On the 7th of March, more than 150 entrepreneurs, investors, developers, designers, and members of the Moroccan startup community attended a biannual meeting held by StartupYourLife at the Bikhir.ma offices in Casablanca.

StartupYourLife is a community of young Moroccan entrepreneurs created to develop an environment of sharing knowledge and ideas, and to invigorate the Moroccan startup community.

This event has several roles. According to Mohamed Attahri, the meetup helped review “what [has] changed and developed, new startups and ‘dead’ ones.” It also helped de-mystify successful entrepreneurs by demonstrating that everyone starts from somewhere.

According to Majzoub Zouhair, who currently works on AmanPay, “the networking process is essential in creating any community especially the entrepreneurs community in Morocco. It also helps us mix competencies. In union, there is strength.”

Many entrepreneurs, full of energy and having mastered the art of presentation, pitched their startups. Below, a selection:

• The Anou, founded by Dan Driscoll and Tom Counsell, is a project that aims at revolutionizing the e-commerce system by offering an easy-to-use platform for illiterate craftsmen.
  
  
• KipinTouch, founded by Saad Jenane, is a platform to exchange virtual business cards.
  
  
• MySportner, founded by Kenza Bennani, is an application targeting the U.S. market that helps athletes find the ideal partner to practice sports. During the pitch, Kenza presented her design and the user experience.
  
  
• CARE, founded by Omar Madi, is a fashion e-commerce website with a simple concept (similar to that of the super-successful Toms shoes): for each purchase, the same product is offered to a person in need.
  
  
• iMote, founded by Ali Lakrakbi, is a universal remote control for iPhone and Android that can be attached on your keychain. Each iMote can be configured from an app to command up to 13 different actions as activating your phone flashlight, remotely playing music, or calling your lost phone. 

Furthermore, Hicham Oudghiri, the New York-based founder of public data aggregator Enigma, announced a $150 USD/month cloud services offer, available to all SYL members, for three years to help develop their projects.

We’ll meet again at the next meeting to follow up with these startups, projects, and possible collaborations. 

For more information, you can read the Wamda community post by Zainab Soulaimani: StartupYourLife gathers the Moroccan Startup scene on its 2nd meetup.