Where are you from? What is your story?

“I was born and raised in Morocco. At 18, I had the chance to study in Paris. I dreamed of becoming a researcher in mathematics! Then, I realized that I wanted to do something more applied. I obtained a master's degree in management from a business school in Lille. In my final year, I did a student exchange at Université Laval in Quebec City. Seduced by the reputation for welcoming foreigners and openness towards the LGBTQ2+ community, I planned to settle here.”

What motivated you to start your own business?

“I have always had an entrepreneurial spirit. I had ideas, I went for it, eager for challenges. I have a great thirst to control my destiny, even if I didn’t take the most direct path! After France, in 2011, my partner and I came to Quebec City to continue our studies. Information technology interested me more and more. After an MBA in IT management, I was recruited by the KPMG firm to offer transactional consulting services.

Then they sent me to Sydney for a year and a half to develop digital transformation strategies for businesses. There, financial technology and innovations in the banking world were cutting edge. I learned a lot and I put that edge in my baggage.

Having been sitting in the advisor's chair for five years with KPMG, I wanted to know what it was like on the other side of the table and how consultants' reports could have real added value for companies. In 2018, I went to work at Desjardins, but I only stayed there for a year. It wasn't going fast enough for me; I was still too far from any concrete impacts. I was champing at the bit, going around in circles. The opportunity was served on a silver platter to do something with my frustration: start my own business."

What is the idea behind your company Walo?

“The idea of Walo is to teach young people (8-14 years old) the value of money. Walo is a mobile application, connected to the child's bank account, which allows parents to assign tasks and automate allowances. There are quizzes, games, coins earned in a Walo store and a financial health score following the evolution of savings.

What interests me is how to use technologies to revolutionize industries. Personally, my family has always supported me, until I mastered it. And despite that, I didn't save anything! I only learned very late, by making mistakes. I wanted to be able to open this tool for the next generation.

The concept of equal opportunities particularly touches me. I am a woman and in my field, it is not yet won! There is still a glass ceiling for us. However, talent has neither gender nor color. It is this combination that is at the origin of Walo. Financial responsibility begins young and it allows you to start life on the same basis. It is part of an education that brings change in society and it is exciting to be part of it.

What helped you get started?

“Competitions, scholarships and incubators! Alongside my jobs, I took on challenges. Walo was the result of a competition, the Cooperathon , the largest in Canada in open innovation with social impact. It was this $8,500 scholarship that really launched me.

In November 2018, a month later, I incorporated the company, I was ready. In the evenings and weekends, Chloé (Guillemard) and I, my partner and co-founder, developed a more in-depth market study, prototyping and testing.

I enrolled in the École des entrepreneurs de Québec , which helped us create a business plan and structure ourselves. We also went through the Montreal incubator Fintech Cadence , with the Ascension program. This accelerator was instrumental in developing the technological product we wanted to put on the market, specific to the financial industry, which is also highly regulated.

What helped propel you?

Every financial aid counts for a start-up. For an IT start-up, especially, because the initial investment to build the technology and market it before even touching a single dollar is substantial. We have obtained grants, non-repayable contributions and loans from various organizations (such as Desjardins, the National Bank of Canada and the City of Quebec).

We made calls for projects from the Ministry of Economy and Innovation in artificial intelligence. We sought funding from the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) with the Futurpreneur program. And we won other competitions with scholarships, such as FinteQC 2019, Fintech Forum 2019 and StartupFest Montréal 2020. Not to mention Entreprendre Ici 2020, the only one related to being immigrant entrepreneurs.

What were the main obstacles in your path and how did you overcome them?

Being a woman in technology and finance, which are male-dominated fields, is a bigger challenge for me than being an immigrant. Of course, there are always biases associated with being a foreigner, such as preconceived ideas about my origins, mistakes with my first name, unconscious racist remarks. It's sometimes harmless, but it's still unpleasant. I didn't look for assistance programs for newcomers because I quickly found a job in a large company. I was also able to build a network of professionals in Quebec for six years before making the leap into entrepreneurship. What got me started was my determination.

The Walo team already has twenty employees and is multicultural. Today, we are three co-founders (with Parth Gadhiya, the techie). I recruited based on talent. Naturally, we are already looking internationally, starting with Brazil, where our business developer comes from. Diversity brings this openness.