Lydia MERROUCHE is the founder & CEO of Fossoul Agricole, a company producing organic fruits and vegetables. She graduated in Judicial and Administrative Sciences (Bac+4) and holds a Professional Lawyer’s Certificate from the Ben Aknoun Faculty of Law in Algiers, Algeria.
In 2008, she changed her job for the first time by opening an advertising and communication agency named DZIGN. In 2016, she undertook a professional retraining and trained in growing and processing organic stevia plants and export businesses in Algeria. Lydia MERROUCHE created Fossoul Agricole, a company producing organic fruits and vegetables that includes a home delivery service that meets the demand of the expatriate community and local community in Algiers. Fossoul Agricole is the first company to take this step in Algeria. In 2019, she employed several women to turn her fruits and vegetables into jams and jars. Her next step is to expand her business and start exporting her production.
Her commitment to the status of women in Algeria has earned her several awards, nominations and distinctions.
In 2011, with her company DZIGN she won the « Best practice » prize for the best aquatic advertising concept in Algeria «with several international brands». In 2017, she won the Best Female Entrepreneurial Project Award with “STEVIA MOOD” at the “El Maraâ Tounchiî”, a competition organized by The Ministry of National Solidarity, Family Affairs and the Status of Women in Algeria.
Lydia MERROUCHE was a member of the Algerian Association of Women Lawyers (2015/2016), an active member of the Algerian Women Entrepreneurs Association – Association des Femmes Algériennes Chefs d’Entreprises SEVE (2017-2018), President of the Women World Leaders Committee “Femmes Leaders Mondiales Algérie”, affiliated to the French association Femmes Leaders Mondiales (2018-2021). She was also Vice-President of the national organization of agriculture and food security (2021), member of the scientific committee of the International Women’s Forum, organized by the CGEA – General Confederation of Algerian Companies (2021). She has been Vice President North Africa of the Monegasque Association «Aux Coeurs Des Mots» since 2018.
She has been invited as a renowned speaker in several international conferences including the GWTS “Global Women Trade Summit” and the GWLF “Global Women Leaders Forum” (2019-2020) in Busan, Republic of Korea as Speaker in a panel dedicated to women leaders. She also spoke at the 3rd Algerian-German Solution Lab “Food, Agro-Tech and Digitalization” as a specialist of the Algerian market (2019), at the International Women’s Forum, organized by the CGEA (2021) and the Mediterranean Worlds Forum (2022).
She is also the laureate of the “Challenge des 1000 entrepreneurs” organized by the Afrique France Summit and Digital Africa (2020), laureate of the “International Visitor Leadership Programme – Women & Entrepreneurship – Project for Africa” in the United States, laureate of the “She Entrepreneurs Programme” of the Swedish Institute (2021), the VALUE4HER WAYA organized by AGRF’s presidential summit in Kenya (2021) and the Womenpreneur-Initiative (2021-2022).