Future on the move

A high-school degree in his pocket, the 18 year-old sets out for the city of Sfax.

The mischievous boy of his childhood who came up with pranks and games with

his neighborhood buddies has turned into a sedate young man. Issam chooses the

Finance and Banking Economics path forward and earns his degree. A bank

welcomes him in a temporary position. Parallel to this, he is working towards a

Master’s Degree in management in an engineering school… Fridays, Saturdays and

Sundays. Several assignments follow. Then, in 2007, he joins the financial

department of a petroleum group. At the same time, he prepares a second master’s,

in finance audit. In 2012, the Heineken HR head in Tunisia takes note of his CV on the

Web. Issam is stimulated by the challenge of working in a multinational composed

of seven business units. There he is, four years later, promoted as the financial head

of Sonobra, a subsidiary of the group. In this new environment, the bases of Issam’s

future take shape. 

The revelation

After the migration of the Navision tool that went perfectly, he ensures the remote

support of an implementation in Algeria and another in Côte d’Ivoire. Several trips to

Abidjan are necessary to carry out a new migration until the Go Live. “Then, it was

like a trigger” underlines Issam. The integrator’s developers and consultants take

note of his qualities. They ask him why would he not steer himself towards

functional consulting instead. From that point on, the prospects of taking on new

challenges, other projects to add dynamism to his day-to-day encourage him, how

hard it is in Tunisia to change careers at almost forty years-old notwithstanding.

Issam starts looking for integration firms. But his entourage worries and asks if he’s

thoroughly thought it out, if letting the prey loose in pursuit of a shadow, as it were,

is not too risky? “I held on”, Issam says proudly. In 2019, he is recruited by IDM

Services for a D365 project to be implemented from A to Z for a large telecom

company in Libya. Waiting for that to start, Issam ensures TAM [third party

application maintenance] tasks for another oil industry customer on AX 2012.

A big worry

Weekends, Issam spends them with his friends on the Tunisian beaches where he

goes for his passion: night fishing from the seaside. “At night, everything is more still,

quieter. One only concentrates on the rod, the reel and the bait. It’s the absolute

zen. Sea breems, mottled fish or bass are always there. At night, they just bite

better”, he says. But he misses his family. His wife is in France where she is studying

banking finance. Issam joins her each month to enjoy his young Mehdi, recently

born. But one day his son, still a baby, falls ill. Alone in France, mom can’t find any

help with the neighbors to go get the drugs prescribed by the emergency doctors.

For Issam, it’s a jolt. He then decides to definitively join them in France. 

Mutual aid and sharing

Today, everything’s fine. His position at FiveForty° fits his expectations. “From the

first interview with Catherine, I felt a lot of sincerity. I liked her words on the

company’s approach, the values, the importance of the team – what she calls the

tribe – the mix of cultures as well”, remembers Issam. The second interview, with

Alexandre and Amel comforts him in his first impression.

“From the beginning, Maciré, Alexandre, Ahmed, Wiem and Loc helped me out.”

Daily, Issam feels he has their back, never alone. These days, at FiveForty°, he

manages the TAM for several customers: “When, among the tickets I receive, one

of them is problematic, I can count on the team for sharing their experiences and

knowledge.” The general ambiance is also a change from what he knew in Tunisia.

“Over there, the hierarchy is strict, the work environment is heavy” he points out.

“At FiveForty°, there is an easy back and forth, the partners are available and nice,

as are the colleagues. There, I feel better than good. It’s a bit like being with the

family!.” °