The business story
Born in London to an Afghan diplomatic family; the family moved to Australia in 1982 after the Soviet invasion. A former investment banker, he returned to Kabul in 2002 and founded MOBY Group with early US-government development funding, launching Arman FM (2003), TOLO TV (2004), and Farsi1 (2009). 21st Century Fox took a minority stake in 2012; by 2014 MOBY reached a majority of Afghans and later spanned ~17 businesses across seven markets. He kept MOBY on air after the Taliban’s 2021 return.
Mohseni's edge came from holding two toolkits at once.
Before MOBY
Saad Mohseni was born in London to an Afghan family; his father was a diplomat, so his early years followed the rhythms of a foreign-service household rather than life inside Afghanistan. After the Soviet invasion, the family moved to Australia in 1982, and Mohseni grew up as part of the Afghan diaspora: tied to the country by identity, shaped by Western institutions.
Before media, he worked as an investment banker. That training matters for understanding what came next. He would approach Afghan broadcasting less as a mission or a mouthpiece and more as a set of businesses with audiences, advertisers, revenue and, eventually, outside shareholders.
Building MOBY Group
Mohseni went back to Kabul in 2002, soon after the US-led intervention removed the Taliban from power. The country lacked most of what a media company normally assumes, from reliable electricity to a healthy economy, but the new order welcomed exactly what the previous regime had banned, including music and television. He founded MOBY Group that year, with early support that included US-government development funding.
The launches came in sequence. Arman FM arrived in 2003 as Afghanistan's first private radio station, bringing pop music and a looser on-air style. TOLO TV followed in 2004 and became the flagship, mixing news, drama, talent contests and entertainment. In 2009 Farsi1 extended the group's reach to Persian-speaking viewers beyond Afghanistan, including in Iran.
Outside validation followed. In 2012, 21st Century Fox took a minority stake, a fitting twist for a man the press had nicknamed the Rupert Murdoch of Afghanistan. By 2014 MOBY reached a majority of Afghans, and over time it grew into roughly seventeen businesses across seven markets in South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East.
