Passionate Entrepreneur Builds Community through UHAAF Pakistani Alumni Network

Faruk Bhagani (’90) credits his experience of engaging with different cultures as an essential part of his journey to becoming the businessman and community leader he is today. Through his work as a founding member of the University of Houston Alumni Association Foundation Pakistani Alumni Association, he hopes to instill the importance of this lesson in others. 

“I'm a bicultural person. My family hails from Pakistan, but I grew up in Spring, TX, which was very rural back then and very monocultural,” shares Bhagani.  Making other Pakistani friends while attending the University of Houston allowed Bhagani to learn “what the culture is all about outside of my environment. UH brought all that to fruition.” 

After he graduated, his UH friends encouraged him to move to Dubai. “I came out of being the one-horse suburban town guy to seeing the world, and it really changed my view on life.”

He spent the next 20 years abroad building his career in sales. He moved back to the United States in 2017 and finally returned to Houston two years ago. Now he serves as the sales director of Accenture. Although his Bauer degree was in marketing, he recognized soon after graduation that his passion was customer interaction and building relationships, so he shifted into sales. While working in sales at Microsoft, IBM, Oracle, Technologix and Salesforce, he discovered another passion: entrepreneurship. He started his own company in Dubai, working with retail and automative brands in the Middle East. When he moved back into the United States, he began helping Pakistani, European and South American-based technology service companies enter the U.S. market with his consulting firm, Menasa BD.

“What I learned from sales that helped me with entrepreneurship is that many doors will be closed before one opens. You can’t give up on trying to open the doors. Sales teaches you that resilience.”

Bhagani used his knowledge of the tech start-up ecosystem to start a videocast called “Tech Sheck” in which he interviewed noteworthy players in the Pakistani tech world. This videocast exemplifies Bhagani’s talent for spotting opportunities to make a difference. 

Another example is the inception of the UHAAF Pakistani Alumni Association. When he attended the retirement ceremony of former senior associate dean of students Kamran Riaz (’87) in 2021, he realized what a significant impact Riaz had on Pakistani students at UH. He and several fellow Pakistani UH alumni agreed that they should create an alumni association to continue and strengthen this legacy.

Bhagani has ambitious plans for the future of the association. “I want people in Houston, in Texas, to realize how this vibrant community looks after more than just their own. I would love to see us with a 7-figure endowment that helps people from our community and outside our community.”

Bhagani’s invitation to participate in the UHAAF Pakistani Alumni Network extends to everyone.

“What we’re trying to do is pull together a community that is very strong but that doesn’t preclude anybody else from participating,” he says. “We want that engagement and support to help the community at large.”

When asked what he would tell other alumni to encourage them to support UH, he responds, "My first semester tuition bill was $212. If I look at the ROI on my UH degree, it's insane. I tell people, 'We know the degree's value. We were blessed. We took immense value out of that. Now pay it forward.'"

On Saturday, Oct. 19, the UHAAF UHPA hosted its inaugural gala and scholarship fundraiser. (Check out the highlight reel on the network's Facebook page.)  Bhagani attended with his wife and sons, one of whom is a current UH student.

“How much money I leave behind is irrelevant. It’s legacy,” Bhagani noted. “How did you help people? That’s what people are going to remember. I want that for me and my family, and I want my kids to continue doing the same thing.”

Faruk lives in Houston with his wife, Amena, and their two sons. Amena owns GameDay Men's Health, a men’s health clinic, which has inspired Faruk’s passion for a healthy, active lifestyle. Their son, Rayaan, attends Bauer and has represented the U.S. Under-19 Cricket Team, while 17-year-old Danyal is currently a high school senior applying to colleges.