HEC Start’Africa: a look back at a student success

6 months of planning, 80 applications, 5 sponsors, 15 groups supported by as many coaches, 4 prizes and 4 high-profile speakers for the discussion panel: this is the summary of the HEC Start'Africa hackathon, the large-scale challenge that 20 Grande Ecole students set themselves during the 2023/2024 academic year and that came to an end on April 27 and 29. Observing that few project leaders dared venture onto the African continent, the HEC Africa and Pact & Friends student associations decided to create this springboard themselves. Thanks to their determination, they gathered key players of the African entrepreneurial ecosystem and managed to organize a day of coaching on the HEC Paris campus, culminating in a pitch competition. The awards ceremony was then held at the MEDEF headquarters in Paris.

« It is said that Africa [...] will be the source of global economic growth and innovation. Here is a promising example illustrated by a new initiative led by HEC Africa and HEC Pact&Friends, who have brilliantly organized the first edition of HEC Start'Africa. »

H.E.Mr. Dhia Khaled, Ambassador of Tunisia to France

With “Tech” and “Sustainability” as its themes, HEC Start'Africa received over 80 applications following a call for candidates posted on social media in March. The program included workshops on design thinking, business modelling and the art of pitching, with the aim of presenting a project to a panel of experts by the end of the first day.

Entrepreneurship: a “powerful lever” for socio-economic development on the African continent

The organizing team, led by Mehdi Khalsi and Sarah Kouamé, presidents of HEC Africa and PACT & Friends respectively, and Mourad Radjabou, who inspired them with the idea of a hackathon, set the following three objectives: “to promote Africa as a land of opportunity”, “to equip and connect project leaders to multiply their impact”, and finally “to encourage young people to embark on the entrepreneurial venture”. They were also keen to create an inclusive event, and tehrefore opened participation to all students, HEC or not.

A day of coaching marked by cohesion

The selection criteria included being aged under 30, presenting an innovative project at the ideation or prototyping stage and being able to travel to the Jouy-en-Josas campus. As a result, 15 groups were able to benefit from the support of experts contacted by the organizing team, or who had come forward themselves, inspired by the values of HEC Start'Africa.

To ensure that the event could take place and run smoothly, Basile Candelon, in charge of partnerships, and his classmates spent several months prospecting, a particularly arduous task given that they had no records of previous event to present and convince their contacts. MEDEF International, the French Development Agency (AFD) and the HEC Incubator were among those who were won over and lent their support to the students.

Throughout the day, punctuated by meetings and exchanges, the team in charge of the event was delighted to observe that goodwill prevailed. They had expected to see “sharks”, but instead saw real bonds being forged, with the coaches and speakers present, and between participants. They also report with a touch of pride that many of them are, and will remain, in touch.

« These young entrepreneurs impressed me deeply with their innovative ideas. Their unwavering commitment to sustainable solutions testifies to a strong desire to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the 2030 and 2050 agendas. »

Kamal Dadi, coach and director of the AFD Incubator

Three high-impact projects in the spotlight

At the end of the pitch competition, three projects stood out in the eyes of the jury:

• PetruxYa (Andy Raveau) transforms plastic and organic waste into useful products thanks to its pyrogasification technology. In addition to receiving a 1000€ reward, Lamia Hanafi, Director of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at UM6P France, partner of the event, awarded PetruxYa its “Prix Coup de Coeur” (Favourite prize), which included a three-day visit to the University's campus in Ben Guerir (Morocco)
• Tajiri Farm (Abelaïd Soilihi) is an innovative artificial intelligence platform dedicated to revolutionizing agriculture by optimizing crop disease detection and sustainably improving yields. Tajiri Farm has won a Learning experience to Tunisia to meet Data & AI professionals, offered by and in the company of Talan
• d-Node‘s (Paul Rivière) mission is to direct international funding and expertise towards impact projects in underserved regions, using open data. d-Node will be able to spend two weeks in the HEC Incubator at Station F and benefit from its support.

MEDEF International hosted the award ceremony in its Paris offices. The three startups then had the opportunity to promote themselves a little more in front of an audience of over a hundred people. Among those present were H.E.Mr. Dhia Khaled, Ambassador of Tunisia to France, Philippe Gautier, Director of MEDEF International, Nachouat Meghouar, Director of the French-African Foundation, and Philippe Oster, Senior Executive Director in charge of International Affairs at HEC.

Ylias Akbaraly, CEO of Redland, David Mignot, CEO of Canal+ Afrique, Emmanuel Gadret, CEO of Deloitte Afrique francophone, and Mehdi Houas, former Tunisian Minister of Trade and Tourism and Chairman of the Talan Group, then discussed their experience of the African continent and their views on its development during a panel roundtable.

The first edition of a long series

These 20 students can now pride themselves on having carried off some of the HEC Paris’ values: entrepreneurial spirit, excellence, and diversity. When asked about their future plans, Mehdi and Basile have one wish: that the next members of the associations involved succeed in making Start'Africa grow with each edition, with even more participants, experts, prizes and visibility. This is also the basis on which future members will be selected.

The students would like to thank the following sponsors and partners: AFD, Canal+ Impact, Groupe Ragni, Myriad Connect, Talan and UM6P France, as well as MEDEF International for their invaluable support all along the organization of HEC Start’Africa 1st edition.