Ismael Belkhayat is the founder of Chari, an e-commerce company that he founded with his wife Sophia Alj. Chari helps small retailers in French-speaking Africa procure inventory for their stores and get it delivered for free while benefiting from payment facilities.
It is a one-stop shop for traditional proximity stores, allowing them to order any consumer goods they sell and get them delivered for free while benefiting from financial services.
Ismael is an experienced startup founder with a demonstrated history of working in the internet industry. A data-driven, strong business development professional who graduated from Cornell University and was a former BCG consultant.
Before you read, check out part one of this interview
About Ismael Belkhayat
Belkhayat grew up in Morocco, where he had his early education before moving to Europe for his undergrad and then to the US for his grad studies. Ismael Belkhayat began his professional career in 2009 at the Paris office of the Boston Consulting Group (BCG).
He left BCG in 2013 to return to his country and launch a web incubator in Morocco (wib.co). He later founded VotreChauffeur, a ride-hailing startup operating in Casablanca and a few other Moroccan cities.
The startup quickly became a household name in the country and, after about four years, was acquired for an undisclosed amount by Avis Car Rental. Belkhayat continues to serve as a board member in the company.
One thing Belkhayat prides himself in is the ability to quickly focus on the next important thing rather than wallow in the glory or loss of the past. While still running his first startup, he founded another one, Sarouty, a marketplace that facilitates real estate deals in Morocco. Sarouty helps people to discover, buy or rent land and houses across Morocco.
Belkhayat’s core mantra is to grow as fast as possible and overwhelm the competition between the first 2 years in business. So, like his first business, Sarouty quickly became the leading real estate platform in the country. It partnered with PropertyFinder Group, a Dubai-based multinational proptech startup, to scale its tech and expand to more cities. Due to the potential of the business, PropertyFinder opted for acquisition instead of partnership and named Sarouty as its Moroccan operation. Belkhayat then exited to act in the capacity of board member.
What is the African country that you would love to visit this year and why?
I’ve travelled a lot within Africa. For instance, in the last six months I’ve gone many times to Rwanda. I’ve gone to Tunisia, I’ve gone to Ivory Coast, I have gone to Egypt, I’ve gone to South Africa and honestly I’ve also gone to Senegal.
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Maybe one country I haven’t been to yet. I have been to many other countries including some small ones such as Swaziland for instance or Lesotho to which I’ve been. But there are a few ones that I still want to go visit. One of them is Namibia. They have an amazing desert.mI hope to go there anytime soon.
What is the most underrated Moroccan food?
Everybody speaks about tagines and tagines are very famous, but myself, I prefer something called the pastilla, which is, I don’t know how to describe it, but look for it and try to find it and eat it. It’s amazing. Pastilla with seafood.
How do you look after yourself in your free time?
I love extreme sports. I am a skydiver. I’ve jumped over 150 times. Even my co-founder skydives with me. We jumped together more than 50 times. It’s just amazing. We are private pilots. We both have our private pilot license and we also do Ironman. So again, extreme sports are very important for us and it’s a way for us to let all the stress go out.
What has been the most humbling moment in your journey as an entrepreneur?
(laughs) A few months back, I had to pitch the president of the Alibaba group during an event called Africa Business Heroes. And at the end of it, I put on some Moroccan music and I asked the president of Alibaba to stand up and together we danced to Moroccan music. And this is an unforgettable moment for me.
Do you watch football?
Football? No, I’m not a big fan. I love the Moroccan team. I am obviously behind them. These guys have done an amazing job putting Morocco on the map. But unfortunately I am not a big fan of football.
What’s one thing you would like people to know about you?
I am a very eclectic person, which means that I’m very curious and I love a lot of things. So whenever someone comes to me and shares with me his or her passion, I end up wanting to know more. So I encourage people I don’t know who have ideas about some random stuff to share it with me because I love getting into details with them about it.
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Why are you called IRONMAN?
Ironman is a challenge that I’ve done. And I will let you check online what the Ironman challenge is and you will see it’s not easy but still I have done it. So people call me Ironman.
Where can we learn more about you and your brand?
Thank you so much for your time. And I really appreciate you for creating time and equally for reaching out to us. Watch the interview here.
