Who's Hadj Khelil
Born in Algeria, grew up in the surburbs of Paris
I was born in Algeria and grew up in Seine-Saint-Denis (department 93), in the Oiseaux neighborhood of Drancy. My father had been a lawyer in Algiers before becoming a shopkeeper in Barbès; my mother, who had little formal education, instilled in me, in her own way, a taste for hard work and high standards. In our family, we didn't talk about success: we built it, step by step, with patience and dignity.
I completed all my schooling in the department: high school and preparatory classes leading up to business school in Paris, then Oxford. And there I was, at 22, propelled into a London trading floor, working on derivatives and living to the mechanical rhythm of the City. Incidentally, I had the same boss as Jérôme Kerviel. Four years later, I realized that this fast-paced life was no longer for me.
Return to Algeria and creation of Bionoor
At 27, I felt the need to return home. An inner calling. A quest for identity. Therapy, really. So, I went back to my roots after 15 years away.
It was in this context that I created Bionoor in 2002, a company that produces and imports organically grown dates, taking over my family's plantations, which had been left almost abandoned near Ouargla. We started with dates. Today, we make chocolate, organic halal meat, and organic halal charcuterie.
Bionoor is an agricultural, ecological, family, and profoundly human adventure. We have shown that innovation can emerge as much in oases as in laboratories. I learned there that entrepreneurship can repair, reconnect, and reinvent.
Back to my first loves and the creation of BIGmama
Twelve years later, my "therapy" was over and I returned to my first loves: mathematics and algorithms. It was only natural that I gravitated towards coding and data science. That's how BIGmama Technology was born.
Initially, BIGmama was a data lab where we built custom predictive algorithmic applications for businesses. Then, the company transformed into a software and artificial intelligence solutions provider, designing innovative AI platforms such as Hyko.ai, Youscrib.ai, and, earlier, iko.ai.
Today, I spend my days imagining the product of tomorrow by designing its architecture, orchestrating technological choices, solving the most complex technical challenges, leading and redirecting our engineers, and mobilizing the best coders to transform a vision into a robust, scalable, and dynamic AI system. I code less, but I lead more.
Teaching, sharing, connecting, helping and inspiring
Meanwhile, I learned to look at entrepreneurship, organic farming, and AI from a different perspective: that of meaning.
This led me to teach at Sciences Po, to speak at TEDx events, to write for Les Échos, to appear on BFM Business, and to publish Super-Papillon. My journey also led me to found the Connex'Cités association.
These experiences taught me to combine strategic vision, collective leadership, and concrete commitment on the ground, while reinforcing my conviction that innovation must always serve humanity and the collective good.