Tarek Ben Halim

Ben Halim was born in Tripoli, Libya on 4 December 1955 to a Palestinian mother, Yusra Kanaan, and Libyan father, Mustafa Ben Halim. His father served as Prime Minister of Libya from 1954 to 1957 and Libyan Ambassador to France from 1958 to 1960.

After the coup that brought Muammar Gaddafi to power in 1969, Ben Halim and his family were exiled, and moved to Beirut before settling in London. He was educated at Atlantic College in Wales, and went on to study Finance at Warwick University before receiving an MBA from Harvard Business School.[2]

He had a career in investment banking which included positions at JP Morgan, Credit Suisse First Boston and Goldman Sachs, where he became a managing director. In 2000, Ben Halim was responsible for the $2 billion flotation of Turkcell, which at the time was the largest ever emerging market IPO.[3]

Exile from Libya taught Ben Halim early on about the perils of politics in the Arab world. Combined with the stories of his mother's flight from Palestine, it had a strong influence on his belief in justice and democracy as necessary tools for improving lives and communities in the region.[4]

In a commentary piece published in The Los Angeles Times in February 2003, Ben Halim criticised "self-serving, unrepresentative governments that have, with few exceptions, ruled the Arab world since the 19th century". He hoped that changing the Iraqi regime in 2003 would cause similar changes in leadership across the region. He volunteered to work with the British forces and was appointed Deputy Director of private sector development with the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA). However, he soon became frustrated with the CPA's approach. "He [Ben Halim] felt that the occupying force seemed more focused on quick gain rather than building a sustainable framework that would survive its departure." He resigned after only a few months.