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Founder’s Story Unexpected Journeys
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00:00Can you hear me well?
00:02So, I'm Dr. Rasha Rodi.
00:04I'm the co-founder and CEO of Shifa.
00:07And I want to start with a question.
00:11Comfort zones.
00:13What are comfort zones?
00:16By definition, it should be a place where you feel comfortable.
00:20But then, why do people get out of comfort zones if they are comfortable?
00:25Right?
00:26The logical answer would be because it's no longer comfortable.
00:32Back in 2018, I was a lecturer of pediatrics.
00:37I teach med students.
00:39I train younger doctors.
00:41I see my patients in my clinic, follow up with them.
00:45And I listen to their problems and challenges getting their medications sustainably.
00:50But as a doctor, I had nothing to do with it.
00:53I couldn't do anything about it.
00:55So, in a sense, I was actually growing in my comfort zones.
01:01But something happened.
01:03Something personal.
01:04My co-founder and friend, Doa Ayrif, who is the CEO of Shifa, was diagnosed with thyroid cancer.
01:11And she started facing the same challenges my patients were facing with their sustainability and accessing their medication.
01:24But I still was powerless.
01:26I didn't know what to do about it.
01:29Doa Ayrif has the entrepreneurial background.
01:31She has the business background.
01:33And she started to tackle this differently.
01:35Together, we started to look and do research about the regulations in other countries.
01:41How people are solving this in other countries.
01:43We went through regulations, programs, accelerators.
01:47And we decided to embark on this journey together and build Shifa.
01:52A GPS-enabled mobile app using this technology and AI to help patients get more convenient access to the recurring
02:03pharmaceutical needs.
02:05That's how we started this.
02:07But at that moment, I had no business background.
02:12I had no entrepreneur background.
02:13And I've never even read or built a business plan.
02:19Nevertheless, we decided to embark on this journey together.
02:22We went to do focus groups with pharmacists, with patients, with industrial stakeholders.
02:29We would actually stand out of a pharmacy and ask the simple walk-in patients, would you use this, showing
02:38them our MVP?
02:40We would go to the pharmacy and ask them, would you actually receive a prescription over a mobile app?
02:48Would you go through this and fulfill this?
02:50And the answers that we got were amazing.
02:53Because the pharmacist simply said, we already received orders over WhatsApp.
02:58So getting this over an app is no problem.
03:01It's no different.
03:02But how can we track these orders?
03:05And then the question would be, how can we track our financials?
03:09So we built a dashboard.
03:11We built a portal.
03:12It was like the perfect scenario for us to build a roadmap for our R&D.
03:18And then we went for the patients.
03:19What would you want to see?
03:21Do focus groups.
03:22And they were like, I want an archive of all my past orders so they can reorder easily.
03:27Another roadmap for our R&D.
03:30And we started doing this year over year.
03:34And now, after five years of working with CHFA, actually more than five years now, we have fulfilled millions of
03:43orders.
03:43We are operating nationwide in Egypt.
03:46We have expanded to Saudi Arabia and actually operating in 14 Saudi cities.
03:52We have more than 16 pharma companies operating with us.
03:59But why would pharma companies do that?
04:01Again, we talk to the other industry stakeholders.
04:05CHFA started with one service, connecting patients with a network of pharmacies.
04:11But now, by tackling all pieces of the supply chain, CHFA can offer the patients to get their pharmacy, recurring
04:19pharmacy needs, in real time, within 45 minutes, up to two hours.
04:22Or, you can have it scheduled next day and get a discount.
04:27Or you can even subscribe to a VIP service.
04:31The data generated from that helped us to offer services to the other industry stakeholders, to pharma companies, where we
04:39launched a business intelligence hub.
04:41We can actually predict our partner's stock needs.
04:44Now, we can actually supply our partner pharmacies with their stock needs to help them face this very fragmented pharmacy
04:53market.
04:53That was really great.
04:56At that moment, I learned a lot.
04:58I went through many programs to acknowledge my weaknesses in building business plans.
05:03I went through Cartier Women Initiative.
05:05We actually got, two years ago, we were awarded the Africa Tech Award here at Viva Tech.
05:12And now, here we are.
05:14That was really amazing.
05:16So, after all that, let's go back to the first question.
05:21Comfort zones.
05:23Is it where you grow?
05:25Definitely.
05:26Can you grow out of it?
05:27Definitely.
05:29But, what I did was, I grew within my comfort zone.
05:34I grew out of my comfort zone, but I innovated out of my comfort zone because of the new need
05:40that motivated me to get out of this comfort zone.
