Mohammed Al-Khaldi: Transforming Smart Cities with Innovation and Sustainability

Meet Mohammed Al-Khaldi, a visionary leader driving the future of smart cities with Etanergy. From revolutionizing EV-charging infrastructure to pioneering AI-driven autonomous platforms, Mohammed is shaping the next generation of energy and technology solutions, all while embracing Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030.

Can you share a brief note about yourself?

I’m Mohammed Al-Khaldi, an electrical engineer turned serial entrepreneur and the CEO of Etanergy. My teams in Riyadh, Dubai, Paris, and Nice build the hardware-and-software backbone for tomorrow’s smart cities—EV-charging infrastructure, IoT-enabled energy systems, and, most recently, AI-driven autonomous trading and call-center platforms. Over the past five years I’ve assembled 40 engineers, data scientists, and project managers, signed an exclusive reseller agreement with Wallbox, and piloted Saudi Arabia’s first palace-scale EV-charger installation. My philosophy is simple: engineer once, scale infinitely, and leave every market more sustainable than you found it.

Why did you choose to start a business?

Two forces pushed me:

• Frustration with the status quo—smart-city promises were stalling because legacy contractors treated EV chargers as an afterthought.

• Autonomy of impact—as an employee you optimise KPIs; as a founder you rewrite them. I wanted the freedom to fuse deep tech (AI, energy, automation) with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 and accelerate the region’s shift toward electrification and data-driven decision-making.

How did you start your business?

1. Validated demand: Started by renting and managing a luxury apartment that needed reliable EV charging, proving that guests would pay a premium for tech-enabled convenience.

2. Funded R&D: Used cash flow to invest in developing charger firmware and an AI dispatch system.

3. Scaled partnerships: Signed a deal with Turning Point (exclusive Wallbox importer), partnered with Abaja for civils, and worked with a French hardware team for cross-border sourcing.

4.Streamlined operations: Developed 17 Python microservices to handle tasks like load balancing, predictive maintenance, and live energy pricing, all monitored by a reinforcement-learning supervisor bot.

What do you wish you’d known before you started?

• Capital efficiency beats capital abundance. Early money can hide product-market noise; disciplined scarcity forces clarity.
• Regulation moves slower than innovation. Bake permitting cycles into cash-flow models.
• Founder focus compounds. Every shiny “side” bot siphons cognitive bandwidth from the core engine.

Did you have any support in your journey?

Yes. Mentors like a former GCC conglomerate CEO guided my first seven-figure negotiation; Sanabil Investment opened doors to institutional capital; and a global network of open-source contributors hardened our AI stack. Most importantly, my late father’s ethos of relentless experimentation still anchors my risk calculus.

What is your greatest challenge as a business owner?

Balancing moon-shot vision with quarterly cash discipline. Building EV grids and autonomous AI platforms demands heavy upfront investment, yet payroll waits for no transformer. I solve this by running dual operating modes: a cash-positive services arm funding a deep-tech skunkworks that prototypes the future.

What advice would you give to your past self before opening your own business?

• Focus on one North Star metric: Make it the centerpiece of every sprint board.
• Hire a COO sooner: Two quarters earlier than you think you need them.
• Refactor debt like code: Don't let it pile up—address it ruthlessly.
• Value sleep: 3 a.m. heroics don’t scale, and sleep is a force-multiplier.

Reflecting on your path to entrepreneurship, what key piece of advice would you offer to aspiring founders ?

Solve a bleeding-neck problem, not a hobby. If your clients' lights go out without you, you're indispensable. Automate yourself out of today's job—continuous self-disruption is the only sustainable edge. Marry sustainability with profitability, because carbon-ignorant models will eventually be priced out of capital markets. Lastly, master financial literacy and emotional resilience equally; one without the other is like entrepreneurial Russian roulette.