Several years ago, the Tunisian company Chifco pioneered the Inner J Box, a product using Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity to monitor energy consumption. 

At the time, Chifco was gaining attention from venues like ZDNet and other parts of the online tech world. After all, products to work with utilities costs could be a popular consumer opportunity anywhere in the world. This past week, Maghreb News Wire caught up with Chifco’s founder, Amine Chouaieb, to talk about how the business is doing.

“In the near future, we intend to explore new foreign markets in order to seal new partnerships and implement our smart solutions, specifically in the EMEA region,” Chouaieb said. “We have set ourselves the goal of becoming one of the major IoT leaders in the MENA region, and furthermore, expanding our teams and exploiting the potential of IoT in health, education and mobility could be part of Chifco’s future.”

Speaking about Chifco’s origins and its current headquarters in Tunisia, Chouaieb called the nation a “promising market.”

“The entrepreneurial ecosystem is rich and a major asset, as it is the entrepreneurial communities, mostly made up of young people, who really want to move the country forward,” Chouaieb said. “They are motivated and passionate.”

Chouaieb also talked about the dreams that led to the success of his company.

“I had the idea to create Chifco at a young age, while watching a TV report on the Silicon Valley,” Chouaieb said. “At that time, I understood that the Internet of Things was going to be “the next big thing.” This led me to think that in Tunisia we could also do the same, and even more.”

In addition, Chouaieb ascribes some of Chifco's success to having good “human capital” in place -- competent people, he says, who want to participate and move the company forward.

“(We need) a clear vision and the ability to translate our strategy into a discourse accessible to all,” Chouaieb said.