Saad Mohseni is an Afghan

Demography of Afghanistan

The population of Afghanistan is around 29,835,392 as of the year 2011, which is unclear if the refugees living outside the country are included or not. The nation is composed of a multi-ethnic and multi-lingual society, reflecting its location astride historic trade and invasion routes between...

 Media tycoon and entrepreneur

Entrepreneur

An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...

 in the show business

Show business

Show business, sometimes shortened to show biz, is a vernacular term for all aspects of entertainment. The word applies to all aspects of the entertainment industry from the business side to the creative element ....

. He is the chairman of MOBY Group

MOBY Group

MOBY Group is the largest media company in Afghanistan. It was founded by Saad Mohseni, an Afghan-Australian when he returned to his native Afghanistan in 2002...

, which is one of Afghanistan

Afghanistan

Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...

's largest media companies that owns Tolo TV

Tolo TV

Tolo TV , is a television station, being one of the first commercial ones to operate in Afghanistan. Launched in October 2004 by MOBY Group, it laid the foundations for an accessible media outlet offering a big library of shows...

, Tolo News, and Arman Radio. Prior to establishing Moby Group, he was a banker, headed the equities and corporate finance division of an Australian investment banking firm.

Early years and background

Mohseni was born on 23 April 1966 in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

, where his father, Yassin Mohseni, was assigned as an Afghan diplomat. At the age of three, he and the family returned to Afghanistan. His mother Safia was employed by the United Nations

United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

 at the time. After the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan

Soviet war in Afghanistan

The Soviet war in Afghanistan was a nine-year conflict involving the Soviet Union, supporting the Marxist-Leninist government of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan against the Afghan Mujahideen and foreign "Arab–Afghan" volunteers...

, Mohseni and his family fled to Australia in 1982. He has two younger brothers, Zaid

Zaid Mohseni

Zaid Mohseni who along with his brothers Saad and Jahid Mohseni and his sister Wajma Mohseni established Moby Group, Afghanistan's media company with interests in television, radio, print, web and directories, IT&T, and retail...

 and Jahid Mohseni

Jahid Mohseni

Jahid Mohseni who along with his brothers Saad and Zaid Mohseni and his sister Wajma Mohseni established MOBY Group, Afghanistan's most diverse media company with interests in television, radio, print, web and directories, IT&T, and retail...

, and younger sister Wajma. He is fluent in Dari (Persian)

Dari (Persian)

Dari or Fārsī-ye Darī in historical terms refers to the Persian court language of the Sassanids. In contemporary usage, the term refers to the dialects of modern Persian language spoken in Afghanistan, and hence known as Afghan Persian in some Western sources. It is the term officially recognized...

 and English.

Returning to Post Taliban Afghanistan

After the removal of the Taliban government

Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan was founded in 1996 when the Taliban began their rule of Afghanistan and ended with their fall from power in 2001...

 in late 2001, Mohseni and his brothers returned to Afghanistan to get involved in the media business by establishing a small media company called Moby Capital. "I always liked the media, because you can really influence people, particularly younger people," Mohseni believes.

External links

• Al Jazeera English: Afghanistan's first 24/7 TV channel (08 July 2010)
• Rachel Maddow: Media as another Front - Saad Mohseni (07 July 2010)
• Reuters: Afghanistan gets first 24-hour news TV (06 July 2010)
• Morning Joe (Ken Auletta discussing the Moby Group) (29 June 2010)
• The New Yorker Profile: Saad Mohseni, Afghanistan's first media mogul (29 June 2010)
• Rachel Maddow Show "Saad Mohseni on MSNBCs Rachel Maddow" (18 March 2010)
• On The Media "Saad Mohseni on NPR's On the Media" (5 March 2010)”
• MSNBC “ Saad Mohseni on MSNBC’s Morning Joe” (16 June 2009)
• The Daily Show “ Saad Mohseni speaks to Jon Stewart on the Daily Show” (10 June 2009)
• Charlies Rose “A Conversation with Saad Mohseni” (January 2008)
• NPR “Afghan TV Station to Fight Soap Opera Ban” (April 2008)
• NPR “Emerging Afghan Media Triggering Change” (September 2007)
• Marketplace/Public Radio “Radical Change on Afghanistan’s Airwaves” (October 2006)
• ABC Television “Afghan TV” (November 2006)
• SBS Television “Revolutionary TV (August 2005)
• Washington Post “David Ignatius: What Afghans Want” (December 2008)
• Washington Post “Reaching his Prime Time in Afghanistan” (September 2007)
• New York Times “Amid War, Passion for TV Chefs, Soaps and Idols” (August 2007)
• Time Magazine “Capitalism Comes to Afghanistan” (December 2006)
• Fortune “ Cobbling a Media Empire in Kabul” (January 2006)