Menatalla Sadek, CEO of Hassan Allam Utilities: My Morning Routine looks each week at how a successful member of the community starts their day — and then throws in a couple of random business questions just for fun. Speaking to us this week is Menatalla Sadek, CEO of Hassan Allam Utilities, which is an investment platform for power, renewable energy, and water companies.

My name is Menatalla Sadek. I am the proud mother of three children, and co-founder of three relatively new start-ups, which I entered into with local and foreign industry veterans.

I’m the CEO of Hassan Allam Utilities, a development and investment platform that was set up less than two years ago to lead the market in investment in the renewable energy, power, and water sectors — starting in Egypt.

The renewables sector is very different from water desalination and treatment, but our business approach is the same for both. We find the right projects and then develop them to meet the needs of our clients, offering the best pricing and quality in the contractors we bring on, and managing the building and the financing, using a mix of equity and debt financing. When we identify a prospective client — perhaps a large industrial outlet that would benefit from using solar energy, for instance — we meet them and explain our idea, to demonstrate how it will add value. This is more important than you might think, because the sectors are relatively new. Then we conduct a site visit and take our measurements, structuring our design of the project, before looking at the implementation. We’re there from the beginning until the project is fully up and running.

What’s great is that we’re able to offer our clients a product that is cost effective. So we can sell desalinated water or electricity to the offtaker (the client buying the product) at a highly competitive price for a particular period of time, enabling the offtaker to cut their costs. In the end, we will recoup our investment, but over a longer period of time than a traditional investor would. We use the Build-Own-Operate model for both sectors.

My morning routine is a very active one. I wake up at 5:30 am, and go for a 7-10 km run (increasing the length to 10-15+ km on Saturdays). I then return home, make a cup of coffee, and join my children for breakfast. After dropping the children off at school, I then head to CrossFit Training (three days a week) or to Mysore Ashtanga yoga (three days a week), before heading to work. Crazy, I know. But I wouldn’t start my day any other way, even on the weekend and during holidays, when the school part changes, the rest of the routine remains intact. Luckily I don’t need a lot of sleep; I can get by on five hours.

As I’m currently in charge of three companies, my days are often hectic and always interesting. I’m unable to dedicate a particular day of the week to each operation, though I did try this in the past (but it really didn’t work). So instead I have to put clear targets in my head and set goals to be achieved each week, and then be as flexible as possible to juggle everything. My calendar is always full, and often changes drastically from week to week. I have to support my team members as much as possible, and this often means attending different meetings when it’s needed. But I also have to ensure I’m not swamped with too many obligations that would prevent me from reaching my weekly targets.

I don’t watch a lot of TV, but I love reading. Lately I’ve been reading Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, which is a brilliant book by an ancient Chinese military strategist, for the second time. The book focuses on how warfare is applied to military strategy and tactics. But when I read the book, I look at it from the perspective that the real battle in life is often with oneself, more than with anyone else. This is important for me personally, as it’s the most difficult task I have at hand.

The idea of HA Utilities stemmed from the Hassan Allam Group deciding to diversify. The brilliant co-CEOs decided to expand their family-focused construction business to include complementary businesses, benefitting from the large value chain they had access to. I was then brought on to lead HA Utilities, explore the renewables and water-related investment sectors, and see where opportunities existed for us. Initially the plan was to penetrate the market by acquiring existing companies (what we call the non-organic approach), which is easier than building projects from scratch. But quite honestly, though there are good and successful companies working in both sectors in Egypt, none have the know-how for the larger projects that we were looking to take on. So we ended up creating our joint venture companies with international industry veterans, in the case of both sectors. Lightsource BP is Europe’s largest solar developer, with 3GW+ of solar assets either developed or under management. And Almar Water Solutions has Europe’s most experienced water desalination and water treatment team.

Renewables are such a great alternative for the Egyptian market at the moment,because electricity prices are going up and solar energy prices are becoming more competitive. Thanks to our partnerships and know-how, we can offer the best solutions for our customers. Looking at the big industries, we can cut their costs substantially and help them become more sustainable and green.

Water, meanwhile, is becoming a critical sector for the government because Egypt is facing a serious water shortage. Even without the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), we still face a shortage, but of course the GERD will exacerbate the problem. People often look at the Nile and can’t imagine we have any water shortages, but with a growing population, we are really facing a problem. So we’re offering an important service to both the public and private sectors.

In the field of development, it takes time to get long-term stable cash flows. The initial development phase of a project can take up to 24 months, but getting it fully up and running often takes longer. So, it is really a game of patience, deep pockets and more patience. But the end result should be worth it.

There are two ideas that I apply often in my professional life. My mentor and former boss Raouf Ghabbour taught me that working in an organization requires much more than just doing the tasks you’re responsible for. People skills are essential. I learned so much during my time as chief investment officer of GB Auto, and even more from directly working with Dr. Ghabbour. The second idea is the importance of an organization’s working culture in developing a business. “Culture eats strategy for breakfast,” as Henry Ford once said. I was once asked in an interview what I would seek in any future job, and my answer remains that I want to be part of a team that really embodies the qualities of teamwork. It’s important to me to be part of a place with a non-political working culture and ethics. This is something I will always pursue in my career.