Narjes Boufaden: “I love building, I love creating”.
In 2001: A Space Odyssey, the HAL computer dialogues with humans. It understands our natural language. This dystopia is now reality. Narjes Boufaden is a researcher specializing in the understanding of conversational language by computers. When she realized that she could provide solutions to help companies with text analysis, she decided to go into business for herself and founded Keatext.
Narjes Boufaden has always loved science…and science fiction. The human-machine interactions of the future appeal to her. In her studies in computer science, she chose to specialize in AI (Artificial Intelligence) and the understanding of conversational language. D. at the Université de Montréal, on the development of models for the automatic understanding of natural language.
She became a researcher, with the aim of helping companies exploit their unstructured data, such as written comments left by customers. While it’s easy to ask a customer how satisfied they are, it’s more difficult to understand what has made them dissatisfied. The customer can explain it in his comments, but you have to know how to decipher it, and to do so, understand his natural language. Narjes Boufaden realized that all her studies and knowledge were arousing growing interest in companies, and that she could help them solve certain problems. So she decided to launch her own company. Her entrepreneurial motivation? “I like to build, I like to create. Like researchers, I like to find solutions”, she declares.
In 2010, she founded Keatext, a company initially specializing in consulting and customized development. Then, in 2014, she turned the company around, and it is now developing a product that can be used by a wide range of companies.
Has being a woman created any particular difficulties? Narjes thinks not. She explains: “There’s a lot of help available now. There’s been a realization that female entrepreneurs in technology are rare, and there’s a good mobilization around that.”
If she were to give any advice for young female entrepreneurs, it would be not to hesitate to surround themselves with people to complement their skills: “Scientific knowledge will enable you to develop a competitive product,” she stresses. Narjes continues: “Don’t be shy about promoting it. You have to seek help through networking and business gas pedals. Especially for the marketing aspects: how to understand and access the audience to expose your product, advertise it, learn how to manage the cost of acquiring a customer.”
The search for financing is also a challenge. There are many grants and loans available, but, as Narjes explains, “you need to get help to avoid wasting too much time finding them. Some are limited to 18-35 year olds. This doesn’t make sense, especially for women who are having children and who are going to start their own business later. It introduces a bias. But times are changing. The BDC, for example, now has a fund dedicated to women in technology. There’s a desire to help women entrepreneurs.”
The company now has 25 employees and customers all over the world. Narjes Boufaden remains involved in technical management, still passionate about her scientific field.
Keatext
Offers companies tools that instantly analyze vast quantities of textual feedback from their customers, to provide enlightening information. They are available in several languages. The company currently employs 25 people and has 25 customers worldwide, including NASA, L’Oréal and Am Express.
