How the Fellowship Initiative helped Sagid Mohamed find success… and a promising future

Investment Specialist Sagid Mohamed’s routine often changes. Some days, he’s tidying up spreadsheets or coding; other days, he’s working on a case study or presentation for a client. One thing remains constant, though: as a member of JPMorgan Chase's smart retirement team, he always has an eye on long-term investment.

But there was a time when his future—and his goals—weren't so well defined.

Born to Sudanese parents who immigrated to the Bronx, Mohamed's childhood was characterized by the constant quest for opportunities. In second grade, he tested into a high performing school in Harlem. Later, he tested into Brooklyn Tech, one of New York City's premier science and technical public high schools. Through it all, his parents were there—protecting him, instilling in him a strong work ethic, and helping him find opportunities. 

“My dad and mom taught me my education is my success,” Mohamed says.

In his sophomore year at Brooklyn Tech, Mohamed connected with the Fellowship Initiative (TFI), and began to see his future materialize.

The Fellowship Initiative Harnesses Character

TFI is a JPMorganChase-sponsored program that provides high-school-aged young men of color with three years of academic, social, and emotional support and guidance designed to help participants achieve personal and professional success. TFI fellows take part in out-of-school activities, including conventional classroom instruction, mentoring, professional development, test and job interview prep, college application and financial aid guidance, and more.

“I think the best way to describe TFI is it was like an extra day of school,” Mohamed says.

To supplement its learning and enrichment programming, TFI matches every fellow with a mentor, a JPMorgan Chase employee who has volunteered their time. For Mohamed, that mentor was Keegan Ball, a Vice President and Investment Specialist with J.P. Morgan Asset Management Solutions,.

Under Ball's guidance, Mohamed discovered a love of finance.

“When I joined TFI, I knew I wanted to go to college and get a job, but I had no clue what I wanted to study,” Mohamed recalls. “There was one part of TFI that was a kind of stock picking game, and that was when I started thinking this finance stuff was kind of cool.”

Making a Game Out of It

According to Douglas Polak, Executive Director of Asset Management for JPMorgan Chase, one challenge that TFI's planners faced was making finance exciting and relevant for high school students.

“We put up a picture of Michael Jordan and asked the kids what they knew about him,” Polak remembers. “They knew him for the shoes, so we told them they could actually own part of the company that makes those shoes.”

As part of a team of JPMorganChase subject-matter experts, Polak helped develop a portfolio literacy module. The group received feedback suggesting they make a game out of it, so they developed a four-module stock market game that introduced the principles of investing.

Each student team had a million hypothetical dollars to invest into a portfolio as they saw fit. This module helped teach them the principles of investment, such as stock evaluation and how to tell the difference between a good company and a good stock.

“We wanted them to present their findings to us as subject-matter experts," Polak says. "We wanted them to justify their choices, while developing their presentation skills.”

Challenged by the game, Mohamed asked Ball what he should be thinking about for building this hypothetical portfolio. That was when Ball taught him the fundamentals.

“Sagid pulled out a list, and I still remember one of the company names: Activision,” Ball recalls. “He said he chose that company because he and all of his friends played Call of Duty. He seemed a little unsure about that, but I told him he was thinking about it the right way.”

A year later, Ball learned that the stock market game had led Mohamed to choose to study finance in college.

A Newfound Direction

After Mohamed finished the TFI program and went to college, his relationship with JPMorganChase—and Ball—continued in a surprising way. In a fortunate twist of fate, he learned about a summer internship at JPMorgan Chase and landed on Ball’s team.

“I had no idea Sagid was going be one of our interns until I saw him on the floor,” Ball says. 

Throughout the internship, Mohamed worked hard, and his summer culminated with yet another successful presentation.

“It was just so apparent he loved what he was doing,” Polak says. “His presentation was one of the best we’d seen in a decade.”

As a result of this good work, JPMorgan Chase offered Mohamed a full-time position. Now, in what Ball calls a “crazy circle of fate,” he, Polak, and Mohamed work together.

“It was amazing to see him go through that entire process of finding his interests in high school, to excelling in college, and now starting his career on this team,” Ball says. 

A Mentor's Education

Mohamed wasn’t the only one to benefit from the TFI relationship.

“Helping Sagid really opened my eyes to a whole other side of the world in terms of the immense amount of responsibility that can be thrust on young men,” Ball says. “I remember Sagid, as a sophomore in high school, asking for advice on how to work through family dynamics at home. I learned to be gracious and empathetic toward people at all times, because whether it's apparent or not, they may be dealing with something difficult.”

While Ball is proud of his mentorship, he is quick to highlight that Mohamed's hard work is what got him to where he is today.

“Through it all, he’s retained those key traits that helped him get into TFI to begin with,” Ball says. “He has natural leadership abilities and is hardworking and driven, and he’s brought it all to his career. I think Sagid highlights the power of TFI, which hones and refines the qualities that are already there and ensures they’re pointed in the right direction.”

Now that Mohamed has been through TFI and landed in a successful career at JPMorgan Chase, Ball hopes the lessons continue.

“One of the things I hope Sagid took from TFI is there are always people who want to support you,” Ball said. “I hope he learned, even if we don't have the exact same experiences, we can think about things and plot a path forward together.”

Reflecting on his own story, Mohamed has advice for other young men struggling to realize their ambitions.

“Have faith that there are people in your life who want to help you, and they'll introduce you to things they think will be good for you,” Mohamed says. “Show them your ambition and who you really are. If you do that, I think the people in your life who want to help you will find ways to help. I think that's what happened to me.”