Reda was a finalist in the first edition of the Innovation Challenge organized by CEED in Morocco in cooperation with Wafacash, a leading financial company in Morocco. The program offers a chance for early stage and growth-stage companies to work with larger corporations that want to innovate and bring new expertise to their companies.
Reda created Devcorp in 2013, an IT development company that supports companies in their digital transformation. He started the company in Paris with a small office and two developers he knew from university. One of the developers stood out for his speed and quality of work, he was from Morocco. In 2014, Réda decided to move to Morocco in search of young talent. He discovered the skill level of Moroccan engineers was extremely high – they were bright, active, and engaged.
Transitioning from a French company to a Moroccan company was not easy. The biggest challenge was to reassure his European customers that they would maintain the same quality standards. To prove this, he had to make personal investments, work at a loss, and even work without signing contracts. Fortunately, his efforts were not in vain. With a lean and fast approach clients continued to work with him.
Devcorp also started operating as an incubator for Startup Projects. On a yearly basis they work on developing innovative projects stemming from a recognized need in the market and commercializing it. Their first project was “My Simple Agenda”, a product that allowed online booking for professionals like doctors, lawyers, etc. They sold the product to a Moroccan medical tele-secretarial company. The second project was “Logistix”, a software for transportation management. The product was acknowledged by the Moroccan Logistix Award in 2016.
For the Innovation Challenge they created “Paybreaker” which allows the dematerialization of payment systems through the generation of virtual cards. Through CEED’s initiative, they have been able to develop a long-term technological partnership with Wafacash, an established name in Morocco, that will give them access to more potential Moroccan customers.
DevCorp’s next goal is to set up Technolab, a laboratory that will allow companies to test proof of concept. If a big company has an innovative idea to compete within the startup market, Devcorp will have the capacity to support them. Devcorp will provide market research, business model, beta version of the application, and cost analysis for deploying a solution, all within 1-2 months.
