OUR FOUNDER OF THE WEEK– Every Tuesday, Founder of the Week looks at how a successful member of Egypt’s startup community got their big break, asks about their experiences running a business, and gets their advice for budding entrepreneurs. Speaking to us this week is Mohamed Hazem (LinkedIn), founder of architecture firm, contractor, and developer Miro Establishments.

My name is Mohamed Hazem, and I graduated from the University of East London. I worked at London-based multinational architectural design firm CZWG for two years while I was still studying. I was very lucky to work closely with the company’s founding director, Piers Gough — you don’t usually get to see the head designer. Then I returned to Egypt and worked on my first project, which was a hotel in Aswan called Hapi Hotel. It’s owned by a friend. He reached out to me with an interesting concept and we renovated it together.

I am the founder of Miro Establishments, the mother company of Miro Architects, Miro Contractors, Miro Developments, and Miro Plus. I’m focused on all of the sister companies and I am also the head designer at Miro Architects.

I believe that architecture is a language. You want to communicate your talent and art — that feeling triggered me to start my own business. Miro Architects, our architectural and design firm, was created out of passion. I felt like I had something to say, and I worked extremely hard until opportunities turned into project after project, and the business took off from there. It’s been stressful, but it always gives me a sense of fulfillment.

Miro Developments and Miro Plus are our latest extensions to the business. Through Miro Developments, we buy land to build residential and commercial spaces fully constructed and designed by the company. Miro Plus is a collaboration brand — we join forces with other brands to create products, like our outdoor furniture line with Arena Martinez, a fashion brand based in Madrid. They supply the fabric and we handle the design and production. The products will be available in our first three stores in Cairo and Sahel very soon.

The best part of my job is designing and seeing my work come to life. Coordination is the most challenging part. There are many aspects that you need to orchestrate to get things right, such as the mechanics, electrical, plumbing, and structural elements of each project. If there is ever a mistake, it’s always the architect’s fault. So it’s a great responsibility and a lot of work goes into perfecting the process.

The three most important KPIs that I look at on a regular basis are the number of clients and projects, the growth and scale of the company, the number of employees we have, and of course our revenue streams.

The scale of our work has evolved greatly since we first started. We started out focusing on smaller projects such as residential units, but we have now expanded our portfolio to include bigger projects as well. However, we make sure that quality is never sacrificed for quantity. Now, I would say that our work has become more urban, with a focus on circulation and human interactions in our design and architecture.

I usually turn to my team when I am facing a difficult problem. I have built a very strong team over the years. Now that we have four different specialties, each company has autonomy over its own perspective, and pitching it to the table has been quite beneficial. I always make it a point to think out loud with my team. That way we can all learn from one another.

If I could give someone starting their own business just one piece of advice, it would be that nothing comes easy. If you want to do something right, you need to understand that success can never be owned — you can only rent it and rent is due everyday. No matter how many roadblocks you encounter along the way, you must persevere and remain mindful of what prompted you to start in the first place.

My company’s short-term growth strategy is centered on retaining our scale. We have been facing some volatility recently as a result of the external economic situation. Many projections showed a slight decline in our graphs, but we opted to continue growing and reaching our full capacity here in Egypt.

In terms of long-term strategy, we already have remote offices in Dubai and London, and we intend to open solid offices in Dubai and Riyadh. We believe that the MENA region will see exponential growth in architecture, design, and construction in the coming years. We are in the process of receiving a USD six-figure funding round from silent investors for Miro Developments and Miro Plus, which we will disclose more about soon.

I don’t believe that I will be exiting any of my companies anytime soon. However, an exit strategy will undoubtedly be in place in 10 to 15 years’ time. I wouldn’t want to be CEO of all my firms at that point. I would like to continue as the head designer at Miro Architects and a shareholder in the other companies.

In the beginning, my family didn’t really understand what I was doing and where I was heading with my concept. However, when things began to fall into place, they were able to understand more. Now, they are very supportive, and they’re a priority in my life — I try to see them at least three to four times a week.

The last great thing I watched was The Mask [laughs], which is one of my all-time favorite movies. I’ve also been listening to a Spotify playlist called Irrational. It’s very relaxing to listen to in the morning and always puts me in a good mood. I’m currently reading Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson for the second time. It’s very inspirational — I can relate to many of its concepts, and learn from his failures.