Another week. Another entrepreneur. This time it is Mr. Draper. The man himself!

Mahmoud Gao hails from Syria. He studied in the US and worked in Consulting/Retail in the corporate world.

But destiny had other plans for him.

He combined his knowledge of the retail industry with his passion for technology to launch MrDraper.com. So much was his belief in himself that he invested all his life’s savings in starting his online venture. With a little help from his family, he managed to go about building his dream project – ‘click-by-click’.

I asked Mahmoud how he decided to call his business Mr. Draper. His answer was simple. Mr. Draper reflects masculinity and has a nice ring to it. Funnily, he discovered months later that Mr. Draper is that handsome, dashing, well-attired character in the famous American drama series, Mad Men!

Mr. Draper is a curated shopping service built to help men look great without the hassles of shopping.

The USP of Mr. Draper is technology. He uses artificial intelligence-driven algorithms in his proprietary recommendation engine to style the clothing articles based on personality traits and body types. His CTO, Ulugbek Makhmudov is a data scientist and drives the technology that works seamlessly, behind the scenes.

Post-Covid, Mahmoud was quick to pivot to leisurewear. As the ‘Work from Home’ culture set in, he quickly diversified to offer an athletic range of products that included casual wear, and sweatshirts etc.

Mahmoud is excited about the future. His plans include expanding his range of products to include women’s clothing. He is pushing boundaries to expand in Saudi Arabia in the near future, and across the globe in the not-so-distant future.

I wish him well and will be happy to report his successes, which are just a matter of time.

Penned by Sharad Agarwal