Walkabout competing in Hult Prize for $1 Million in seed funding.
Walkabout, a For Profit, For Good enterprise aiming to alleviate youth unemployment in Morocco.
In recognition of their innovative social enterprise, four Moroccan students won the 2019 Hult Prize on campus contest at Mohammadia School of Engineers on December 13th and are willing to take on the regional in London on March 15th
The Hult Prize is the world’s largest platform and accelerator for the creation and launch of sustainable and impact-centred startups emerging from universities all over the globe.
Long-time supporter and advocate of the Hult Prize, President Bill Clinton, will be on-hand at the awards gala to present the winning team with the prestigious trophy and a cash prize of $1m in seed capital.
The winning team
The winners, Computer Science students Zakaria Oussaad and Abdelaziz Bounhar, Kenza Bouhassoune (Industrial Process Engineering ) and Chadi El Graoui (Mechanical Engineering), are all about to finish their second year at EMI. They’re working everyday to develop their idea further, with the goal of ending youth unemployment in Morocco and north Africa.
The Hult Prize judging panel included esteemed industry leaders such as Samir Benmakhlouf (ex-Country Manager at Microsoft Morocco, CEO& Founder of London Academy Casablanca), Amed Zrikem (CEO & Founder of linkry) and Youness Aharram(CEO & Founder at Digiflow). The panel saw the potential in the idea to increase the yield and quality of tourism in Morocco.
Walkabout, the winning idea
This year’s Hult Prize challenge is to build a sustainable, scalable social venture that has the power to transform the lives of 10,000 unemployed youth in the next decade. The Walkabout concept does this by disrupting the traditional tourism industry in Morocco. The team is building a multi-sided platform that provides private tours through their carefully selected network of local tour guides, each of whom is keen to share his knowledge, experience and expertise in a marketplace of one-on-one transactions.
Talking about the inspiration behind the concept, Founder Zakaria Oussaad said: “Our heritage as a team shaped the project. We were shocked at how fast the tourism industry is growing in Morocco. Yet the very people growing it are the ones left behind by the industry and society. Through no fault of their own. We realized that the global economy picks up, but increased income remains a challenge. even worse, our youth are risking their lives and being illegal outsiders in other countries. We want to change that, we want to make of them ambassadors of our country.”
The team is made up of avid travelers, coming from Tangier, Ouarzazate and Meknes, — beautiful cities in Morocco where tourists arrivals is an all year round trend. These young entrepreneurs exemplify how solving the world’s most pressing challenges can also make good business sense.
Find out more about Walkabout
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