“ My father has played a big role in my life. 

He’s an entrepreneur, and ever since I was a child, he shared with me his entrepreneurial spirit, the importante of risk culture, the drive to create new projects. I always wanted to become like him, but I needed some experience, so I started working in a bank, first in France, then in Switzerland. However, 9 years later, I got bored, I felt the need to do something else. 

One day in the summer of 2014, I was at my friends’ house in Lebanon, we decided to order some food for dinner. The delivery guy took 1hour and a half to find the house, even after calling 8 times !

That was when I had an idea. I thought about creating  a solution to fix this address-sharing problem we have, not only in Lebanon, but also in ¾ of the countries in the world. It would be a real economic opportunity, and to me, a way to step out of my comfort zone and do what I always dreamed of doing : create my own project. 

So when I came back to Switzerland, I started working on this idea : Waynak, an application that allows users to  digitally create their address and share it ! The advantage we have on other address-sharing solutions is that our users can create a complete address that includes the floor, the bloc, the interphone, a voice note and a photo !

A year later, I left my job to work full-time on my project. I took the most irrational decision in my life : I decided to  go back to Lebanon to launch my startup.

It’s been three years since I started working on Waynak in Beirut, but because of the situation in Lebanon, I decided to go back to France to develop my project. It’s easier to launch a startup there.

Above all, I hope I will be able to say that I helped people, that I made an impact here or anywhere else in the world. Sure, It would make me happy to tell myself that I made some profits, but what would truly make me happy is saying that I created jobs. I think Waynak can help me achieve this goal, and if not Waynak, I still have plenty of other ideas !”

Marc Tabet, 37, is the founder of Waynak, an application that allows people to share personalized addresses. 

Text and pic: Margaux Vulliet

Translation: Nour Chidiac