Our second interview was with Ayhem Ghanmi, the co-founder of Hackup, who, at the age of 18, becomes the first high school student to secure the Startup Act label from the Tunisian Ministry of Communication Technologies. In this interview, we’ll be talking about his career and the various hackathons that he organized.

Q:
Welcome Mr. Ayhem Ghanmi, thank you for accepting the invitation. Would you start by introducing yourself to the public?

A:
My name is Ayhem Ghanmi, I am CEO and Co-Founder of HackUp, a startup that does the matching between developers and companies, and we also organize hackathons. 

Q:
You started working on your startup and organizing Hackathons at age 17 which is considered a very young age. Did you face any difficulties that discouraged you at that age? 

A:
Actually, I started with small events at high school when I was 15. I participated in hackathons, tech talks, etc… Then I worked as an ambassador for a startup based in Silicon Valley called AngelHack, my role was to centralize a Tunisian community.

Q:
Where did you hear about data science and AI and what motivated you to discover these fields?

A:
When I was 15years old, AI represented a qualitative shift in my personality. At that age, I took my first steps into the world of programming, and I started to take courses and to develop myself in this field. I was also fascinated by Elon Musk. His vision, his determination, and his creativity were very inspiring, and certainly, the way he talked about AI had its big impact on me. I recall his debate with Jack Ma about AI. That moment, Musk realized that his opponent was an idiot because he considered AI to be a myth. As for Musk, AI is a revolution in human history, and it is going to change the way we see the world. And that was enough to motivate me. Besides, I’ve always thought that the process of recruitment nowadays should be based on data science and AI rather than to be limited to classic interviews and to some academic papers that do not necessarily provide the right picture of the candidate. And here our startup can interfere to determine the best fit for the post according to hackathons’ results and problem-solving abilities of the candidates.  

Q:
What schools or online platforms do you recommend for people who want to evolve in the tech industry? 

A:
Well, I would say that problem-solving is one of the key capacities that differentiate between a good candidate and a bad one. Moreover, while problem-solving skills are valued by employers, they are also highly useful in other areas of life like relationship building and day-to-day decision making. So by the time we have the Hack’up platform fully launched, I would recommend Codeforces and Codewars.

Q:
Your career as an entrepreneur started at a very young age. You were in high school when you opened your startup and participated in organizing Hackathons. How did you manage to keep a balance between work and school?

A:
At first, it wasn’t easy to balance both. I literally abandoned my studies and focused on my startup. And then, there come times when you feel depressed about neglecting your studies and this may really affect your work. However, when you achieve a great advancement at work and see the positive results of the efforts you made, the only thing that crosses your mind will be: “Yes, I did it” and you realize that it was worth all the sacrifices. By the time, I have succeeded in reconciling my studies and my work. I study in the morning and work at night. And, honestly, I have the chance to be surrounded by a great team. My teammates are very comprehensive, united, and motivated. By combining everyone’s special qualifications, despite all the time constraints we face, we always go further.

Q:
How did you manage to convince sponsors to risk their money on a beginner?

A:
My age was never a constraint, it has actually been one of the reasons for my success. However, the need still exists and will never disappear neither in Tunisia nor in other countries, because we are facing a big problem, which is brain drain. Any developer who graduates immediately leaves the country for France, Germany, the US, etc.. in the pursuit of a much better salary, a comfortable working environment. So, the companies figured that, with Hackathons, they could reach the talents and potentials of those who already found their way out.

Q:
Can you tell us about Fin Hack?

A:
Fin Hack was the fourth hackathon that we organized. Let me say it was the best in terms of experience. The participants were of another level. People got to know each other, creating new networks, etc. I have to say that FinTech is a delicate field in Tunisia. The current law made its scope limited. So the teams got creative with their ideas, especially after the Crowdfunding Act. Through our hackathons to are trying to change the classical definition of the event. When Tunisia first started organizing a hackathon it was done in a really wrong way. Well, I understand why it was like that. The budgets were limited, so we couldn’t compete with other hackathons as organized in Europe or the US, in the Silicon Valley for example. I actually believe that, without hackathons, Silicon Valley wouldn’t be Silicon Valley. That’s where the innovation and creativity came from. In Tunisia, since 2017, we are seeing a rise in hackathons. But, we believe it’s not the final version. That’s what we want to do. Finalize the organization of hackathons, from the show to the quality of service. That’s what makes a hackathon special. It’s rare to see a developer getting recruited by a company or getting a scholarship by a university after participating in a hackathon. We want to make it a crucial part of our hackathon, making them a fare for ideas and innovation.

Q:
In the several hackathons that you organized, what was the percentage of participants your age?

A:
Sometimes companies that we work with won’t accept participants other than university students or graduated ones so a high school student can’t participate, unfortunately. However, in the online hackathon « Hack’ched Darek« , the percentage was nearly 20 % and for the « Hackup Education Hackathon« , it was between 5% and 10%. 

Q:
Do you think it’s a good percentage or are we far from our objectives? 

