Karim Beguir and Zohra Slim share their AI Innovation Born in Africa story
InstaDeep’s Co-Founders, CEO Karim Beguir and CWO Zohra Slim, shared their entrepreneurial story with Harvard Business School students during an in-person appearance at the Cambridge, MA institution on February 23rd, marking the publication of a new case study that profiles the decision-making AI start-up.
The case study, “InstaDeep: AI Innovation Born in Africa”, provides an in-depth profile of the pair’s strategy, thinking and actions. It looks at the company’s modest beginnings in North Africa in 2014, through the chance encounters and pivotal moments that changed the company’s direction – to today, where Beguir and Slim lead an AI startup with offices in six countries and nearly 200 employees, with plans to expand into the United States this year.
The study, led by Harvard’s Professor Shikhar Ghosh, and Executive Director of the School’s MENA Research Centre, Esel Cekin, charts how InstaDeep grew from two laptops to its latest new stage of growth as a global AI leader, having recently raised $100 million in investment from backers including Alpha Intelligence Capital, BioNTech, Deutsche Bahn, Google and others.
Harvard Business School’s mission is to “educate leaders who make a difference in the world”, and it has successfully been using case study teaching to achieve this since 1921. Using real-life examples in this way enables students to more effectively apply theory and concepts, and “cultivates the capacity for critical analysis, judgment, decision-making, and action”; preparing them to “navigate business challenges by immersing them in real-world scenarios.”
The “InstaDeep: AI Innovation Born in Africa” Case Study will be available on the Harvard Business Publishing website shortly.
