• Jihene Touati, founder of Tunisian edtech start-up Arzaak, won the 2025 Orange Social Entrepreneur Prize for Women (POESAM).
• Arzaak has trained more than 4,000 people 90% women through online certified courses in artisanal and creative skills.
• The platform integrates AI to connect learners, share experiences, and open access to market opportunities.

Jihene Touati, a Tunisian social entrepreneur, won the national women’s prize at the Orange Social Entrepreneur Award for Africa and the Middle East (POESAM) on September 8. Touati is the founder and CEO of Arzaak, an edtech start-up created in 2020 to expand access to artisanal training and boost women’s economic empowerment.

Arzaak delivers certified online training in pastry-making, embroidery, agro-food processing and other practical skills tied to employability and creativity. The company’s model focuses on turning traditional know-how into income-generating activities.

Learners take professional courses, attend workshops on marketing their creations, and receive group support via an interactive digital space. The platform has already trained more than 4,000 people, 90% of them women.

Arzaak uses an artificial intelligence module to strengthen networking, facilitate peer learning, and connect artisans to market opportunities. The approach combines skill-building with digital tools to create pathways to self-reliance.

Touati graduated in 2012 with a degree in English language and literature from the Higher Institute of Human Sciences in Tunis. She later earned a master’s degree in entrepreneurial management and marketing of creative and cultural industries in 2024 from the Higher School of Economic and Commercial Sciences of Tunis.

Between 2017 and 2020, she managed ART et Délices, a Tunisian training center, before launching Arzaak to scale artisanal learning through technology.

This article was initially published in French by Melchior Koba

Adapted in English by Ange Jason Quenum