to Ghana to tackle one of the hardest problems on the continent: building a real bank for the African majority.

In this episode, Tarek, founder and CEO of Affinity Africa, joins Samora Kariuki to share the powerful personal story behind his return and the hard-won lessons from building a full-stack digital bank. Tarek unpacks why "banking failed Africa," how his hybrid "phygital" model is building trust where others can't, and why his proudest moment is seeing a roadside vendor who received a loan become a CEO. This is a masterclass in building a fintech with patience, purpose, and a deep understanding of the market, revealing how Affinity achieved a sub-2% default rate by treating credit as a reward, not a product.

Key Quote:"Imagine your African mother tells you, 'You are working for the second largest hedge fund in the world... but stop. This is bad for you.' I stood right up and I went and actually resigned. It was the wakeup call that I needed. She actually saved me."

Find us online:You can connect with our host, Samora Kariuki, and our guest, Tarek Mouganie, on LinkedIn. For more insights, visit the Frontier Fintech website.