From financial analyst to founder of a psychological support startup, Lamia Chouk has turned her own lived experience — night-time anxiety, multiple sclerosis, divorce — into a listening service accessible to all Tunisians. With her team, she won the second Orange Prize for the Social Entrepreneur in Africa and the Middle East (POESAM 2020) for her startup Ahkili. She tells La Sultane about the birth of this project.
Who is Lamia Chouk?
A graduate of the École Polytechnique de Tunisie, with a research master’s in hand, Lamia Chouk followed a “classic” path: financial executive, then management controller for thirteen years. With hindsight, she realises that this way of life was not made for her, even if it taught her a great deal about human relationships — she has always believed she could give more to society.
How was Ahkili born?
The project takes root in her own lived experience. Her parents’ divorce during her childhood forged her into someone solitary, independent and very introverted in adolescence. She dragged night-time anxiety attacks along with her until the start of her thirties, made worse when she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, then by her own divorce, which left her alone with two babies — though her family, happily, surrounded her with support. One night, faced with these attacks that were becoming more and more frequent, she asked herself the question: why is there no way of talking to a psychologist, even at night? From the very next day, one fixed idea: to set up a line of listening and individualised psychological support.
What challenges did she encounter?
The innovative aspect of the service came up against the absence of high-tech solutions already present on the Tunisian market: it took a great deal of research and a long administrative maze to put the system in place. Beyond the technical difficulties, Lamia Chouk had to face the difficulty of getting such a service accepted in a society where online psychological support remains taboo. A WHO study, cited in the original interview, indicated that over the course of the preceding decade, 50% of Tunisians described themselves as depressed or anxious — many of them repressing this unease rather than turning to help judged taboo by the surrounding culture.
Where does Ahkili stand, 5 years after its beginnings?
Created in February 2020, the startup went through the Covid-19 health crisis from its very beginnings before gaining in maturity: it is labelled by the Tunisian Startup Act, closed a first fundraising round in 2021 and is preparing a second one with 216 Capital. Ahkili has also widened its offering beyond individual support, with a service intended for companies for the medical and psychological support of their employees. Lamia Chouk’s ambition remains the same: to democratise access to psychological care, so that it is no longer perceived as a taboo but as a support accessible to whoever needs it — a conviction that ties in with the principles of good emotional hygiene.
Whom does she admire, and what is her credo?
Her father remains, she says, her ultimate example: sometimes authoritarian, sometimes understanding, he instilled in her values that still guide her today — always doing what is right, even against the current, being a person of integrity and working hard, because “work, integrity, resilience and endurance always end up paying off”. Her credo fits into a single sentence: always to do, defend and say what is right, even if that means being the only one to do so. A great film lover, she cites The Pursuit of Happyness among her favourite films — a story inspired by real events that resonates with her own path.
What advice does she give to young entrepreneurs?
She sums up her approach with the Anglo-Saxon saying “No pain, no gain” — tiredness, disappointment and defeat are part of the road towards success, without being a bad thing for all that: they forge character and provide psychological armour for the trials to come. To young entrepreneurs who are sometimes discouraged, she advises above all not to give up: entrepreneurship and the world of start-ups demand patience and endurance, but the situation always ends up turning in their favour, much like the path of other Tunisian women entrepreneurs. A single parent, she also wants to remind her readers that the strength so often attributed to her, they all possess without exception: not to settle for a routine or an unsatisfying job, and to live as they see fit.
