Meet the 19-year-old Moroccan Entrepreneur Behind Casablanca's Yearly Geek Iftar
Technology and entrepreneurship-related events have really
increased over the past 2 years in Morocco. Every major city has
now its Moroccan TEDx or Startup Weekend. The Maroc Web Awards remains the
oldest and major event that gathers the most people and the
greatest sponsors.
One particular event has risen to the forefront in the past two
years, however, mobilizing a large number of geeks and tweeps: the
GeekFtour
(where Ftour means Iftar). Its third edition was held this
year during Ramadan in Casablanca, organized by Evento, a young
startup specialized in tech-focused events and known for organizing
the
BeMYApp WeekEnd Morocco.
Launched on Facebook in 2010 by local geek Moncif Aissaoui, the
first GeekFtour gathered 98 people after only 32 initially
registered. Then in 2011, Youcef Es-Skouri, along with his
friends Moncef Okbi, Abdelfettah Kasmi and Riad
Essbai, decided to organize a new edition of the GeekFtour in
Casablanca at the TechnoPark, which 200 people attended.
Proud of this resounding success, the GeekFtour returned in 2012
thanks to Evento, with a new concept and the same objective: to
gather the Moroccan web community around the same table to share a
collective iftar. This time, over 400 people came out to share food
over tech discussions.
“We have the ambition to make GeekFtour like a TEDx conference
in coming years, which is to say a licensed event where our concept
could be deployed in all Muslim countries," says Es-Skouri. This
19-year-old Moroccan technology enthusiast and aeronautic fan, who
is currently living in Paris to complete his engineering
studies, stays dedicated to building a community in Morocco. “I'm
invested in a lot of projects, mainly in Evento, which is my
little baby startup” he says. I regularly see him at local events,
so I asked him about his plans and his ambitions for the
future.
How did you get the idea to launch
GeekFtour?
It began in 2010 when a friend of mine, Moncif Aissaoui, chatted
with me on Facebook and proposed that we gather our "internet
friends" during Ramadan. I decided to help him organize it, and we
booked 30 spots at a coffee house. When 98 people came, we had a
slight space problem, but it went well. After this first success, I
invited my friend Moncef Okbi, who I was collaborating with on a
musical webzine called Lcassetta, to join, along with Abdelfettah
Kasmi and Riad Essbai. We also secured our first sponsor, INWI
(the third Moroccan telecommunications company).
What are you planning for GeekFtour
2013?
The 2013 edition will be different than the previous one. We are
acting on the feedback we have received to make the next GeekFtour
even better. We will keep the Ignite event from last year, and
probably the videogames contest, but there will be several new
surprises as well.
How is it to be an entrepreneur in
Morocco?
Like every entrepreneur in the world, it's difficult, but fun. In Morocco, a lot of new entrepreneurs are quitting their jobs to create their own companies. It's risky but risk tastes good sometimes.
Unfortunately in Morocco, the government is not yet encouraging these young talents. Creating a company in Morocco is a complex procedure. When we started Evento, we didn't know where to start. Thanks to our relatives and friends, we were able to figure it out. But imagine an entrepreneur who doesn't understand these procedures and has no one to help him determine which documents to submit and where he can obtain them. The government should facilitate these procedures and publicize them.
Another basic challenge is getting investors and stakeholders to
believe in your projects. It's really common to have people not
believe at all in your project of startup, especially when don't
work with new technologies. Financial assistance and angel
investors are not very common yet in Morocco. But I’m very
optimistic about the future.
Could you please share some advice for people who are
willing to become entrepreneurs in Morocco and MENA?
Believe in your idea no matter what others think about
it. Then, visualize your objectives: Walk, run, jump, fall and get
up, climb, die and get back to life, fail, fail, fail, fail and
restart again until you get what you want.
What are your expectations and dreams for the
GeekFtour? Evento?
Our dream would be to make theGeekFtour the "must-attend" event
for every Moroccan geek while maintaining a familial atmosphere and
sense of community. GeekFtour will evolve every year with something
different and special, but we'll keep focusing in our main
objective to gather the community around a tasty Iftar while
networking and having fun. We'd like to license the idea in other
countries, and as Evento, we'd like to organize many more and
bigger tech-oriented events in Morocco and other countries.
Do you have any future tech or non-tech projects or events
planned?
Always Karim, always! Evento is already working on two
other events. The first one is a very special Hackaton and the
second one will deal with computer and web security. Believe me, it
will be really fun!
I’m also working with my friend Marouane on a new project focused on e-recruitment: we want to create a very simple website where every candidate can have a beautiful resume, without having to deal with complicated software. That's all for the moment!