Encotech CEO Ali Khataw on Immigrant Grit, Engineering 35-Year Firm and Photo Philanthropy

Episode 96 of Rock Solid: Round Rock Business Leaders Podcast, titled "Ali Khataw | From Immigrant Entrepreneur to Community Leader," hosted by Bryan Eisenberg, released October 20, 2026, features a wide-ranging conversation with Ali Khataw, CEO of Incoteq Engineering and a Round Rock Chamber board member. Khataw traces his path from arriving alone in the United States, enrolling at the University of Arkansas, and launching Encotech in 1990, to leading a 45-person engineering firm that has now operated for 35 years while serving on boards across Central Texas.

The episode blends business strategy with humanitarian storytelling. Listeners can expect specific threads including:

• Scaling Encotech from a solo practice into a mechanical, electrical and structural engineering firm behind projects such as the Austin Central Library, the Butterfly Bridge and Zachary Scott Theater.
• Lessons from Leadership Austin's 2009 class on collaborative thinking and community trusteeship, and chairing the Austin Chamber of Commerce.
• Khataw's photojournalism in Oaxaca, Mexico, Pakistan, Cuba, Tanzania and Kenya, including his LFI magazine feature on transgender communities in Pakistan.

Khataw speaks candidly about visibility, failure and the entrepreneur's need to put ideas into the world. Reflecting on the core value his father taught him, he tells Eisenberg:

He also 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 that threads through every chapter of his career.

The conversation goes deep on practical leadership. Khataw recounts 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. He describes a firm-wide points competition proposed by principal Patrick Morrissey that rewarded volunteer hours (not board seats or donations), earning Incoteq a small business win from Austin Gives. Khataw also 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.

Produced by Round Rock Studio and hosted by bestselling author and keynote speaker Bryan Eisenberg, Rock Solid spotlights the entrepreneurs, nonprofits and corporate leaders shaping Round Rock, Texas, and the broader Central Texas economy. Each episode explores the founder stories, strategic decisions and community commitments behind the region's most dynamic organizations. Episode 96 with Ali Khataw is available now wherever podcasts are heard.

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