MMustapha El HajjCxO · Builder

The journey

Engineer. Founder. CEO.

Nineteen-plus years from power-electronics R&D to running companies — across Denmark, the Nordics, Europe, and the Middle East.

2025 — 01 / 07

COOBanke ApS

Electrification and energy storage. Overall responsibility for engineering, R&D, production, supply chain, service, and operations across Denmark and Ukraine.

  • Established a hybrid Scrum / Stage-Gate development model aligning engineering, production, and service.
  • Prepared the organization for ISO 9001 and ISO 26262 through process definition and governance.
  • Built the 2028 scaling strategy — organization, roadmap, partnerships, funding scenarios.
  • Implemented AI-supported workflows across engineering and documentation.

2022 – 2025 — 02 / 07

CEONiko-Servodan A/S

Full P&L for the Danish business unit of a European smart-building and home-automation group — ~80 people across Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Belgium, and Romania, building connected sensors and smart building controls.

  • Improved profitability through portfolio focus, pricing optimization, and operational efficiency.
  • Led development and market launch of a connected sensor and control platform with cloud and app ecosystem.
  • Executed an ERP transition from Microsoft Dynamics to SAP in one year.
  • Strengthened product management, lifecycle governance, and KPI-driven management.

2020 – 2022 — 03 / 07

Head of R&DNiko-Servodan A/S

Rebuilt and scaled the R&D organization to ~22 specialists across embedded software, cloud, electronics, mechanics, and QA.

  • Introduced hybrid agile development practices improving delivery predictability and engagement.
  • Led development of a connected sensor portfolio, cloud platform, and app aligned with group strategy.
  • Established structured QA and verification practice across the product lifecycle.

2018 – 2020 — 04 / 07

R&D Director · QA & Test ManagerOJ Electronics A/S

Led a 40+ engineer international R&D organization in consumer electronics — electric thermostats and HVAC controllers; before that owned the QA and test function across hardware and software.

  • Implemented a hybrid agile and stage-gate product development model.
  • Improved portfolio steering, resource allocation, and project predictability.
  • Rolled out a QA and test strategy — structured verification, regression testing, FMEA.

2017 – 2020 — 05 / 07

Interim CEO · Co-founderInnovium ApS

B2B2C ordering and loyalty platform for hospitality — product vision, commercial strategy, and a near-shore development organization.

  • Defined the product vision, roadmap, pricing, and go-to-market model.
  • Built and led a near-shore software development organization in India.
  • Oversaw cloud architecture on AWS and DigitalOcean with focus on scalability and cost.

2007 – 2018 — 06 / 07

Global Head of Market Quality · PM · EngineerDanfoss A/S

Eleven years across quality leadership, project management, application engineering, and R&D in power electronics — drives and frequency converters for automation, water & wastewater, and HVAC.

  • Led international quality and improvement teams for major drive product lines.
  • Managed cross-border development projects with budgets up to €3M.
  • Drove structured quality and customer-facing improvements aligned with TS16949.

2001 – 2013 — 07 / 07

The foundationBeirut → Sønderborg → Derby

Dual engineering degrees and an MBA — computer engineering in Beirut, mechatronics in Denmark, business in the UK.

  • BSc Computer Engineering, Beirut Arab University (2001–2004).
  • BEng Mechatronics, University of Southern Denmark (2004–2008).
  • MBA (Merit), University of Derby (2011–2013); Executive Mini-MBAs 2023–2025.