When Mohamed Badr conceived of the idea for a mobile app that allows businesses and individuals to connect with transportation for items such as furniture, he wanted to launch it in his home country of Egypt.
“Due to the economic conditions in Egypt, such as inflation and the low local currency, in addition to the authorities imposing a lot of additional fees and petty cash that did not exist in the past, such as security permits,” Badr told Disrupt Africa.
So he decided to launch the business in another country, and eventually settled upon Morocco after meeting Munir Sofiani in late-2019. It launched in February 2021.
“At first, we faced severe challenges from coronavirus, but we were able to implement the EZZAL application, and now it is available in all Moroccan cities,” said Badr.
EZZAL links the owners of vehicles with those needing to transport items, be they businesses or individuals.
“Manufacturers want to transport their products and goods in emergency cases such as truck breakdown or accident. Startups don’t have budget to buy cargo vans to convey their goods or distribute their products. The cargo vans and truck owners are looking for customers daily,” Badr said.
EZZAL fills that gap, and has already seen strong uptake from various companies in the sugar and building materials sectors. It has secured several grants, and also banked equity funding from the Maroc Numeric Fund and 212 Founders. It is now looking at moving into more markets – though still not Egypt!
“The markets we are operating in currently are Morocco and neighbouring like Spain, Gibraltar, Portugal, Mauritania, and Senegal. We have expansion plans in North Africa and the Middle East.”
