Ismael Belkhayat - Building a Super-App for French-Speaking Africa (Chari)
It started as a frustrating day at a small 'mom and pop' grocery store in Casablanca, Morocco. Ismael was busy buying a carton of milk until the store's shopkeeper had to turn around and take delivery from his Coca-Cola supplier, leaving Ismael to wait idly by, in line...milk-in-hand. "One minute," the shopkeeper said. But one minute became ten minutes which became twenty minutes of offloading the Coke, Sprite, and Fanta stock. The shopkeeper had to shelve the items, take note of the inventoy, and make payment...all by himself. Ismael, naturally, was becoming impatient. But despite the annoyance, Ismael thought: "There had to be an easier way for a small store's shopkeeper to manage and coordinate procurement." And just like that - Chari was born: a B2B e-ecommerce and digital procurement platform for the 200,000+ Moroccan 'mom and pop' shops. And 18 months later, Chari has been valued at $70 million in its most recent, headline-making seed round. And for anyone that knows Ismael and his co-founder (and wife!) Sophia, it's quite clear: In the next few years, a Moroccan Unicorn is upon us.