Ali Khataw, CEO of Incoteq Engineering and a Round Rock Chamber board member, joined host Bryan Eisenberg for Episode 96 of the Rock Solid: Round Rock Business Leaders Podcast, released October 20, 2026. The episode, titled "Ali Khataw | From Immigrant Entrepreneur to Community Leader," traces Khataw's path from arriving alone in the United States and enrolling at the University of Arkansas to launching Encotech in 1990. Today the mechanical, electrical and structural engineering firm employs 45 people and has operated for 35 years while Khataw has served on boards across Central Texas.
The conversation matters because it links business strategy with humanitarian storytelling at a moment when small and mid-sized professional services firms are looking for durable growth models. Listeners hear how Encotech scaled from a solo practice into a firm behind projects such as the Austin Central Library, the Butterfly Bridge and Zachary Scott Theater. Khataw credits a pivotal shift to advice from former Goodwill Industries CEO Jerry Davis, who challenged him to take a 10 to 15 percent pay cut, stop designing and focus on business development, a pivot that unlocked Incoteq's growth.
Leadership and community trusteeship run through the episode. Khataw reflects on Leadership Austin's 2009 class and on chairing the Austin Chamber of Commerce. He describes a firm-wide points competition proposed by principal Patrick Morrissey that rewarded volunteer hours rather than board seats or donations, an effort that earned Incoteq a small business win from Austin Gives. That detail offers a practical template for companies seeking to embed service into their operations rather than treat it as a side activity.
Khataw also speaks candidly about visibility, failure and the entrepreneur's need to put ideas into the world. Quoting the core value his father taught him, he tells Eisenberg: If money is lost, nothing is lost because you can always make it up. If health is lost, something is lost. But if integrity is lost, everything is lost.
Photojournalism forms another strand. Khataw's work in Oaxaca, Mexico, Pakistan, Cuba, Tanzania and Kenya includes an LFI magazine feature on transgender communities in Pakistan. He describes photographing a blind Oaxacan sculptor for a Tono magazine piece titled "Hands That See," and weeping on a street in Oaxaca while documenting Semana Santa, moments he says reflect the human connection threading through every chapter of his career.
Looking ahead, Khataw previews an upcoming workshop trip to Tanzania and Kenya with Fair Trade Safaris CEO Saurabh Katipal, where proceeds will support a wildlife conservation group working with elephants, plus education funding for a young woman in Tanzania. For Central Texas business audiences, the episode frames longevity as a product of disciplined reinvention and integrity, with community involvement treated as a growth engine rather than an obligation.
