Episode 2

Mohamed Aabou and Yassine Belhaj are the two key pillars of management control at Ekkia Sport.

Mohamed took the initiative in creating the BI system and exploring AI to boost the group’s performance, following in the footsteps of Philippe Krebs.

Yassine is equally passionate about data and the endless possibilities AI offers when used to simplify operational tasks.

1️⃣ Transforming the profession through AI

2️⃣ Initial projects launched and quick wins

3️⃣ Vision for the future

What are your respective backgrounds?

MA: After completing a Master 2 at Brest Business School, I did an internship at Ekkia in the second half of 2018, which led to a permanent position starting January 2019 as a management controller. At that time, Ekkia was at a low point, with much room for improvement in reporting, which was dominated by Excel.

YB: I studied in Casablanca, Morocco, before joining EM Strasbourg for a Master in Control, Accounting, and Audit. Through my school, I joined Ekkia for a work-study program from September 2024 to September 2025, which also turned into a permanent position.

And more recently, AI is transforming your role?

MA: Like Philippe Krebs, our CFO, I have a strong curiosity for new technologies and anything that can improve processes and company operations. For me, the turning point was Covid. Overnight, I found myself working from home with a clear mind. I took the opportunity to build our BI system to replace the manual reporting, which was very time-consuming and inherently static. I centralized the data and created dashboards with this question in mind: “What data do our leaders need to effectively manage the company and respond quickly to deviations?”

And more recently, AI is transforming your role?

MA: Like everyone, we first played with ChatGPT, then started coding scripts. The real starting point was a project for our Ohlala brand, managing nearly 15,000 products. Two people had spent a month on repetitive work, unable to focus on value-added tasks. We developed a process to take the raw supplier file, run a Python script to automate title-color-size-visual guidelines, convert it into Shopify-compatible format, and upload it to the site—a quick win that saved 90% of the time.

YB: We are fortunate to have management with Pascal and Philippe who listens, never says no, and constantly encourages us. We learn to use these tools, which we don’t see as a threat. We self-train, attend seminars, and consult AI specialists. Mohamed’s initial idea was to implement modules that free up our time, which we then used—together with IT—to help other departments automate recurring tasks. We connect expressed needs with AI-driven solutions.

Do you feel your role has fundamentally changed?

MA: Absolutely. We are now seen as business partners. Yassine and I split our time 50/50 between controlling and AI, with the internal message: “If you have a need or a problem, come talk to us—we’ll try to simplify it together.” For example, we designed an alert system for order management. With €40M in annual purchases and 15,000 SKUs, human errors are inevitable. The AI module checks order quantities, compares with stock and delivery times, adjusts for cost increases, and sends alerts if anomalies occur, generating savings of around €500,000.

YB: Mohamed and I speak the same language and are seen as facilitators, not enforcers. Our goal is to quickly expand these quick wins to other departments and functions. We applied the Ohlala experience to our new Padd site in the U.S., collaborating closely with Dimitrios, the Padd developer, who shares our passion for data.

Future projects?

MA: The top priority is to centralize all data from AS400, Shopify, Media System, and other platforms into a cloud, design workflows, and recruit AI agents to organize and interpret the data, managing projects end-to-end. We aim to have this operational by Spring 2026.

YB: We also continue projects based on field feedback, such as improving commercial prospecting in the Middle East—scraping addresses from Google Maps, highlighting unrecognized resellers, and digitizing our two catalogs for distribution to Ekkia resellers.

Final words?

MA: With Yassine, we are convinced that “those who do not change with the world disappear with the past.” Our role has evolved—and it’s exciting.