OUR STORY

Our story begins in January 2016, in Montreal, with the creation of the Westaf brand.
Chakib Ziani-Chérif and Stéphanie Crespin, respectively French-Algerian and French-Senegalese, undertake the project and are at the heart of the company.

Chakib’s experience as expat airline pilot in West Africa lead him to realize the extraordinary potential –yet to be exploited– for an emerging continent when it comes to air transport.

That is when an upstream work of analysis and research lead to the very first business plan, concentrating to this day about 80% of the original strategy core.

The Westaf project was awarded ‘Best Project for Africa’ in air transport category by the Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme (TEEP) www.tonyelumelufoundation.org

OUR VISION

Westaf’s motto has always been to place the customer at the center of the business model.

A customer-oriented approach, not a product-based approach.

To create a 100%-African model based low-cost company.

Not an imported western based model.

This is the cornerstone of the Westaf project, involving its own risk management.

This vision also allowed us to advise The Gambia in 2019 at the request of His Excellency, Mr Adama Baro, President of the Republic, for the creation of a LLC in Banjul.

Thanks to its efficient risk policy mainly focused on the African market, we are proud to have been recognized as the best post-Covid project in 2021 thanks to our health risk identification : Ebola.

Offering a low cost product to expand the market size has social and economic impacts in the development of emerging Africa.

That is where we must start.

Often new opportunities arise in periods of crisis.

Algeria and West Africa will lay the ground for the onset of a key player of the commercial air transport.

 

« A Low Cost is not a name. It’s a price. »

Chakib Ziani-Chérif

Our most important asset is the human capital.
From solitary beginnings up till now, our team is establishing itself over time to reinforce Westaf’s DNA

THE TEAM

We would like to honor the memory of 2 former members who played key roles in our initial team..

  • Ousmane NIANG, senior executive, African & Senegalese aviation.
  • Sérane HANAFI, Algerian analyst, Anderson’s office, France

Capitaine CHAKIB ZIANI-CHERIF

Founder

Chakib has a commercial aviation firsthand experience in Canada, the Caribbean and Western Africa as a flight captain on Boeing 737Ng and Max8 ( Jazz, Sunrise Airways, Senegal Airlines, Ivory Coast Government… ), as well as Ops manager for numerous companies operating within various air services: business and VIP, military, medical, regional lines.
Thanks to his experience as an advertising and marketing senior manager within several agencies in France, Chakib brings innovative marketing approaches as well as his airline pilot expertise to Westaf.

Contact : chakib@flywestaf.com

STÉPHANIE CRESPIN

Thanks to her considerable experience in the field of corporate communication, French-Senegalese Stéphanie is at the genesis of the Westaf project.
She ensures the operational application of the strategic business plan and plays a key role in centralizing information and human resources.

 

Contact : crespin@flywestaf.com

AMADOU OUOROU

Expert in African commercial aviation, Amadou has notably gained experience at Air Afrique and initiated numerous African start-ups. He plays a pivotal role as a link between North Africa and West Africa.

Contact : am.ouorou@flywestaf.com

NICOLAS CHARAVET & DAVID CLOUGHER

Respectively art director and artistic producer, branding, they are the creators of the brand’s identity and the communication strategists of Westaf and Fly Westaf.

Contacts : nicolas@flywestaf.comdavid@flywestaf.com