A semi-finalist in the MIT Enterprise Forum Arab Startup Competition kicking off next April 16, Yuzu is a Moroccan startup that promises to revolutionize cooking in the Middle East.
“We started the service to respond to a new need in society, which at the same time follows a global trend. We were more and more concerned about the quality of our food, but we were lacking time to do the groceries on our own and diversify the food we were eating,” says Amine Toumi, one of it’s founders.
Through an online platform, Yuzu offers a list of diversified meals that users can choose to cook. After ordering online, the company delivers the ingredients cleaned, cut, weighed, and adapted to the number of people indicated by the customer. Following an index card delivered with the products, each customer is guided through the cooking process, step by step.
“We are passionate about the service we offer,” says Toumi, who recently graduated from Cass Business School in London. His partner Salim El Jaï, a deputy manager in a leading IT firm in Morocco, brings the IT side to the business, he says, as fellow colleagues Adil Miftah, Dalila Ksouri, Atika Nachid, Soufiane Ammi, Hanane Rguyague, and Assia Mestassi complete a solid committed team. “We all share strong values, and we believe that our team is our biggest strength,” he adds.
The team has been now made it to the finals of the MIT Enterprise Forum Arab Competition, in Kuwait City, where they hope to develop their working prototype more efficiently and network with other entrepreneurs and investors.
“As an innovative project in Morocco we would say that one of our biggest challenges is to gain credibility with our partners. The lack of funds is sometimes a challenge but it pushes us to bring creative solutions and keep track of what we are doing. However, these are only challenges; none is a barrier. Our determination and creativity helps us overcome them”.
For more information: Find out about other competing startups at the MIT Enterprise Forum Arab Competition‘s website and follow @MITEFarab on Twitter.
