#17 – Yacine Zerkdi (AI71): Life Lessons from Agadir to Harvard, Google and Building the new LLM giant in the UAE

❤️ Big thanks to Notion for supporting this podcast. If you’re an entrepreneur preparing for a fundraise or looking to structure your startup, Notion is the ultimate tool for you.Sign up using our link here: https://ntn.so/tomorocco ❤️You’ll get 6 months of Notion’s Business Plan for free—with Notion AI included—worth up to $12,000 in value.Notion is the connected workspace trusted by over 50% of Y Combinator startups and 94% of the Forbes AI 50. One single tool to manage everything: product roadmap, docs, CRM, investor updates, internal wikis—you name it.–Welcome to Tomorocco. Today, I’m joined by Yacine Zerkdi. Born in Agadir, Yacine studied in France before earning his MBA from Harvard. He worked at Google in London and Dubai, and is now based in Abu Dhabi, leading strategic partnerships at a cutting-edge AI startup called AI71, alongside Mehdi Ghissassi, a former DeepMind researcher and one of Morocco’s leading AI figures.His story is remarkable because nothing was guaranteed. Yacine originally wanted to finish school in a Moroccan lycée in Agadir, but life took him to France, and key encounters led him to Harvard. In this episode, he shares how he funded his $200,000 MBA and built a career that spans continents and technologies.I’m thrilled to share this conversation with you. It’s a journey of grit, merit, and global ambition—sure to inspire.If you enjoy this episode, don’t forget to subscribe, like, and leave a comment or review, it helps a lot!