Gasser Bahgat, Chairman and CEO of Melee Development: 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 the Chairman and CEO of Melee Development, Gasser Bahgat (LinkedIn). Edited excerpts from our conversation:

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My name is Gasser Bahgat. I’m a real estate professional with nearly 30 years of experience in the industry. As the Chairman and CEO of Melee Development, I oversee operations across Egypt and Saudi Arabia — and we’re expanding into new cities as we go. I’m a husband and a father of two girls — Amina who is 20 and Zeina who is 13 years old.

My role is centered around problem solving, as well as following up with everything happening on a day-to-day basis — there’s always something happening, be it internally or externally. I always have problems to solve and decisions to make. Being a leader means having the power to make decisions, even when you’re not 100% sure. If you wait too long, planning drags out and your company slows down. I believe that doing 80% of the work at the right time is better than doing 100% at the wrong time.

Making mistakes is a part of the job. I’ve gained experience and became successful by learning from the mistakes I’ve made throughout my career. This is the only way to learn quickly — you evolve by learning from your mistakes and you grow more confident with each one.

Real estate is a very risky business, one wrong mistake could bankrupt a company, so the risks are enormous. That’s actually what I enjoy about it, the high stakes and the challenges. The work used to feel riskier when we were starting out, but now that things are more stable, I keep myself challenged by looking for ways to innovate.

Right now, I want to prioritize maintenance over growth. I’m not interested in aggressive expansion. While others are chasing EGP 100 or 200 bn in sales, I’m focused on sustainability. We’re also diversifying. We’re moving into other sectors like hospitality, sports, and F&B — lighter, more tangible sectors. The idea is to always have something running and something paused. So when one sector hits a bump, the others keep us going. It’s a strategy that protects the business, and we do it without panic. This panic could lead to wrong decisions, so we ensure that we take quick and calculated decisions.

I wake up very early in the morning, and the first thing I do is pray the Fajr prayer. Then from 6am until 10am I finish all the work that needs to be done from my phone. I send voice messages and WhatsApp texts — I’m not a big fan of sending emails. Then I head out to solve problems and attend meetings. I travel frequently to open new markets, meet investors, and create new opportunities. All of that takes up 80% of my time. Because I start early, I also finish early and delegate the rest. My team sends me end-of-day updates and follow-ups. We’re a small team and work closely together.

Music is the one constant in my day. I have a high-quality sound system in every office, and I listen to music all the time. It’s the one thing that calms me down and helps me relax.

We’re still a startup, technically, but we’re growing fast, which has its challenges. In just two years, we’ve grown into five or six companies with a combined value of EGP 60 bn. Companies take time to grow and mature, and we’re trying to do that while maintaining a level of organization.

We try to make Melee a fun place to work too. We hold competitions every week. Last week’s was a Playstation 5 competition where the winner got EGP 5k. Next week, it’s a paddle competition where the winner will get a trip to Dubai. We’re even taking the entire company to our boutique hotel on the North Coast for a weekend retreat to help the team unwind. I join these events too which helps me destress. My office is always open and I like to sit with my team and connect with people.

I want to keep the company at its current level. Since we’re expanding to Saudi Arabia and the UAE, I want to see both companies grow and succeed, while maintaining the level of the company in Egypt. It’s hard to keep employees in this highly competitive market. Still, if your people are being headhunted, it means you’re doing something right — your company has a strong reputation.

I’m a workaholic, so I don’t have a work-life balance. I’m very busy and work takes up almost all of my day. But I do travel a lot. I travel every two or three weeks now, whereas before it was every few months. Traveling helps me relax and reset, even if I’m still working remotely, I need a change of scenery, which is why I prefer to travel abroad. It helps me break out of the routine. Travel also helps inspire me.

I’ve received a lot of useful advice throughout my life from so many people that I’m grateful to, but I am at a stage now where I am the one giving advice to people. And the best piece of advice I could give could be summed up in one word — contentment. It’s a very deep word, and it encapsulates being content with your successes, your failures, and your mistakes, so you never go to bed regretting an event that happened in your life.

Passion is also an integral aspect of success. Just enjoy and be passionate about your work. If you don’t enjoy it, don’t do it. Be passionate, be curious, and be committed. That’s how you grow quickly and succeed.

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