How Foued Khalfaoui is Building a Borderless Braintrust in Africa

Foued Khalfaoui set out to close the gap in a world flooded with data but starved of deep, contextual knowledge. And in just over a year, his brainchild, Aqwa Studies, has grown from a one-man operation into a dynamic international firm with a bold mission to make expertise accessible, meaningful, and transformative across borders.

Founded in 2023, Aqwa Studies is one of Africa’s fastest-growing placement agencies. It’s a global intelligence platform connecting high-level experts with the organisations that need them most through precision, purpose, and partnership.

In this exclusive interview, Foued Khalfaoui, now Chairman of Aqwa Group, shares how personal conviction, resilience, and a deep belief in the power of knowledge sparked a movement. From scrappy beginnings to building borderless impact, he opens up about the mindset shifts, team dynamics, and emerging technologies shaping Aqwa’s future. He offers sharp insights for aspiring entrepreneurs who want to build for depth, not just scale.

What inspired you to launch Aqwa Studies, and how did you test the idea before building?

The seed for Aqwa Studies was planted the moment I realised how many brilliant minds go unheard, how much insight never reaches those who need it most. I’ve seen researchers with decades of experience struggling to share their expertise beyond academic circles, and organisations making critical decisions without access to the proper knowledge. That disconnect bothered me deeply.

So I started with conversations, dozens of them, with academics, policymakers, entrepreneurs, and consultants. Their stories, frustrations, and hopes shaped Aqwa. We didn’t create the services first; we built understanding. Only then did we start building the platform with purpose, not just code.

Every startup has its scrappy beginnings. What were some early challenges you faced as a founder, and how did you overcome them?

In the early days, you did everything with almost nothing except belief. We had no big budget, no brand recognition, and all alone. But we had a clear mission and relentless drive. I remember personally onboarding experts at midnight, then pitching clients in the morning.

The biggest challenge wasn’t external, it was internal. Staying focused when things move slowly. Trusting the process when results don’t show immediately. We overcame it with grit, community, and by celebrating every milestone, no matter how small. When you believe in the problem you’re solving, you don’t give up. You adapt, you evolve, and you keep moving.

Aqwa Studies connects experts and talent worldwide. What differentiates you from others in the same market?

We’re not trying to be the biggest platform. We’re striving to be the most meaningful one.
What sets us apart is the precision with which we connect expertise to problems. We employ a hybrid model that combines innovative technology with human intelligence to match context, purpose, and personality. We don’t just introduce experts, we help build cohesive, global teams around complex challenges. Most platforms are built for transactions. We’re built for transformation.

How did you find the proper product-market fit?

We stopped thinking like a platform and started feeling like a partner. Instead of asking, “How can we attract more users?” we asked, “How can we become essential to the right ones?” That shift changed everything. We focused on sectors where insight drives impact research, strategy, and innovation. And we listened deeply to those clients. They didn’t want noise. They wanted clarity – trusted, qualified, mission-aligned expertise. That’s what we delivered, and that’s how we found our fit.

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How do you ensure the quality and credibility of experts and the expertise they provide?

Credibility is our currency. Without it, nothing we build matters.

We designed a rigorous vetting system that goes far beyond resumes. We verify academic and professional credentials, analyse real-world contributions, publications, case studies, and patents, and conduct peer interviews to assess depth and communication. Then we let the work speak. Every engagement is tracked, reviewed, and fed back into our system.

We’re not just a directory of names. We’re a living, evolving network of trust.

As a CEO and entrepreneur, what mindset shifts did you have to make when transitioning into business?

I had to stop trying to control everything and start building systems that could thrive without me. That’s a humbling shift.

In academia, I was trained to go deep, to seek perfection. In business, you must move quickly, test, iterate, and accept imperfection. You build with uncertainty and lead with faith. I also learned to fall in love with people more than plans because no vision survives without the right team.

The most essential mindset shift is realising that leadership isn’t about knowing all the answers, it’s about creating space for better ones to emerge.

One of your strengths is international collaboration. What challenges have you faced in scaling operations across different countries, cultures, and regulatory frameworks?

Scaling globally is less about expansion and more about translating ideas, values, and expectations. What works in one country can fall flat in another if you don’t respect local nuance.

We’ve faced everything from legal ambiguities to communication gaps. But we’ve also built bridges by listening, adapting, and learning. We localise without losing identity. We harmonise across cultures without diluting the mission.

And most importantly, we’ve embraced diversity as our strategic advantage, not just a nice-to-have, but the very reason we work.

For aspiring entrepreneurs, building the right team is everything. What qualities do you prioritise when hiring, especially in a global, remote setup?

I look for builders, people who don’t wait for permission, who treat the mission like it’s their own.
In a remote, global team, communication and ownership are non-negotiable. But more than that, I value humility and a hunger for growth: the humility to keep learning, and the hunger to grow something meaningful. Skills can be taught. Culture and drive, that’s what moves mountains.

What role do emerging technologies, like AI‑driven matching, blockchain credentials, or virtual collaboration tools, play in your roadmap?

They’re not just tools. They’re enablers of a new kind of intelligence distributed, inclusive, and scalable.
AI helps us transition from static profiles to dynamic matching, understanding not only what someone knows but also how they think and collaborate. Blockchain adds integrity to credentials, removing doubt from the equation.

And our evolving virtual workspace will allow experts to co-create across continents in real time, with built-in context and insight. We don’t chase trends. We build for what’s next responsibly, creatively, and with purpose.

Can you share a moment where something went wrong, or even failed, and what it taught you as an entrepreneur?

Absolutely. One of the hardest early lessons I learned as an entrepreneur was the cost of unclear direction. I was moving fast, excited, ambitious, and all-in, but without taking the time to define what success looked like on a day-to-day basis. There were moments of burnout, scattered focus, and missed opportunities, not because the vision was wrong, but because the execution lacked structure.

It taught me that clarity is power. As an entrepreneur, you wear every hat, and without intentional alignment on priorities, values, and even your rhythm, you can lose momentum in the noise. Since then, I’ve made it a habit to pause, reflect, and recalibrate regularly. Entrepreneurship isn’t just about building, it’s about building with direction.

What’s one thing you wish someone had told you before you started your first venture? And what advice would you give to someone starting a global platform today?

I wish someone had told me that success isn’t a straight line, it’s a spiral. You’ll revisit the same challenges at different levels, each time with a little more wisdom. And that’s okay.

To anyone starting now: build with intention, not just ambition. Don’t copy and create. Focus on real problems, real people, and real value. If your mission is strong enough, it will carry you through the silence, the rejections, the pivots.

And remember, global doesn’t mean wide. It means a profound impact, wherever you choose to show up.

Looking ahead, what does success look like for you and Aqwa Studies in a decade?

A decade from now, I want to look back and see that Aqwa helped shift the way the world solves problems, not with ego, but with collective intelligence.

Success means becoming the global nucleus where decision-makers, researchers, innovators, and educators come together to build what’s next. I want to see our experts shaping policy, transforming education, accelerating science, and mentoring the next generation.

But more than anything, I want Aqwa to be remembered not just as a platform but as a movement that made knowledge borderless, human, and powerful again.