Algerian smart vertical farm and Mascara University incubator win 2025 ARLEM Award for Young Local Entrepreneurship

7 November 2025, Palermo. The ARLEM Award: Young Local Entrepreneurship in the Mediterranean has been conferred on Mokhtar Bouazza, 31, founder of the vertical farming enterprise Gardens of Babylon, together with Beanoumeur Bakhti representing the Mascara University business incubator (Algeria). The duo was recognised for an effective entrepreneur–public authority partnership that turns innovation into jobs and local impact.

Created in 2019 by the Euro‑Mediterranean Regional and Local Assembly (ARLEM), in collaboration with the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM), the award honours collaborations between entrepreneurs under 35 and their local or regional authorities across the Mediterranean.

Gardens of Babylon deploys smart technology to maximise yields while cutting environmental impacts, notably water use. The operation integrates sensors, computer vision, farm‑management software and artificial intelligence. It currently employs 12 people and has trained 100 farmers and entrepreneurs, with the jury commending both the technological level and the project’s positive effects on the surrounding rural community.

“The ARLEM Award underscores how partnerships between young entrepreneurs and their local and regional authorities turn innovation into jobs and resilience across the Mediterranean. The Union for the Mediterranean is proud to support this initiative. Congratulations to this year’s Algerian laureates and their public partners.” — Joan Borrell, UfM Deputy Secretary General.

Last year’s ARLEM Award was presented to Aïda Kandil for myTindy, in partnership with the Casablanca Chamber of Crafts.