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Brothers’ Hobby Becomes Web Wonder LOGGING PHYSICS FINDINGS in a journal, investing in the stock market and attending weekend math and technology courses aren’t the kind of things most school kids do for fun. Then again, not many people have enjoyed the kind of success that brothers D. Haroon Mokhtarzada ’01 and Zekeria “Zeki” Mokhtarzada ’01 have as leaders in the Web publishing world. As children, Haroon and Zeki were forced to flee Afghanistan with their family. Here in their adoptive country, they learned survival skills in life and work. “Our parents started a business, which exposed us very early on to two things: entrepreneurship and computers,” says Haroon. While at Maryland, the brothers used their complementary skills to build a Web site people could use to construct their own sites for free—even as Haroon finished his economics degree summa cum laude and Zeki finished his double major in computer science and mathematics. Today, Haroon and Zeki are CEO and chief technology officer, respectively, of Webs.com, their hobby-turned-business. Younger brother Idris, a senior majoring in
computer science, is a co-founder and senior engineer. Each day, 20,000 new sites—for personal, organizational and business uses—are created using their simple and streamlined site-building process, and each month, more than 30 million unique visitors hit on Webs.com. “Webs.com has helped hundreds of thousands of people generate income for their families and causes,” says Haroon. Now the brothers can add 2009 Outstanding Young Alumni to their résumés. In April, Haroon and Zeki were named Outstanding Young Alumni at the Maryland Alumni Association Awards Gala. In their acceptance speech, the brothers thanked their parents and siblings—all Terps—as well as their alma mater. “It’s great to know that Maryland honors entrepreneurship and innovation, things we really believe in,” Zeki says. —RR
Entrepreneurs and brothers, clockwise from left, D. Haroon, Zekeria and Idris Mokhtarzada.
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PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE MOKHTARZADAS