El-Fatatry’s eyes shine with excitement as he recounts a stroke of serendipity that injected some much-needed interest into his company. His recent business trip to the United States coincided with US President Barack Obama's visit to Egypt. Obama talked about creating an online network enabling instant communication between teenagers in Kansas and Cairo.

“In a matter of days we were sitting down with Farah Pandith, the US special envoy to Muslim communities,” says El-Fatatry, 24, the CEO and founder of Muxlim.

Muxlim is the brainchild of El-Fatatry, who moved to Finland in 2004 from the United Arab Emirates. Away from home and living in Muslim-minority Finland, El-Fatatry found he couldn’t keep up with his Muslim lifestyle through the Internet. Most sites about Muslim life were on politics and religion, but El-Fatatry was interested in the cultural aspects of his faith, like food, music and entertainment. He started aggregating information from various sites. Muxlim, a doorway to Muslim lifestyle, was born in Finland two years later.

“No room to let guard down”

El-Fatatry says that by last year it became clear that it was impossible for start-ups like Muxlim to raise venture funding in a recession-gripped economy. To survive, Muxlim managed to delay the need for external funding. However, this entailed reducing the company’s staff from 20 to 10 employees.

“We had to become more aggressive,” says Lee, 41, Muxlim’s Chief Operating Officer.

Finnish high-tech growth companies like Muxlim raised 17 percent less funding on average in the first half of 2009 compared to first half of 2008. Second quarter funding decreased more than 50 percent on the prior year, according to a survey by Technopolis Ventures, Finland’s largest business incubator.

With no room to let their guard down, Lee and El-Fatatry have not had a day of holiday this year. Both men say long hours logged at the office have strained their marriages.

Still, they are thankful they have managed to stay afloat. The recession has eliminated Muxlim’s two main global competitors.

"I believe the worst is behind us. It can only get better from here," says El-Fatatry.

Lee also sees a bright spot in these harsh times; people are experimenting more with the Internet. This is good news for Muxlim, whose potential users include hundreds of millions of Muslims worldwide.

“We’re in charge of our own destiny,” says Lee.

Click here to return to main page.