05:45Should we redefine the word comfort zone?
05:48I don't know.
05:49That's a question for you guys.
05:52Maybe I need your help with that.
05:54Should we redefine the word comfort zone?
05:56Is it where you grow?
05:57You die?
05:58You innovate?
05:59For me, I grew within it, out of it.
06:03I innovated out of it.
06:05And I think all you need is to step out of comfort zone.
06:11Check it out.
06:12I'm sure you can thrive in it and grow out of it and innovate out of it.
06:17Thank you.
06:24Rasha, thank you so much.
06:26Now, I have a few questions for you, if we can.
06:29We're talking about founder stories and how they're quite unexpected journeys.
06:34As a medical expert, okay, did your medical training actually help you or hinder you in your journey to becoming
06:41a founder?
06:41It hindered me first before helping me because there's this, you call it the A-B testing in the entrepreneurial
06:49world?
06:50We don't do that in medicine.
06:51I can't do A-B testing with my patient.
06:54Okay, so it took me some time to understand and to accept that you can actually do A-B testing.
07:01My friend, the founder, she really was struggling with me with that.
07:06And then when I understood this concept, it went really well.
07:10Okay, and how did you actually look to overcome some of the technical and regulatory hurdles?
07:17This is medical that we're talking about.
07:20How did you do that?
07:21Well, with my medical background, I already knew all about the regulations in place and how they are really outdated.
07:30So we could design a process that actually can function within the already in place regulations.
07:37But for the technical part, actually, the CEO and my friend was the one in charge of that.
07:43So she was really great.
07:45Fantastic.
07:45We have questions coming in from the audience.
07:47Okay.
07:47Okay, we've got one here.
07:48What strategies has Chepha employed to scale its operations and expand its market presence?
07:53Okay, so when we started with Chepha there, we have seen a certain gap that no one was tackling, which
08:04was there was serious lack of education, poor patient education.
08:08So we started with an Arabic-speaking pharmaceutical blog.
08:11And with this blog that now has millions of people all over the Arabic-speaking population, we can retarget the
08:21relevant users so that they can make orders and offer our services.
08:25And that's how we started.
08:27Now Chepha is ranked number one in most of the keywords.
08:31We are ranked number one in Egypt in the category of pharmacy as per similar web, and they're in Egypt,
08:36and number two in Saudi as per similar web.
08:38And then with the marketing expertise of our CEO, actually, we can now scale the orders one city after other.
08:46We're a very light asset.
08:48And then once we have validated this need in Egypt, we have strong footprints, we started to go to another
08:56country.
08:56After doing a lot of unpaid pilots, you have to do a lot of research to make sure that you're
09:02going to the right place.
09:03Indeed.
09:04Scaling is one of the topics that's key for any startup out there, and we're going to be covering this,
09:08and you're going to be hearing a lot about it today.
09:10What major trends do you see shaping the future of digital healthcare and the pharmaceutical delivery?
09:17Okay, let's put into consideration that the regulations is different from one country to another.
09:23And in most of the minor region countries, there is no law drafted for the e-pharmacy.
09:30So you have to work within what's in place already.
09:33The trends, the online pharmacy is actually fulfilling more than 1.48% of the total pharma market value in
09:42the minor region, and it's growing fast.
09:44So it is the coming trend.
09:46However, the concept of e-pharmacy is different from one country to another.
09:51Okay, and let's actually talk about that also, because as you said, it's quite specific.
09:55Everyone wants to scale.
09:57You have to go internationally.
09:58But you've got all these different countries, all these different regulations.
10:01How did you make the decision to expand into Saudi Arabia?
10:06Okay, first, as I said, we did a lot of unpaid pilots, first, to make sure that we're going to
10:11the right place.
10:12So, number one, we went through the regulations in place.
10:15It's almost the same as in Egypt, so we will not be facing any different regulations.
10:21Our app is designed to work within the already in place regulations in Egypt, so it's going to work there
10:27in Saudi Arabia.
10:28The user behavior of Saudis is quite similar to the Egyptian user behavior, apart from some differences, but it's the
10:35majority, yes.
10:36We have tested the gap, the need.
10:39We did focus groups with pharmacy chains, and we did focus groups with patients there, the same as we did
10:45in Egypt, to confirm the need and that our product actually fits the market need.
10:51Okay, so, yes, when you're thinking about scaling out to new countries, then you've got to be thinking about the
10:55regulations.
10:56Yes, definitely.