A:
These are good percentages. They bring us hope that the number of participants will rise and that people will eventually be more Interested in development and coding. In fact in our country, civilians don’t think as they did back in the 2010s anymore where everyone wanted to be a doctor, an architect, or a lawyer… Now it’s different, people are more focused on the Tech field and have the « American Dream » vision.

Q:
Can you tell us about the hierarchy of the organizing team of a hackathon?

A:
To me, the organization team of a hackathon should have a Project Manager or what I prefer calling an « Event Manager » who is constantly working alongside a communication manager, getting funds and sponsors. And then we find a logistics team, some volunteers that would work on the D-day.

Q:
Are there any inspiring speakers or entrepreneurs who have left an impact on you?

A:
I don’t recall someone specific to be honest but, I want to talk about an American Iranian speaker who is an investor/entrepreneur. He studied in Iran but he always wanted to pursue his studies in America. It seemed very hard for him to do it, but he never gave up and he managed to travel to America and study there. After graduating from college, he started working for HP. Since his first month of work, he wanted to head up. He realized that it takes a person a lifetime to become a manager. Therefore, he started looking for a shortcut. He talked to his manager asking for advice so he told him that it takes time because there are procedures to follow. He didn’t like what he’s been told, so he decided to go speak to the CEO. But he got the same answer. Finally, he managed to convince the CEO to allow him to start his own project, making him a project manager. After a period, he left HP and started multiple start-ups. Some failed and some succeeded. Until, step by step, he became a millionaire.

Q:
What makes a hackathon successful?

A:
you can tell if a hackathon is successful based on the feedback. I believe that if a developer or student think that your hackathon was of a great impact on them, or a new hackathon participant decides to become a hackathon hunter and never miss any future hackathons then your hackathon is definitely a success because it has created a pipeline or a hype that attracts people to participate.  Adding to that, in a couple of years, you see the evolution of the participants thanks to your hackathon. That’s what makes it successful.

Q:
What makes people give positive feedbacks on a hackathon?

A:
Generally, the problem in the mentality of students is that they only participate if there are big and important prizes. they see their participation as work that needs to be rewarded with a prize. they forget the most important thing that it is an opportunity to improve their skills, meet new people, learn from different speakers, improve their pitch following the advice of the jury, etc. They only focus on the prize. Meanwhile, others attend to have fun and enjoy the food. I remember once, we received feedback saying that it was too serious and a lot of stressful work. Therefore, it always depends on the people and what they think.

Q:
What advice would you give to teenagers who are willing to savor your success?

A:
I haven’t yet achieved success, I’m aware that I’m still at the beginning of the path. Well, sometimes an idea crosses your mind, even if it seemed banal or crazy at first, go for it, write it down at least and keep it for yourself, imagine for today you had the idea of launching a rocket just save it until you take actions. Otherwise, without taking steps, someone else gonna do it instead. As proof, let me remind you of Mark Zuckerberg’s roommates who had shared his same ideas. I bet they regret not being as opportunistic as he was. the same goes for his cofounder who’s still a small shareholder as a result of giving up on the project. To conclude on this point execute your ideas otherwise you’ll regret it. 

Q:
What do you think about brain drain?

A:
As a problem, Well I guess it has no solution, and even if it has one you will see its effect after 5 to 10 years. If a  developer or a student aims to gain a good salary no one can blame him for that it is his ambition. However, one should know that there are developers in Tunisia who, thanks to their skills and work, achieved fantastic salaries and enormous numbers similar to the salaries in France and the USA. Well, I imagine anyone listening will say that these are exceptions and not everyone can have the necessary skills. Besides the hierarchy in the enterprise is to be an intern and progress step by step. This process may be unfair for a lot of people which are very talented but they have to get through it. So, there is a problem with the recruitment process this is certain which keeps people away from it. On the other hand, we have the impatient developer who did not live that process owing to his talent, he could have been discovered faster, and he could have achieved what he wanted in a shorter period of time. So they are both accountable, and we as HackUp are hoping that one day we’ll force the enterprise or let’s say convince it as it will be convinced itself. For example, if there is a system of ranking in the platform let’s say there are 50 thousands or one hundred thousand in the platform it will be quite obvious that the best-ranked developer is the best one and his statistics will prove this too. Thus, his salary will be automatically higher. I think at a certain time we will be able to change the process which is very long for the low-paid developers. Finally, I think it is all related to the person’s skills.

Q:
Where do you see yourself in five years?

A:
So for the next five years, we will already be dominated Africa, reached the middle east, and aiming to enter the European market. Moreover, we are hopefully thinking that HackUp will be the biggest developers’ community in Africa

Q:
Can you give us a quote that motivates you?

A:
There are a lot of things that motivate me. I’m not going to give a quote rather a person and a TV series. I will begin with the TV Series: Silicon Valley. It is one of the things that made me start this journey. Well, the end isn’t that great. I don’t think any start-up will end up like that… but let’s avoid spoiling it. The person: Elon Musk. He leapfrogged two billionaires in a month to become the 4th billionaire in the world. You can only say that he is crazy. He always comes up with new ideas that seem impossible, only to make them real.