Mehdi Bhouri

Mehdi Bhouri is an economist and biotech entrepreneur based in Tunisia. He spent over 13 years at the Banque Centrale de Tunisie (2005-2018), where he served as Chief of the Monetary and Economic Diagnostic Service, specializing in macroeconomic forecasting and analysis. In 2018, he co-founded WaterSpirit SA, a pioneering B2B biotech company that cultivates microalgae (Haematococcus pluvialis) to extract astaxanthin, a powerful antioxidant used in pharmaceutical, cosmeceutical, and nutraceutical applications. WaterSpirit is the first and only cultivator of this microalgae in Tunisia and Africa, using innovative photobioreactor technology and supercritical CO2 extraction. Since 2021, he has served on the Executive Board of CONECT (Confédération des Entreprises Citoyennes de Tunisie), representing Tunisia's business community.