10:57You've got to be thinking about the trends, but also the users, you know, the end customers out there.
11:01You're going to need to take that into account as well.
11:03We've got a lot of questions coming in for you now.
11:05I'm going to try and merge some of these together.
11:08Upcoming innovations or new features that you're planning to introduce?
11:12Oh, yeah.
11:13Yeah, actually, this is some good news.
11:15Well, it's already published.
11:17Shifat was selected to attend the Google AI Academy.
11:21Yeah.
11:22And our demo day will be on the 28th of May in Riyadh.
11:27So, it's coming up.
11:28And we will be, with the help of Google, they will help us to launch our newest AI product.
11:35Okay.
11:35I can't say everything about it.
11:37It's slightly good, but, yeah.
11:39You're doing some great teasing for it.
11:41But it's designed to help both patients and pharmacies, especially small pharmacies in the Miner region,
11:48in this very fragmented market, to help them grow their small businesses.
11:53So, it will have impact, dual impact on both sides.
11:56Okay.
11:57One very important question for you here now, Rashaday, and one.
12:00What is it that you want to get out of VivaTech today?
12:03What is it that you want to come away from your experience here at VivaTech with?
12:06How can we help you in that?
12:08Well, we are here to meet people, potential partners,
12:13with the mandate to work in the Miner region and Africa, of course,
12:18interested in the pharmaceutical industry and the supply chain, digitizing supply chain.
12:23And we're happy to say that we're about to open our next round for fundraising next month.
12:28So, yes, please, any investors interested, let's go.
12:32Fantastic.
12:32So, thank you so much for sharing your amazing founder story with us, Rashaday.
12:37It's been fantastic having you start the day.
12:39If you see Rashaday and her team out there walking around, say hi.
12:44Introduce her to people.
12:45Help out our female founders here.
12:48Thank you so much for being with us here this morning.
12:50Thank you.
12:53So, now, quick show of hands here in the audience.
12:56How many of you have already tried to learn a new language?
13:03How many of you have raised your hands there to say this?
13:11However, learning a new language is also something that's quite critical for us to be able to work.
13:17And it's the critical work also of our next founder.
13:20We're going to be hearing now from the co-founder of Chatterbox, Mersal Hedayat.
13:25Mersal, welcome to Change Now.
13:27Beg your pardon.
13:28Keep a check.
13:46My name is Mersal Hedayat, and I am many things.
13:50I am an Afghan refugee.
13:53I am the CEO of Chatterbox.
13:57And today, I'm here to share what I think is a very important message.
14:01And that is the importance of language learning for not only diversity and inclusion, but for social justice.
14:08Now, my company is an online language learning platform that is unique because all of the coaches on our platform
14:16are magical human beings.
14:18They are refugees.
14:20They're women returning to work after career breaks.
14:23They're over 50s looking to make a change in their careers or to reenter work.
14:27And these magical human beings are helping some of the top corporates in the world to develop language skills.
14:34Like I said, the purpose of my message is for you to take home the sentiment that language training is
14:41the new frontier for diversity and inclusion.
14:44So, where did I get this message?
14:47How did I start this company?
14:49My family are from Afghanistan, as I said.
14:51And both of my parents were from very poor families.
14:55I think probably like many of you here, they worked incredibly hard to get to where they were in their
15:01careers.
15:01My mom became one of only four women in her year at Kabul University to study and graduate with a
15:08degree in civil engineering.
15:10And my father studied mathematics to a PhD level and eventually became a math professor at Kabul University.
15:19So, just like all of you here, just like me standing on this stage, their professions, their education was so
15:26dear to them.
15:27I can't imagine what it must have felt like when the Taliban surrounded our home in Kabul.
15:32They had two daughters, and I'm very grateful for the brave decision that they made to leave their homes, leave
15:39their assets, their communities, and indeed their professional identities behind.
15:45Because that was what was asked of them.
15:47Because even though we managed to claim asylum and be granted refugee status in one of the world's most advanced
15:56and richest economies, the United Kingdom, there seemed to be no place for the talent of this engineer and this
16:04maths PhD, which is kind of odd.
16:07Why did people with such rigorous educational training and decades of experience, I mean, my mom represented Afghanistan in the
16:17UN Women's Conference, why did they go through unemployment for two years?
16:22And why, when they finally could find work, was it as a laborer in the case of my father and
16:29as a cleaner in the case of my mother?
16:31That's the background to my story as a founder.
16:35And I think almost every person in this audience will know a story like my parents.
16:41This isn't a secret.
