Abdullah Al Atrash, CEO of Natrify: Each week, My Morning Routine looks 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 Abdullah Al Atrash (LinkedIn), co-founder and CEO of Natrify.

My name is Abdullah Al Atrash. I’m the founder and CEO of Natrify, an environmental biotech pioneer in the MENA region. We develop technology to help businesses within the plastic value chain industry develop to produce a type of bioplastic that is naturally biodegradable in any environment. I also previously led a project with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and made it onto Forbes’ 30 Under 30.

As CEO, I’m in charge of setting the strategic direction for the entire company, focusing on the possible areas of growth that can allow us to scale up. I’m also largely in charge of investor relations and interactions with investors in general, and making sure that our various departments are on track with the goals and targets that we set. I also take care of issues related to the commercialization and the expansion of the company.

During my time with the UNEP in Cambodia, I saw the impact of plastic pollution up close. I realized that plastic is not just an environmental issue, it’s a health issue as well.

Egyptian businesses want to go green: Most businesses in Egypt — especially the major manufacturers using plastic in their operations — all have very clear agendas to green and have ESG plans and large funds deployed towards environmental sustainability, but it’s hard for them to have any solutions that are actually commercially feasible.

I believed that there’s a way to do this efficiently, and that there’s no need to compromise to go green. I wanted to create something that solves the environmental issue, while also being commercially viable, and that can actually be the new norm for plastics. We want our product — which we call Adigide — to be the base. Not a replacement, but something that can be a viable alternative for manufacturers. We wanted to present a solution that is scalable to businesses that are working towards a 2050 net zero agenda.

My morning routine varies by the day as a biotech entrepreneur in this incredibly dynamic industry. I always make sure to go to bed early — 11pm at the latest — and I try to wake up between 5-7am to give myself some time before heading to work. I am not the most productive right when I wake up — I’ll usually watch Modern Family or whatever show I’m binge-watching that week. I then make breakfast, meal prep, and try to get some reading done before I head to work. When I get to work, I try to do some meditation and breathing exercises before I start working.

I try to start my day with light work — responding to and sending out emails, stuff like that. Then by the middle of the day I’m doing meetings, checking in with my team, putting some strategies in place. The end of the day is reserved for whatever work requires the most amount of attention and focus. I try to head home by 6-7pm, go to the gym, eat the meal I prepared earlier in the day, watch some more TV, and head to sleep.

The one constant in my day, aside from my meetings, is checking-in with myself throughout my day. I’m a person with ADHD, and my days are incredibly hectic and all over the place — so these little check-ins help me tackle the day more effectively and help me see things a bit more clearly in the middle of all the chaos. These are the moments that help me stay grounded and be in the moment.

It’s easy to get sucked in by the demanding side of running a startup. You can never not be the startup founder. Even when you’re chilling or hanging out with friends, you’re still thinking about the company all the time. I’m still trying to work on that and fix my work-life balance. But what I’ve realized is, at least for me, a work-life balance is mainly about how satisfied you are with your day. Burnout doesn’t come from working too hard, I think it comes from not getting the results you want out of your day. What helped me navigate a work-life balance was figuring out the things that make me feel fulfilled, whether it’s from work, my team’s work, or if it’s in my personal life — whether or not I managed to see my friends or family, or even watch my show. Ultimately, it’s about how fulfilled I feel.

There’s a lot of room for me to grow, both personally and professionally. With Natrify being a growth stage company and heading towards its exponential scalability, I’m still navigating how to prepare for that. Professionally, I’m committed to our goal of making our product the new norm for plastics and scaling up the business to where we want it to be in the next few years. On a personal level, I’m trying to remain fulfilled and comfortable in the middle of all the work and to try to do stuff that I find enjoyable and try out new things all the time, like pottery or random arts and crafts. I recently tried out poi dancing.

I enjoy reading books that talk about capitalism and its history. I recommend The Price ofTime: The Real Story of Interest and The Crisis of Democratic Capitalism. I also read a lot of dramas and novels, and I’d highly suggest reading Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky — if you can manage to remember the names.

The best piece of advice I’ve been given is, loosely translated, “your friend is whomever is honest to you, not whoever flatters you.” It was given to me by Tarek Roushdy, an angel investor here in Egypt. He was one of my biggest mentors and one of the first investors I spoke to.

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