Thanks to the e-tourism company she cofounded some four years ago, she allows Tunisians and foreigners to take a dip in the past of some Tunisian cultural locations. The XR reality company has earned her several awards and distinctions.  

Houda Bakir (pictured) is the CEO of Historiar, a deep tech startup. The startup, founded in 2019, combines artificial intelligence and augmented reality to offer a digitized version of some Tunisian centuries-old historical and archeological sites, allowing tourists and curious individuals to visit them using tech equipment.

During the 46th edition of the Dougga International Festival, held in August 2022, guests were able to gauge Historiar's expertise by going back several years in time to contemplate the archaeological site of Dougga. In February 2023, this expertise earned Houda Bakir a spot in the fifth edition of Orange Fab Tunisia’s acceleration program.

The CEO, born in Carthage, Tunisia, is a graduate of the National Higher Engineering School of Tunis (ENSIT). In 2009, she earned a master’s in electrical engineering and, about seven years later, she obtained a Ph.D. in electrical engineering with a specialization in medical image segmentation. Since 2021, she is the Vice President of Tunisian Startups, a network of entrepreneurs that aims to create a friendly environment for successful and budding entrepreneurs alike. In 2018, she co-founded Super-Viz, a startup specializing in artificial intelligence and computer vision. 

A post-doctoral researcher at ENSIT's Productics Research Center laboratory since 2013, Houda Bakir founded Grace Light Tunisia, an interior design and IT service company. She led the company -founded in 2013- until 2014.

The Tunisian entrepreneur started her professional career in 2009, as a contractual assistant professor at ENSIT. Some months later, she became an assistant professor. Then, in 2014, she joined international IT consulting firm Intellixx as a consultant. In 2016, she was hired as a senior research and development engineer at Datavora, a data management company for online commerce companies.

Thanks to Historiar, Houda Bakir took part in several international events, including the Digital Tunisia Days organized on the sidelines of the Expo 2020 in Dubai. In 2021, the company won the Best EdTech Solutions Provider award issued by the digital publication MEA Markets.

As for Ms. Bakir, in 2022, she was named one of the seven North African female tech founders to know by online media Exclusive Africa. Ventures Africa also named her one of the twelve North African female tech founders to know. Still, in 2022, she won the first prize in the Startup Bootcamp organized by Réseau Entreprendre Tunisia and Qatar Fund for Development.

Melchior Koba