16:43This is a well-known fact that there are millions and millions of people in OECD economies, 40 million to
16:50be precise, who have degrees and are unemployed.
16:53And a significant number of them are refugees and migrants.
16:56A recent report came out quoting Eurostat data and analyzing it.
17:05And it showed that solving this problem in the economy is worth 33.8 billion euros.
17:14If we were to take refugees and migrants and place them into the jobs that they're actually qualified to do,
17:21that is the level of growth that the EU economy would experience.
17:25So, again, the question is why?
17:27Why do our advanced economies not welcome and give a home to this talent?
17:33Well, in the case of my parents, I can use them as an example.
17:36The first problem was discrimination.
17:40Discrimination against their overseas qualifications.
17:45Discrimination against their overseas experience that was undervalued by UK HR managers.
17:50Let's just be real.
17:52And the other one, which today I found so profoundly unfair, was although they spoke English fluently, it probably wasn't
18:04good enough to impress a UK company.
18:07We all know that putting aside language barriers, there are accent barriers to accessing the work that people are qualified
18:14to do.
18:14We discriminate against accents.
18:17What do migrants and refugees have to do to break through that glass ceiling when perhaps their language level might
18:23need a slight uplift?
18:26Now, I'm not going to assume that everyone here cares about refugees the way that I do.
18:32So, let's just assume you don't care about refugees.
18:34Because remember, I'm here to instill the message that language training is crucial for inclusion in organizations.
18:40So, let's put refugees and migrants to one side.
18:43Let's put that 33.8 billion euros of value to one side.
18:48What about someone here in France?
18:52Today, in France, if you're from a wealthy background, you have access to travel opportunities.
18:59You might travel to the United States to practice your English.
19:03Your parents might have sent you to an English summer school to make sure your accent and your pronunciation is
19:09on point.
19:10And what if you're from a state school here in France?
19:13Well, we know if you come from a state school, you're 1.5 times less likely to access high-quality
19:20language training.
19:22And what does that mean in the workforce?
19:23It means the people entering the workforce have a socioeconomic inequality in their access to language training
19:31that perpetuates inequalities throughout their working life unless that is addressed.
19:37I think we could all agree that governments aren't going to be the solution of all of the world's problems.
19:42And this is the role of companies and us to come together and change this inside our own companies.
19:50Seven years ago, I started a movement called Chatterbox, a movement to make companies more inclusive
19:57of linguistically and culturally diverse talent, both inside and outside.
20:03Today, we're one of the fastest-growing brands in corporate language training.
20:09Our clients span Fortune 500 companies.
20:14I would love to cite some of them, but I haven't received permission for all of them,
20:18so I'll just say the biggest brands you can think of work with, Chatterbox.
20:22And above all, we are able to help people like my parents.
20:27So let me tell you what the experience is like for a refugee or a woman who is coming back
20:34after raising a family who works with Chatterbox.
20:37Now, all of Chatterbox's language coaches are supported by a wraparound AI-powered learning engine
20:45that we've designed with a user experience with the highest quality SaaS interface for our learners.
20:50But where our coaches, these degree-educated people with sometimes decades of experience
20:59in an industry or a field, I'm talking on the Chatterbox platform, we have Congolese medical doctors.
21:05We have South American educators.
21:09We have Middle Eastern academics on our platform.
21:12These previously unemployed individuals are able to share their language and culture
21:19with fellow professionals at top companies.
21:22And the type of relationship that they're able to build,
21:25both because they are highly educated and highly motivated,
21:30is really the secret magic behind Chatterbox.
21:33We have some of our learners who've traveled as far as South America to meet their language coaches.
21:38That bond, that mutual impact, that mutual benefit is just so powerful.
21:43And of course, the technology and the software enables it all.
21:47So on the one side, you have refugees and marginalized professionals on the Chatterbox platform
21:53contributing something that other people think is a liability, their language skills,
21:59as an added factor to help companies grow.
22:02And on the other side, you have our learners.
22:05So who is the typical Chatterbox learner?
22:08The typical Chatterbox learner might be a factory floor worker of a major global corporation.
22:16They might be a migrant.
22:17They might not have had the opportunity to access high-quality language training.
22:23We know that 50% of refugees and migrants in rich economies don't have that access.
22:30And they might have aspirations to go up into senior management.
22:35And that might be completely unavailable to them because they work hard.
22:41They work all the hours that they have at their job.
22:43And if their corporate employer had not incentivized that factory worker, that talent might have stayed on the floor.
22:49But with language training, that employee is not only retained, but they're progressed up into management layers.
