Too different to get along.
I'm Mousta M. Moustafa. Human rights advocate, lawyer to founders, builder. Eight languages and 105 countries taught me that most of what divides us is how we see each other. My work is about changing that, one company, one conversation and one story at a time.
People everywhere want the same things: to belong, to be safe, to be taken seriously, to laugh with someone. Culture changes how we show it. When we forget that, we stop seeing each other as people.
I learned how dangerous that is up close. With photographer Martin Thaulow I spent two weeks in Iraq and the Kurdistan region listening to Syrian refugees, and travelled to Rwanda to hear from survivors of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi. Dehumanising people fuels hate and blocks clear thinking.
So I build things that do the opposite: companies, content and conversations that put people in the same room and help them see the world from where the other person is standing.
Different rooms, one goal: people who understand each other build better things together.
I served on the board of Amnesty International Denmark, joined its international assembly in Rome and spoke at a human rights event in the Faroe Islands. That lens stays with me: dignity first, and every side heard.
Since 2014 I've helped start-ups and scale-ups build, raise, structure and run their operations across the world, with deals in more than 50 countries. Clear advice, so founders can get on with building.
I sit on the board of Chapters Institute, advise several promising start-ups, and I'm building siwi, a language app that gets people talking to each other.
At school in Herlev I was the troublemaker, and a counsellor told me to forget about law. In 2017 I qualified as an attorney at 26, widely reported as Denmark's youngest lawyer at the time.
The title didn't answer the bigger questions about who you are and where you belong. Eight languages and a hundred-odd countries did more of that work than any job.
Today I work with founders, sit on boards and build my own things. I share the journey while it's happening, not after.
What exists today and what's still being built, said plainly.
Group trips for 18 to 30-year-olds. Trips are running, and I sit on the board.
chaptersinstitute.comSeveral early-stage companies I believe in. I help them build, structure and grow across borders. Names follow when they're ready to share them.
A language app that gets you talking, fast. You speak about your own life, and it builds lessons from your own sentences. A siwa ventures company.
A book about who gets called an expat, who gets called an immigrant, and why. Same act. Different privilege.
@yourenotanexpatOne essay a week from where I'm standing, three short things that were same same but different, and one question back to you. Free.
Founders, collaborations, speaking and press: mousta10@gmail.com