Smain Harek, SK 2011, founder of Appwards, the digital loyalty card.

After 5 years’ experience in investment banks, for the last 5 years Smain has worked as a project manager and made the switch from sports facilities to digital technology, with exceptional results in France and the Middle East. These days he is a Project Manager for the Al Hokair Group and the founder of Appwards, a digital loyalty card.

Can you tell us about your time at SKEMA?

I joined SKEMA Business School in 2007 on the Sophia Antipolis campus. During my second year, I completed a first internship at Société Général CIB (Paris). I then continued my studies with a gap year at Lyxor AM (Paris), followed by EFG Bank (Geneva). After these experiences, I joined the double master’s programme in financial markets and IT that was being offered for the first time on the Raleigh campus (USA). After graduating in 2011, I joined Crédit Agricole CIB in Dubai as part of a VIE (volunteer for international experience programme), having been recruited by a SKEMA alumnus.

Why did you create Appwards?

In 2013, I decided to embark on an entrepreneurial venture by creating a five-a-side football facility in Lyon. During that experience I quickly realised that I was unable to create any sort of connection with my customers once they left my establishment.

That’s why in 2018 I created Appwards, the new-generation digital loyalty card. I believe it’s a vital tool for any shop or business to stay connected with their customers by applying 4 rules:

    -Build a robust customer database
    -Create the business’s mobile application, integrating the loyalty card, where customers can keep track of their points and discounts
    -Send out targeted marketing campaigns (sms, email, push) thanks to a filtering tool
    -Discover statistics relating to customer behaviour

We truly believe that this corresponds to the commerce of tomorrow, with web access on a tablet that you can take home to analyse all your numbers.

What are your challenges for 2018-2019?

We are able to implement our solution within 48 hours no matter where our client is on the globe. We now face several challenges: the first is to have a total solution thanks to the development of the POS system. We are in preliminary discussions with investors because we are thinking about raising capital to accelerate our penetration/development in our target markets (France and United Arab Emirates). If we can pull off these two challenges, the idea is to set up a team based in Dubai and in Paris to boost Appwards sales.

Do you agree that SKEMA Alumni is a big family?

SKEMA is indeed a big family and there is a strong sense of belonging. All of the alumni have very different backgrounds and mutual support remains the cornerstone of the network! I have received support from the SKEMA network several times, and most notably when I was recruited by Credit Agricole CIB in Dubai in 2012, thanks to an FMIT alumnus (Michel Sarfati).

Contact: Smain Harek / http://www.app-wards.com/