Founder and President

Over a decade ago in Morocco, Lara empowered a multisector team to figure out, and solve, the problems that were preventing international investors from moving their projects forward. The challenges were as mundane as being able to open a bank account, bring in materials, get a visa, register a business, and get a construction permit. As director of a US-government funded project, she oversaw the development of technical specifications, web architecture, branding, testing, and deployment of a system called e-invest. Since that time, as Director of Private Sector Innovations at FHI360 and then Vice President of Economic Growth at DAI, she has encouraged and supported her teams to develop products, not just write reports! ZForm is a product whose time has come. Lara has a MA in Economics, Finance and Latin American Studies from Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) from Johns Hopkins University. Her earlier positions include: adjunct teaching positions at Columbia School of International Public Affairs (SIPA) and Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies (SAIS).

Founder

Based on his 15+ years of training government officials to map and display trade procedures on the e-Regulations portals used in 25+ countries, Kjartan has been working with the data collection team for ZForm. The drill goes like this: one of our young data collectors pretend they are a business and they need to complete a certain procedure. They go online, or to the agency’s physical office, and try to discover what they must do. Of course, it is often quite difficult to figure out what to do, unless you hire a specialized lawyer, or you’ve been in business for years and therefore figured it out through trial and error. Kjartan coaches our data collectors through the seven questions all business owners want to know, until they come back with the answers. Then he helps us make a checklist that we show to the government officials in charge of the procedure. Once this is validated, we know we have the first version of our user-centric procedure map, and we are ready to begin coding the customized portion of the app. A Danish citizen, Kjartan grew up in France and holds a BA in Economics and Political Science from McGill University in Canada and a MSc in International Development and Business from Roskilde University in Denmark.

Founder

Colin Cook is a co-founder of ZGov and current Director of Analytics at Just Results. For the ZForm implementation, Colin manages projects and facilitates data research & analysis. Prior to joining Just Results, Colin researched regulatory policy for businesses in Florida and worked at a think-tank evaluating tax policy at the state level. Colin recently completed his MS in Applied Economics at Johns Hopkins University and has a BS in Economics from Florida State University.

Founder

In the very first days of Just Results, Alex developed quantitative models and tools for: field data collection and analysis; market assessment; and measurement of administrative burden. These are now used by the team and Alex serves as an advisor on key projects. Alex currently serves as an economist for the U.S. Development Finance Corporation (DFC) where he is responsible for conducting research and analysis on the economic and development impact of proposed and on-going DFC-financed projects. Additionally, Alex serves as a board member for the Africa Policy Accelerator (APA) at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Prior to joining Just Results, Alex worked for S&P Global Ratings in the US public finance division, and also has earlier experience consulting in the energy industry. Alex graduated with an M.A. in Economics and an M.A. in International Relations from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University. He received his B.A. from the University of Dallas.

Chief Technology Officer

Larry Cynkin is a five-time startup chief technology officer / vice president engineering, who also held technical leadership roles at America Online and Comcast Labs. His software products have been awarded a Technical Emmy and a MacWorld Magazine Editor’s Choice award, and he is the inventor on two US patents. Larry graduated from Brown University with an Sc.B, computer science, magna cum laude. He lives in Chevy Chase, Maryland, where he provides IT support to his wife, two teenage daughters, and bernedoodle.

Front End Coder

Abdelkader Settah, experienced with all stages of the development cycle for dynamic web projects, is a web developer specialising in front-end development. He is well-versed in numerous programming languages, including HTML5, React, JavaScript, CSS, Sass, Bootstrap, JQuery, and Redux. Kader has a background in project management and customer relations. He is both driven and self-motivated, and constantly experimenting with new technologies and techniques, striving to better himself as a developer, and the development community as a whole.

User Experience Specialist

Karin Blair Nova’s passion is designing elegant digital solutions that promote positive behavior changes and improve our lives. For more than 20 years, she has been designing web and mobile user experiences for a wide range of public and private sector clients including the World Bank, the Global Environment Fund, Novartis Oncology, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and Match.com. She has a deep knowledge of UX best practices including accessibility guidelines and is skilled at gathering requirements, creating wireframes, and conducting user testing. Karin has lived abroad in Egypt, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Poland, and Australia. She graduated from Worcester Polytechnic Institute with a B.S. in Interactive Media and Video Game Development and a minor in Computer Science.

Web Development Programmer

Mohamed Feres Mechmech is a consistently-driven and detailed oriented person, assets to which he brings to the team as a web development programmer. Feres helps build UX studies, design prototypes, as well as provide mobile app coding support in collaboration with the front-end and back-end teams. Prior to joining Just Results, Feres worked as a Graphic Design freelancer on Upwork and had the opportunity to join BrandLabs, a Tunisian startup as a full stack web development intern. Feres graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Mechatronics and is currently in his final year of IT Engineering specializing in Web Development.

Research Associate

Skillful at project management and digital transformation, Hamza Denguezli is a research associate in the ZForm initiative elaborating content, conducting interviews for data collection, and finalizing process maps of administrative procedures. Before joining Just Results as a consultant, he had experience working in France, Morocco, and Tunisia on project planning, as well as on finance in banking and private sectors. Hamza has a Master’s in Project Management from the Salford University of Manchester/England. He also has a Master’s in Law and Management in Culture and Media from the Institute of Public Management and Territorial Governance, Aix-en- Provence/France, and a Bachelor’s in Strategic Management from the Superior Institute of Enterprise Management, Montpellier/France.

Data Collection Manager

Timing is everything. Ayoub Daoud applies his time management skills to his role as a data collection manager of the ZForm project in Tunisia. He leads a four-person team in-country, ensuring the accuracy of data collected related to digitization opportunities and their impact on the development of the economy. Ayoub conducts quantitative analysis and networks with different stakeholders, conducting interviews and organizing workshops with private and public sector representatives. Prior to joining Just Results he acted as an admin manager with EIU and a program officer for MCC’s design team. Ayoub has a Master’s degree in Business administration.

Project Manager

Martin Cochran is extremely detailed and organized, which she brings to her role as project manager for Just Results. Martin led Just Results’ start up, ZForm, in Tunisia where Asana was her right hand tool in ensuring that both the consulting and tech teams were in constant communication. During her time with the Just Results team she managed the production of deliverables, co-authored reports, as well as supported translation of documents from French to English. Martin received her Master’s from the Julien J. Studley Graduate Program in International Affairs at the New School with a concentration in international development.

Strategy Advisor

Aziz Majoul is a graduate from Harvard University in Public Administration and from Sorbonne University in Banking and Finance. He is also a Founder and CEO of Afkar International Development, an M&A and strategy consulting firm. He has conducted interviews and performed analysis to devise MCC’s strategic plan in Tunisia, aimed at improving business environment and foreign trade, notably through user centric public policies.