Tunisia’s Souha Bejaoui is building a climate-tech business while learning the startup game

Souha Bejaoui knew the corporate world before she started a company. She had spent more than 10 years working in risk, compliance and sustainable transformation. In 2024, she decided to take that experience into a different direction and co-founded ProVerdy with Rahma Abida and Hamza Bêjaoui. ProVerdy helps businesses measure their carbon emissions and keep track of their environmental impact. The Tunisian startup recently won Startup of the Year at the Tunisia Investment Forum 2026. But the award is not really what makes Bejaoui’s story interesting. She has also been figuring out how to build a startup while running one.

She had to learn the startup side

Bejaoui understood the business problems she wanted ProVerdy to tackle. The startup world was another matter. She had to learn about fundraising, investors, accelerators and all the work that comes with trying to get a young company off the ground. In 2025, ProVerdy joined the UNDP Green Growth and Jobs Accelerator. The five month programme gave the team access to mentors and investors. It also helped the founders make contacts outside Tunisia. UNDP later supported the company at Mobile World Congress in Doha, where the team met potential investors and companies including Qatar Development Bank and Vodafone. For a small company, getting those introductions can make a difference.

The problem ProVerdy is trying to solve

Companies need to know what their operations are doing to the environment. Getting the numbers isn’t always easy. Businesses have to collect information from different parts of the company and work out what that means for their emissions. ProVerdy’s software helps companies calculate their carbon footprint, track emissions and find areas where they can cut back. The company focuses on North Africa and the Middle East and uses regional emissions data in its calculations. That gives ProVerdy a fairly specific market to work with. It is not trying to solve every climate problem. It is dealing with a more practical issue that companies are already facing.

ProVerdy is still a small company

Winning a startup award can make a young company sound further along than it actually is. ProVerdy is still small. UNDP says the team grew from six people to eight after the accelerator programme. The company also works with businesses in Tunisia’s financial sector from El Ghazala Technopark in Greater Tunis. That puts the award in perspective. ProVerdy has a product, customers and some recognition. But it still has to turn those things into a business that can keep going.

Bejaoui brought experience from her previous career

Her background is closely tied to what ProVerdy does. Before starting the company, Bejaoui worked in risk management, regulatory compliance and sustainable transformation. Her co-founders bring experience in areas including technology and sustainability. That mix matters because ProVerdy isn’t simply selling software. Its customers also need to understand what the information means and what they should do with it. Being named Startup of the Year is a good result for a company that is still finding its feet. But ProVerdy now has to do the less exciting work. It needs to find more customers, keep the ones it already has and make the business pay for itself. Bejaoui also has to keep learning how to run a startup. That may be the most relatable part of her story. Knowing an industry doesn’t automatically teach you how to build a company. Sometimes you have to learn both at the same time.