Blog Post by Tommaso Lapiana, BeEntrepreneurs Volunteer
Impact Beyond Borders 2024 took place in Casablanca during the last week of October, a bootcamp designed to connect Moroccan start-ups with meaningful opportunities for growth. Organised by BeEntrepreneurs and supported by Sisal and GoBeyond, it brought together ambitious early-stage founders, experienced mentors, and key figures from both the local and Italian ecosystems.
Our call for start-ups drew more than 150 applications from across Morocco. From these, we selected 8 promising teams to join us for an intensive four-day programme. The bootcamp wasn’t just about equipping founders with knowledge—it was about creating connections: strengthening their networks locally, preparing them for the Italian ecosystem, and encouraging honest, constructive dialogue with leading voices in the entrepreneurial space. The schedule combined panel discussions, one-on-one mentoring, and sessions that allowed start-ups to pitch and receive direct feedback. Each day was carefully structured to balance group learning with individual support, ensuring every founder left with insights tailored to their challenges.
One of my favorite moments of the whole bootcamp was the peer-to-peer session with Omar Alami, founder of Ora Technologies, and Ismail Bergakh, CEO and co-founder of Wafr. These successful local founders brought a level of authenticity that struck a chord with participants, sharing real lessons from their journeys while challenging the start-ups to refine their thinking. According to participants’ feedback, their approach was direct, grounded, and precisely what aspiring founders needed to hear.
The bootcamp also featured high-level panels addressing early-stage start-ups’ key challenges, such as open innovation, fundraising, and internationalization. During the open innovation session, Mehdi Alaoui (CEO of LaStartupStation), Davide Orfanelli (Sisal), and Riccardo Leonardi (Relearn) explored practical approaches for start-ups to collaborate with larger organizations. For founders looking at international opportunities, Hiba Ritzk (EBRD), Francesco Pagnini (ICE Casablanca), and Lamiae Benmakhlouf (Technopark) shared actionable advice on building a bridge to European markets. The fundraising panel offered another critical opportunity for the start-ups to connect directly with investors. Leaders like Amine Boukouss (212 Founders and CDG Invest), Ming S. Kwan (First Circle Capital), and Reda Laklifi (Founco and DreamVC) listened to short elevator pitches, asked sharp questions, and gave immediate, focused feedback. For many of the founders, having this direct engagement with investors was both rare and transformative.
The programme ended with the Demo Day, where start-ups presented their work to a distinguished jury. The panel included figures such as Hiba Ritzk (EBRD), Sarrah Cherif D’Ouezzan (Sadara Technology), Farouk Lahbabi (CDG Invest), Zaid Benbya (TheAccelerator.ma), Moulay Hafid Amrani (AfriMobility), Davide Orfanelli (Sisal), and representatives from Startgate, including Zahra Nafaa and Kawtar El Outmani. The quality of the pitches demonstrated how far the founders had come in just a few days—more focused, confident, and clear in presenting their solutions. At the end of the day, three start-ups were selected as winners. Two earned a place in the upcoming roadshow in Italy, where they’ll engage with key players in the Italian ecosystem, while the third also received a €10,000 grant from Sisal GoBeyond.
What made Impact Beyond Borders 2024 special was its emphasis on connection. Start-ups didn’t just gain access to tools and frameworks—they engaged with real people: experienced entrepreneurs, investors, and ecosystem enablers who challenged them to think bigger, sharper, and more strategically. At the same time, the programme strengthened the ties within the Moroccan start-up community itself, creating an exchange that felt both collaborative and productive.
Our bootcamp is part of a larger mission to help emerging ecosystems grow by building bridges—between founders and investors, between African countries and Italy, and among the local innovators themselves. As BeEntrepreneurs, we believe these connections are where the real work begins, and I’m proud to have been part of this process.