Abdallah Sallam, CEO of Madinet Masr: 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 Abdallah Sallam (LinkedIn), President and CEO of Madinet Masr.

I’m Abdallah Sallam and I am the President and CEO of Madinet Masr, one of the oldest and most reputable and influential urban developers in the country — it’s actually 20 years older than myself. The company was responsible for master planning and developing one of the biggest neighborhoods in Cairo to date, Nasr City.

Throughout the years, the company has managed to survive the test of time and change its skin and transform into a modern company. We are very proud of where we are today among very young, prominent players..

I was lucky. I was born into a very prominent business family in Egypt. I am also lucky to have worked in several industries — manufacturing, trading, consultancy, media, education, healthcare, you name it — until I landed on real estate some ten years ago. I am a mechanical engineer by education and a visionary at heart. I was lucky to have seen so many aspects of corporate Egypt, which I think gave me a big edge in the industry.

I am not an industry expert. I consider myself an outsider to the real estate industry and this is how I standout, because I am not consumed with the conventional thinking of the industry.

I manage day-to-day operations at Madinet Masr. But on a larger scale, my responsibility at the company is making sure that we are achieving our vision and dream. So, holding the torch and leading the team, I think is the most important role of a CEO. I try to work with the best people I can, because I am not technical and a lot of the stuff we do is, so I hire the best engineers, finance people, and HR people.

The company started back in 1959, 65 years ago, and it was fully-owned by the government as a subsidiary of the Housing Ministry. They spun it off into a separate company, a legal entity of its own with the sole purpose of developing a master plan and developing Nasr City. The company changed its skin as the market matured to become what it is today — it got privatized in the late 90s and started publicly trading on the stock exchange. Our product is where people start their families, give birth to their kids, start new jobs, and transform their lives.

I define my day a little differently. My day doesn’t start when I wake up, it starts when I reset my mind — this usually happens an hour or so before I go to sleep, when I spend some time with myself reflecting on the past 24 hours, looking at my actions and the results they have had and the influence I’ve had on people. I consider the hours I sleep as a very important part of my day — I usually program my mind and prepare for my dreams. Some would say this is a little bit crazy, but sometimes I end up finding solutions to work related challenges while dreaming.

I don’t really have a morning routine. I wake up at around 7 am — most days I skip breakfast and spend the first 30 minutes to an hour of my day in complete silence. I rarely speak, eat, or do anything physical during that time because that’s the time I spend preparing for the work day. Unfortunately, and I am not very proud of this, I don’t have this rigid, healthy routine of working out and eating specific foods before I head to work. Most of what I do before I go to sleep and before going to work falls under the umbrella of reflection.

I do a lot of planning in my mind. I usually wear a black t-shirt, dark pants, and a pair of sneakers, maybe throw on a blazer or jacket if I have an event scheduled for that day. I don’t like to spend time thinking about what I should wear. And I am usually right on time to leave for my first appointment of the day. I spend my commute to the office listening to the Quran and looking out the window. It is also the time that I have my daily morning phone call from my mom — listening to her voice and her wishing me good luck has become an important part of my morning.

My day is quite hectic. I am at the office at around 9-10 am and from the second I walk in I am swamped with back-to-back meetings, calls, zoom meetings. I sometimes have to give speeches or attend conferences then head back into the office. And this keeps going until 10-11 pm. I’ve also been doing a lot of traveling as we explore expanding our footprint outside Egypt. Even though it is very hectic, I’m enjoying it to the max.

I have a unique philosophy regarding work-life balance. I look at the bigger picture. There was a time in my life, when I was a student, when my life was mainly chilling — I didn’t do a lot, I didn’t influence people, and I didn’t spend a lot of time working hard. I think it’s a disgrace for me, at this age, what we call midlife, where I still have the energy and have the knowledge and experience, to take a lot of time off and call it work-life balance. I work on Saturdays and sometimes on Fridays too. There will come a time where my body will force me to take a break and take it easy. I hope that at that time I am still adding value and influencing people and helping ground.

Becoming a shark on Shark Tank Egypt has put me in the public eye. I am subject to attention when going out in public with my family and while people are usually so sweet, they are also desperate for a small piece of advice. I enjoy it — maybe the only thing that worries me is the responsibility that comes with it because a lot of people start looking up to me.

I’m still scratching the surface. One of my future dreams for this company, at least, is that we transform it into a Global 500 company. We want Madinet Masr to be one of the biggest 500 companies in the world. And on a personal level, I want to help cure diabetes — I am a diabetic myself — be it through financial support or setting up an R&D center or a charity organization.

I always recommend Start with Why by Simon Sinek. It is a life-changing book and I think it’s a must-read for anyone in the business world. Another book I recommend is Solve for Happy by Egyptian writer and entrepreneur Mo Gawdat.

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