Ismael Belkhayat : Chari conquers the continent
Trade in French-speaking Africa tends to be fragmented and informal. In Morocco, for example, there are some 200,000 local shops selling over 100 billion dirhams worth of goods every year. In just a few clicks, the Chari mobile application enables local businesses to buy products at rock-bottom prices, while benefiting from a free delivery service in less than 24 hours...
By Merieme Alaoui
Backed by Orange Ventures, the venture capital arm of Orange, which invested $1 million in Chari’s latest funding round, Moroccan start-up Chari is confirming and multiplying its successes.
Founded in January 2020 by Ismael Belkhayat and Sophia Alj, Chari is a B2B e-commerce application for local shops.
« The application, which has already attracted more than 20,000 grocery stores in the kingdom’s main cities, now aims to expand throughout French-speaking Africa »
Ismael Belkhayat was educated at ESCP (a leading French business school) and Cornell University in the United States, and also holds a license from the Central Bank of Morocco to develop payment methods. In 2022, he acquired Diago, an Ivorian application that connects producers and retailers. Before that, he launched Chari, an application that has already attracted more than 20,000 grocery stores in the kingdom’s main cities. The Moroccan startup is now looking to expand throughout French-speaking Africa.
Meanwhile, it has just launched the Chari chain of shops, which it says offers « a wide range of quality products at attractive prices to help grocery stores improve their product offering ». The chain plans to open 100 of its own stores by the end of 2024.
« We are delighted to launch this new chain of B2B shops for grocery stores in Morocco, » said Ismael Belkhayat. « We believe it will help grocery stores improve their product offering and increase their profitability. We are committed to providing quality products at competitive prices and helping grocery stores go digital to better serve their customers, » he added.
The project, which was first backed by American accelerator Y Combinator and then by French entrepreneur Xavier Niel’s Station F, has already raised around $15 million, a record in Morocco.
