Walid Ijassi, A Moroccan Entrepreneur Upcycling the Deteriorated Apples of Midelt

Walid Ijassi is an industrial engineer and a new PhD candidate in Industrial Engineering and sustainability. He is also the founder and CEO of POMM’IT, a Moroccan social enterprise that upcycles deteriorated apples to support apple farmers and create job opportunities for women in Midelt, a small city in the Moroccan Middle Atlas.

Walid, how did you begin your journey with Pomm’it?

Pomm’it and I go way back to when I first joined university. I had come across a club called Enactus, a social entrepreneurial studentship NGO in my engineering school ENSAM, in Casablanca. After joining them for a year, I realised that I had learnt volumes about the concept of social entrepreneurship. Shortly after that, I decided to put into practice all that I had learnt during the first year.

I started with a needs assessment in Midelt, Morocco where I was born. I went around asking the local community about the social problems that they were facing. Two issues frequently emerged. First, a lot of apples were being wasted in the fields, and second, many women couldn’t access the labor market. The idea organically came to me. The concept was to link apple farmers and rural women in order for them to sustainably help each other. Pomm’it then came through, and we began producing the Pomm’it vinegar.

How did you get to meet these women that you are now working with?

During my initial needs assessment, I was also keen on understanding who was ready to join me in the adventure, and we sort of found each other spontaneously.

What makes the Pomm’it vinegar different from the other vinegars that are present in the Moroccan market?

It’s the best apple cider vinegar because it’s made entirely and only with apples. No other engines or machines are used. We follow a secret recipe which has been inherited down by the family of one of the women we work with. There is a long story behind it. It actually takes us at least 4 months to produce a bottle of apple cider vinegar in the quality norms that we believe are the best. We also respect the rules which the Moroccan ministry of agriculture also imposes.

We are a responsible startup in a local region that wants to make a difference, and there is no corporation backing us up. Our apple cider is artisanal. For instance, many of our competitors use machines to produce apple cider vinegar in 3 weeks or even 1 week. However, we wait 4 months to have an authentic apple cider vinegar. It is made by the apples of Midelt which were going to be thrown away and never used. Through this experience we learnt that often the external image of an object (in this case a fruit) may not reflect their best shape or form, however they can become the best if you provide them the opportunity to. There are so many possibilities for things that we tend to overlook or walk past, a reason why we are interested in upcycling and recycling. Our environment needs us to do so.

This is very interesting. About apples, do you take the rotten apples for free?

No, we buy them. Otherwise we won’t be able to empower the revenues of the apple farmers. We rescue the apples from an environmental point of view, however from a social and economic point of view, the situation remains the same. We buy the apples that have rotten sides. It’s also important to know that we do not produce our apple cider vinegar from the rotten parts. The apples would usually have 10% or 20% rot in it. These are apples which farmers are unlikely to sell in the Moroccan market. We cut the rotten parts away and use them as an artisanal fertiliser which we sell to apple farmers, and use the remaining healthy parts to produce our apple cider vinegar.

Why do you think it is important to be putting sustainability at the heart of entrepreneurial ventures today?

The world is moving towards the wrong direction. We are seeing its impact on the environment, there isn’t much rain and that impacts agriculture. I believe that a lot of the solutions our society needs must come from individuals. We should not wait for the government to solve them. During this pandemic, many people are suffering more than before. People need to have more knowledge and to become responsible in their consumption, and also in the way they interact with one another.

I truly believe that half of the world can change the other half if one individual has the ability to impact another person’s life, and that becomes multiplied over and over. With Social media, messages can be easily transmitted and disseminated. The clock is ticking, we are not sure of what will become of tomorrow. Perhaps there won’t be any social media, perhaps we may no longer be connected. Today requires action. For example, this pandemic was an unexpected event, it is evidence that everything can happen.

We are living in an age in which we are easily influenced by social media, and we are also highly connected. This is the right time for people to have more knowledge on social entrepreneurship, sustainability and sustainable development.

