Nour Addine Ayyoub

I was born in Belgium, from Moroccan descent. I was never the type to work for somebody else – I’m an entrepreneur, heart and soul. I started my first serious venture in 1998: a software house providing financial products. That software was mainly written by myself. It was the right time and the right product, and within three years I owned 70% of the market. ‘Then I went into lending myself, and co-founded Old Mutual Finance – a joint venture with Old Mutual – and changed from being a software provider to being a financier. From the success of that business I started ZaiLab. I missed development. ‘Why contact centers, then? Having been exposed to other third-party providers during my time at Old Mutual Finance, I learned that contact centers needed a serious revamp. They just hadn’t moved on from that ancient technology. ‘My vision was to create a real contact center in the cloud, accessible to everybody, with the ultimate goal of creating employment. I also wanted to make contact centers sexy. I love science fiction movies, and I thought their style was perfect for a new kind of contact center. Turns out I was right. ‘My success in all my previous ventures is mainly because of the people I work with. I love what I do, and I surround myself with people who love what they do too.