We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Salim Mekhmoukh. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Salim below.

Salim, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Naming anything – including a business – is so hard. Right? What’s the story behind how you came up with the name of your brand?

MADO sounds like “motto” which is intentional as we originally wanted to call it that. We just couldn’t make it happen so it became MADO. My motto is to always work had so you can play hard.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I created an energy drink by accident. While visiting Algeria, where I was born, I discovered an energy drink that I loved and decided I needed to bring it back home to Atlanta. Now, I had absolutely no experience in the food and beverage industry and ran into some obstacles that prevented me from importing it so I decided, why not make my own beverage. That was 2019 and about the time the pandemic hit, which actually gave me the time I needed to come up with a plan to make the best energy drink on the planet. MADO has vitamins C, B3, B6 and B12, electrolytes and the first of its kind to contain astaxanthin (say that 5 times fast). Astaxanthin is what gives salmon its pinkish color. Combined with exercise, it increases enzyme activity in muscles, helps reduce body fat, improves endurance and sports performance and NASA has been testing the benefits in space. It’s a very powerful antioxidant. This whole process took years and taught me a new level of patience. Now I want the world to know that MADO is here. Most people don’t know about astaxanthin and that is is derived from microalgae and that it can provide health benefits like immune system support, reduction in inflammation, protection from UV skin damage and supports cognitive health. Now that we’ve launched, I see a new health movement in the energy drink market.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

One of my favorite books is ‘The Four Agreements’ by Don Miguel Ruiz. He says you should conduct your life the way you conduct your business. Ruiz’s four agreements are:

1. Be impeccable with your word.
2. Don’t take anything personally.
3. Don’t make assumptions.
4. Always do your best.

I think that by doing all of this in my life, I have been able to succeed in business.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I worked for a distribution company for years and at one time managed a territory worth two million in sales. Then out of nowhere the company laid off the entire sales staff. But a few weeks into unemployment I get a call from the owner saying my old clients wouldn’t do business with the company unless I came back, which I did for a short time. That’s what gave me the confidence to start my own business.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.mado-energy.com
• Instagram: @madoenergyofficial
• Facebook: @drinkmado
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/salim-mekhmoukh-5b1b99218
• Twitter: @drinkmado

Image Credits
Tara Gulledge