In 1997, at the age of 9, a young kid would see a computer for the first time. He was blown away when he entered the cyber cafe with his uncle and saw all these alienating machines. Even more blown away when his uncle explained to him: “I’m texting people from Canada, Japan, France, Egypt…”
The little kid knew something magical was happening in the world! He learned at an early age that the internet is the future. And it could be a way out for his family. This is the success story of one kid from Africa, who was born in a small poor neighbourhood to a jobless mom, and a broke military father.
Who is the kid, SimoLife?
Mohamed Baabit, known as SimoLife, is a Moroccan, African, and Arab entrepreneur. He is an expert digital marketer and e-commerce consultant, and the CMO of YouCan and COD-Network, two services that aim to make e-commerce simpler and easier for everyone. Especially for third-world African young entrepreneurs.
Background
SimoLife was born in 1988. 18 years later, towards the end of 2006, he got his Baccalaureate diploma. He majored in Electronics but was not so fond of the field. The ghost of the internet and computing power never left his head.
Still, he’d join the university as a challenge to keep growing. But he’d also spend the rest of his day hanging out with foreigners in Marrakesh to improve his English and earn end meets. At night, he’s drowning in his cheap desktop that takes, often SimoLife assures, tens of minutes to switch on.
He’d spend the time reading and learning about digital marketing, and trying a thing or two to make an income.
The first dollar from the internet!
In 2008, Mohamed decided to learn affiliate marketing. He was not so serious about it though. He’d then spend 2009 and 2010 doing one thing: mastering affiliate marketing.
Finally, in 2009 he’d make his first sale ever! He’d kept going and grinding every day. He’d read success stories of American marketers and Entrepreneurs and say: “They did it, so would I, so should I!”
In 2010, he made 3 sales! He was still relying more on real-life labour and parents to survive and live a fairly humble lifestyle.
The journey is shifting!
In 2011, Simo’s efforts were fairly compensated for! He’d made $100,000+ profit from affiliate marketing!
This, probably, was more than what his dad made in the past 15 years in the military! This was a rise for the little kid who’s now at the age of 23. The next year, he made a $300,000 clean profit as an affiliate marketer with a major billion-dollar U.S company.
He was, then, invited to be honoured in the U.S by that same company, and he’d leave Morocco and network with millionaires for the first time!
He’d love it. And he’d learn the world is bigger than his neighbourhood Douar Iziki; even bigger than Marrakesh!
E-commerce and Bangkok!
Simo is now starting to be a familiar name in Morocco. In the entrepreneurial community at least. He’d pack his bags, however, and leave to live in Bangkok, Thailand. He and his friend would make their first Million dollars there, living a lifestyle they’d never thought they were capable of.
It was fun and fulfilling. Especially when you know SimoLife would spend all his free time inspiring other Moroccans to do the same. To risk it all, and pursue their business ideas and bring them to life!
He has gained tens, hundred of thousands of followers on Instagram. He’d become a rockstar in the Moroccan social media arena. Every kid and aspiring entrepreneur would take him and his lifestyle as a model (well, not literally everyone…, he had his own haters too!).
But with all that happening, with all the million dollars he’d accumulated throughout the years, he still felt like he was not doing enough! He still felt like he’s ought to help other fellow Moroccans, African, and Arab aspiring entrepreneurs!
YouCan & COD-Network!
SimoLife decided to come back to Morocco and co-found YouCan, a CMS and website builder for e-commerce stores. The idea of YouCan was revolutionary. It was the first e-commerce platform where you don’t have to pay unless you earn! You pay as little as 0.5% of your income!
Apart from being cheap, YouCan was super easy to use, featured advanced marketing tricks, and was, overall, responsive and almost perfect!
YouCan now has the biggest active stores in Egypt. While the numbers are a little bit less clear, SimoLife ensured that they have users almost all over the world, with +100,000 users in Morocco, +30,000 of which are active and make sales every single day!
Enough? Nope! SimoLife would co-found COD-Network (Cash-on-Delivery Network). The company manages everything for sellers in the Middle East, with a plan to cover the entire world!
Anyone, anywhere, can now buy their drop-shipping product in China! Then the COD team would have them QC’ed, shipped to the target country, and stored there.
When the seller makes a sale, he’s one click away from having the COD team ship it to the buyer and sends the profit back to the marketer’s account.
Final Thoughts:
SimoLife holds the vision of building an army of 100,000 Moroccan Marketers to reach a million dollars, and at least millions around the world! In the past few years, the progress he and his team, and the whole board, managed to increase the company’s net worth to 20 Million dollars!
Now, he lives with his wife and parents on a farm he bought them and manages everything from his home workspace, or often in their startup centre in the capital of Morocco, Rabat. He’s making his dream come true: owning a huge sheep herd and caring for it for the rest of his life!
Author & Bio:
Hamid Nouasria is a content writer and SEO specialist who has written and published tens of articles, ebooks, and blogs on Entrepreneurship, Business, and digital marketing. He is regarded as one of the top 1% skills on Upwork with a Top-Rated Plus badge on the platform.