You come across as a very optimistic person, are there any things that you are pessimistic about?

At the moment, I am pessimistic about predictions. Before, we were able to say what could happen. Today, even risk management experts are torn with whatever will happen with this pandemic.

In what way did Pomm’it have an impact on the women that you have been working with?

It changed their lives. From a social aspect, the women we work with are now more empowered. They have said it themselves. They feel that they are engaged in an activity in which they can put their skills into use and no longer limit their activities to housework. They no longer have to wait for their husbands to provide for them, and that in itself made them feel empowered and strong. On an economic aspect, they are now financially independent. They can afford buying clothes, and a lot of things which they couldn’t access. These were things their husbands would refuse to finance.

How many women do you work with?

I currently work with two women, but it goes back to my mantra: that you only need to start with one person and invest in changing and improving their life. Once the resources will allow, and the right time comes, then one is able to scale up their project ethically and following sustainable norms.

We have been following your trajectory, and you have travelled the world and spoken to world leaders about Pomm’it. Do you feel that Pomm’it has gone through a transformation which you weren’t expecting?

Well, if I were to think back to about four years ago when I started Pomm’it, I would have never imagined for it to be where it is today. Whenever I go somewhere and take Pomm’it with me, as a concept, as my social venture, and I share it with the world, I do so with the expectation of change. However, I take small steps and I allow myself to only envision what Pomm’it shall become after that specific encounter or training program, as opposed to thinking in bulk about the different stops Pomm’it is yet to take.

This is the beauty of this adventure. There are a lot of events that have happened and that are yet to happen which have been/are/will be unpredictable. If we can predict things in detail, I don’t think projects will be exciting. It’s like a videogame or a movie, if you know all the plot-twists, it does not become interesting anymore. It gets spoiled very quickly and you get bored.

That’s a really interesting perspective, and in the spirit of predictions, and uncertainty, what are the challenges that you faced as a young entrepreneur? Was it surprising for people to understand that at 19 years old you were already an entrepreneur who was investing his time in his social venture, thinking about sustainable ways of living?

Yes, especially with age, I was not taken seriously by a lot of suppliers, potential partners and stores that could sell our products. I needed to work ten times more than the usual entrepreneur to convince them.

Time management for me was also a difficult hurdle. As an engineering student, I had a lot of courses, and projects to focus on while managing Pomm’it on the side. Another challenge was and still is the distance between the city where we operate and where the project is established, Midelt, and the cities where I usually am, Rabat and Casablanca.

It’s an 8 hour driving journey. Sometimes I need to make some decisions very quickly but I need to be in the field and it’s not always possible to be there in person in an hour or two.

Where do you see Pomm’it in 10 years time? What is your Pomm’it’s vision?

Beyond what is currently happening with the pandemic, what I truly hope to see in the next 10 years is for Pomm’it to have a self-running production unit in which more women are involved and which can be implemented in more than one region using apples and other fruits or vegetables and have various product ranges and to truly become economically independent from any funds and grants.

It’s really hard to find the right product to sell in the Moroccan market and to find the target obvious. It’s sometimes not obvious. We will keep testing. We have data but not enough to use it for a product launch. With the pandemic a lot of things have changed as well. Insights on consumer behaviours have also changed.

Do you have any advice for young African entrepreneurs?

Start. A lot of people are constantly asking me about the “how” — the how is the step that you take forward by putting yourself and your skills out there and building that product.

Use the resources, and launch your products. I sense that a lot of young individuals aspiring to become entrepreneurs want to be successful as soon as they start. You can’t figure out the big picture without having started.

Again, just start. And when starting, try and find an organism, an incubator or an NGO who is ready to support your idea disregarding the stage which you are at, whether that’s ideation, prototyping, etc. Go and ask, engage, ask questions. Go for it.

Make sure to follow Walid Ijassi and Pomm’it on socials:

IG : @PommitMaroc

FB: @pommitmaroc