Houssem Aoudi

Houssem is a Tunisian entrepreneur and experienced manager of media, social, and cultural projects, particularly those dedicated to promoting the free exchange of ideas. Highly active in the Tunisian entrepreneurship ecosystem, which TechCrunch recently named "MENA's next startup hub," Houssem is co-founder and CEO of Cogite Coworking Space, the first coworking space in Tunisia. In this capacity, Houssem works actively to promote entrepreneurship in Tunisia, provide support mechanisms to the entrepreneurship community, and connect promising startups with much-needed investors and other forms of finance. In addition to its daily operations, Cogite is actively engaged in setting up and mentoring other independent coworking spaces spaces in Tunisia, particularly in economically and socially marginalized regions characterized by high unemployment and the radicalization of young people. Cogite also works to promote coworking and entrepreneurship on a regional level, having hosted the 2015 Coworking Summit, which gathered over 50 founders and managers of coworking spaces, fablabs, and cultural hubs from 14 countries across the Mediterranean region Additionally, Houssem is co-founder and curator of TEDxCarthage, the first independently-organized TEDx event in Tunisia, and founder and CEO of Wasabi, a media and communications company. More recently, Houssem served as the Director of the Media Center for the Independent High Authority for Elections (ISIE) during Tunisia’s historic 2014 parliamentary and presidential democratic elections.