FRED MOUAWAD
CHAIRMAN & CEO

Fred Mouawad is a global citizen and an entrepreneur who started successful and innovative ventures in different industries and countries.

• Fred started his business career in 1990 as the Vice-President of the Mouawad Group (www.mouawad.com) the jewelry Company his great grand father founded in 1890. During his tenure he managed the Asian and Middle Eastern operations comprising of manufacturing and retailing units.
• In 1994 he set-up Precious Link a wholesaler of fine rubies and sapphires to dealers and high-end jewelers around the world.
• In 1995 he co-founded G Partners a venture capital firm that identified and invested in promising companies. One of the first investments it did was in Farmacity (www.farmacity.com) in Argentina. In 1998 G Partners raised a US$ 50 million fund and made a series of investments in traditional and online retailing ventures.
• In 1995 he founded Itorama Consulting (www.itorama.com) an IT solutions Company.
• In 1996 he started Pizza Corner in Chennai, India.
• In 1997 Coffee World in Bangkok, Thailand.
• In 1999 he founded Mondera (www.mondera.com) an online retailer of diamonds and jewelry based out of New York.
• In 2001 founded Instore Magazine (www.instoremag.com) which has been voted since its inception the best trade magazine for the American Jewelry Store Owner.
• In 2004 Fred formed Global Franchise Architects (GFA) (www.gfacorp.com) in order to group his food service brands under one entity, and by the end of 2006 launched an additional five brands under GFA.
• In 2007 FM Synergia was put together as a Holding to manage all the companies he founded.

Fred grew up in Geneva, Switzerland, and attended boarding school at College du Leman. In 1986 he went to Pepperdine University in Malibu, California, where he got a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and focused on business strategy, quantitative analysis, marketing, and was a teacher's assistant for the Business Policy & Strategy class. In 1990 he went to the Gemological Institute of America where he obtained a Graduate Gemologist degree, and completed several additional home study courses simultaneously. He later co-published several articles in the field of Gemology. He attended the first year of the MBA program at the Harvard Business School in 1993. The following year he wrote a case for the Technology Operations Management department. Fred has always been fascinated with the link between business theory and practice, and has since dedicated his time to building his businesses with the thought of continuously learning and improving.