Calligraphy and Entrepreneurship with Muhammed Mekki
In this fascinating episode we are joined by Dr Muhammed Mekki, to talk about calligraphy and entrepreneurship. Two topics that you would not normally associate with one another. This is essential listening for all entrepreneurs, founders and business leaders, as to how by having a craft mindset they can better at what they do.
Book recommendations:
The Cosmic Script by by Ahmed Moustafa and Stefan Sperl
Horses Never Lie by Mark Rashid
How Much Land Does One Man Need by Leo Tolstoy
About the guest speaker:
Dr Muhammed Mekki is an entrepreneur and academic. He is currently a Founding Partner at AstroLabs, a corporate services company that enables Gulf expansion. To date, AstroLabs has supported over 2,000 global ventures to set up and grow in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
In 2011, Muhammed co-founded e-commerce company Namshi, which eventually became one of the earliest venture-backed exits in the Middle Eastern startup ecosystem with its acquisition by Emaar Malls. He is an advisor to Saudi-based Khwarizmi Ventures and has served on the boards of several tech startups.
Muhammed is on the faculty at London Business School where he teaches courses on entrepreneurial leadership and digital business across the MBA degree program and executive education. Additionally, he teaches entrepreneurship as part of the faculty of Baghdad Business School.
Muhammed has a PhD in innovation and entrepreneurship from SOAS, an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and completed his undergraduate studies at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. He lives in Dubai, UAE with his family and is an Islamic calligrapher-in-training, studying in the traditional Ottoman method under Master Calligrapher Ferhat Kurlu.
About the hosts:
Walead Mosaad is an internationally recognized scholar in Islamic studies and human development. His academic and traditional training has accorded him the opportunity to work with communities worldwide as a teacher and project driver. He has completed degrees from Rutgers University and Fath Islamic Seminary in Damascus. He received his PhD from the University of Exeter in Arab and Islamic Studies, and was also classically trained at the Al-Azhar University.
He is currently the Chair and Scholar-in-Residence of Sabeel Community. He has traveled extensively throughout the Muslim world, as well as Europe and the Far East, delivering lectures on various topics, including spirituality, ethics and intercultural peace building.
https://www.sabeelcommunity.org/walead-mohammed-mosaad [https://www.sabeelcommunity.org/walead-mohammed-mosaad]
Rehan Khan is a professor of leadership and novelist. He is an advocate for virtue-based storytelling as well as leading with a moral lens. Over 30 years Rehan has advised several global and regional brands. As an adjunct professor he teaches post-graduate courses in AI and the Future of Work, as well as Leadership: A Moral Perspective, and Personal Influence at one of the world’s leading international business schools.
He is a keen observer of history and techno-science. Rehan is the author of a Tomb of Empires (2024) a historical fiction set in 90BC in the Middle East, the Carnegie nominated A Tudor Turk trilogy (2019-2022) set in the Ottoman Empire and Tudor England, and the fantasy sci-fi series, Tales of Khayaal (2025) set on the Earth like planet of Ikleel. These gripping stories also ask readers to consider the role of virtue within the human story.
www.rehankhan.com [http://www.rehankhan.com] and www.talesofkhayaal.com [http://www.talesofkhayaal.com]
