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Eric Asmar is Managing Partner at Happy Smala, an innovation lab for socio-economic inclusion. A graduate in Sociology from the University of San Francisco and in Development Studies from the Graduate Institute (IHEID), he has focused his career on development, innovation, and entrepreneurship. He has worked with entrepreneurs, financial institutions, public agencies, and civil society on innovation and economic empowerment programs in the United States, Europe, and Africa.
He led the creation of Morocco’s first social entrepreneurship incubator in Rabat with the Moroccan Center for Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship (2014–2016). Since 2018, as head of Happy Smala, he has launched award-winning fintech and edtech startups, including Morocco’s first crowdfunding platforms. He also mentors and trains within entrepreneurial support programs and has taught entrepreneurship and impact measurement at ESSEC Business School Africa, École Centrale Casablanca, and ITC-ILO at the University of Turin.
