Founder Letter
Why I Build
A promise made at the age of ten, and why every company since has been an attempt to keep it.
By Faisal Mahfuz · · 2 min read
People often ask what drives the work. The honest answer begins long before the first company, with a boy of about ten encountering a Hadith Qudsi — the one in which Allah asks His servant why he did not feed Him when He was hungry, or visit Him when He was ill.
That question never left me. It became a vow: to build businesses that are halal from the root, and to use them to feed the hungry, to provide healthcare and to create halal employment. Not charity at the edge of the business — the business itself as the instrument of service.
Business as sadaqah jariyah
A salary that feeds a family is a meal given every day. A skill taught is knowledge that keeps benefitting. A company built on trust outlives the person who started it. This is why I think of every venture as sadaqah jariyah — charity that continues to flow.
Business is worship. Profit is important. Trust is more important. Legacy is more important than both.
The number
Our horizon is 2035 and the number is ten million halal jobs. It is a large number on purpose. It forces us to build systems instead of shops, institutions instead of personalities, and leaders instead of employees.
This website exists to keep an honest record — of what has been built, what is being built, and what we intend to leave behind. If you are reading this in the future, I hope you find that we kept the promise.
— Faisal Mahfuz
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