22:57Or our learner might be a high-achieving office worker in Geneva who understands the value of multicultural training,
23:07of new language skills, of cultural intelligence for their future.
23:11We know from data from HR organizations that having a language training program in your company increases employee retention by
23:2225%.
23:23And according to Glassdoor, having a corporate language training program increases the number of applications you get for a job
23:32by 40%.
23:33And the EU says that having a language training program increases the chances that you will increase your market share
23:43by 50%.
23:44I could go on.
23:45The economic value is there.
23:47But hopefully I've also made a case for the social justice issue.
23:52Languages should not be a limitation to what you can achieve in life.
23:57The limits of your language are the limits of your world.
24:01That's what they say.
24:02And that's not just metaphorical.
24:05The limit of your language literally limits what you can do in today's globalized economy.
24:11Now, let me make a comparison just to end here.
24:15Once upon a time, we used to think that corporate leaders were only coming from schools like Eton.
24:25Or I don't know what the equivalent here in France would be.
24:28That you were born to be a leader.
24:29Or that you were trained at a young age to be a leader.
24:32Today, we know that's nonsense.
24:34Today, leadership training is a core part of any corporate's toolkit to develop and nurture diverse talent.
24:43Language training is the same.
24:45It needs to be universally accessible.
24:48It needs to be universally accessible.
24:48And if the governments won't step up, this is the role of corporate leaders.
24:51So, as corporate leaders, as company leaders, as company builders, I really hope that's the message that you'll take home.
25:00That this is a necessity for so many that it unlocks economic value from a wealth of diversity that wouldn't
25:07otherwise exist.
25:09And I'll leave it with something that we like to say at Chatterbox.
25:13Learn a language, change a life.
25:15Well, actually, with Chatterbox, when you learn a language, you change two lives.
25:25Thank you so much for sharing your founder story with us here today.
25:30Very quickly, we have a couple of questions.
25:32We're going to go fast.
25:32How does Chatterbox leverage technology to deliver your language services and improve the user experience?
25:39So, I'm a big fan of human loop models with technology.
25:43I think I'm an AI and technology optimist.
25:46I don't think that technology is going to eliminate all work, although that would be great, too.
25:50I think that humans in collaboration with technology always produces the best outcome.
25:55And it's the same with learning.
25:57You know, there's nothing more boring than listening to a teacher lecturing you on a board.
26:04Software, videos, AI-assisted games, gamification, these are far more interesting.
26:10But where the human being is necessary in learning is in building the relationship with the learner
26:15and in language learning, in practicing with the learner.
26:18And so, we make sure that we optimize where the software leads the learning and where humans lead the learning.
26:25is about a 20% to 80% split.
26:27So, the learner experiences an online learning experience for 80% of the time,
26:32and 20% of the time, they're in the classroom with our coaches.
26:35Fantastic.
26:35Those feedback loops that we need to get into these kind of organizations so that you can tune all the
26:40time.
26:41In the one minute that we have left here, what's next for you and for Chatterbox?
26:46What is it that you're looking to get out of VivaTech and your time whilst you're here with us?
26:52I think the message that I've shared is a really important one.
26:56It's Refugee Week in just over a month.
26:59And at Chatterbox, we'll be running a campaign that I hope many of you will support.
27:04And it supports a message that sometimes when it comes to certain groups of talent that have been historically marginalized,
27:11they need a tiny extra step to be able to demonstrate their full potential.
27:16And I think that message is what I'd love to carry, we'd love you to carry home to your organizations.
27:22And of course, an introduction to your HR teams for Chatterbox would also be brilliant.
27:27Fantastic.
27:27Thank you so much for being with us, Marcel.
27:29I know you've got, I think it's Vanessa, your colleague here in the audience as well.
27:32If you see Marcel or Vanessa whilst you're wandering around here today, say hello, introduce yourself,
27:39because that's what we're doing here, help Chatterbox out.
27:42Thank you so much for being with us here today.
27:43Thank you.
27:46What I love so much about what we've just heard from these two amazing women
27:51is that their solutions are addressing really critical issues out there.
27:56We have access to life-saving drugs, access to life-changing skills, and to employment.
28:03So thanks so much to Rasha of Chaffa and Marcel of Chatterbox.
28:09Unexpected journeys from founders.
28:11These are the stories we've started today.
28:13It's a great day to set us up for Startup Thursday here.
28:17Next, we're going to be cracking on, looking at how we grow and scale.
28:21So we're going to be back here in just a few minutes with some best practices.
28:25See you soon.
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