In the quiet town of Djemmel, Tunisia, where the scent of jasmine mingles with the hum of distant workshops, an undercurrent of change had begun to rise. It wasn’t political or loud. It was the kind that begins in silence, with a girl, a dream and the weight of personal tragedy sculpting a path few dare to walk. Nada Ghammem did not choose this path for glory or gain. She chose it because the world she inherited demanded better and she decided she would be the one to build it.
There’s something otherworldly about how her story unfolds. It’s the kind of narrative that seems carved from the stuff of epics. Orphaned by her mother at just thirteen, raised by a father living with a disability, Nada learned early that resilience isn’t a concept, it’s a way of life. That reality didn’t break her. It became the blueprint for her life’s purpose.
Today, Nada is the founder of Bionic Soul, a Tunisian startup that designs smart, affordable and personalized prosthetics for amputees. Her creations, from the mechanical ErgoLeg to the AI-powered BioniLeg and soon-to-be-launched bionic arm, aren’t just products. They’re promises. To the millions forgotten by the global medical industry, her work whispers, “You are not invisible.”
A Soul Born from Science and Struggle
Nada’s journey into engineering wasn’t a detour, it was destiny. She pursued a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, focusing on mechanical construction and manufacturing. But her academic life never stayed confined to textbooks. Instead, it collided head-on with her personal life, birthing a mission bigger than herself.
“After losing my mother at the age of 13, I was raised by my father, a man living with a disability, whose strength and determination became a lifelong source of inspiration,” she shares. In that same spirit of resilience, she immersed herself in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, learning to code a future where disability didn’t mean despair.
She began her work in local innovation hubs like MakerLab, spaces where dreams become devices. It was there that she developed her first smart bionic leg. “My mission is to continue transforming lives through advanced, affordable and personalized prosthetic solutions, integrating cutting-edge technologies to enhance mobility and quality of life for amputees worldwide,” she says, not with ego but with conviction.
The Spark That Lit the Flame
Nada’s lightbulb moment wasn’t poetic. It was painful. “During my final engineering project, I developed my first prosthetic prototype and that’s when I was shocked to learn that over 65 million people live with amputations worldwide, with a new amputation occurring every 30 seconds.” The numbers weren’t just staggering, they were unacceptable.
That moment turned her academic curiosity into moral clarity. “Coming from a personal background where my own father lives with a disability, this revelation deeply moved me.” She saw the chasm between need and access, especially in Africa and other low-resource regions. “Most amputees… have no access to affordable or functional prosthetics,” she adds. And so, Bionic Soul was born.
Building Where Nothing Exists
Founding a startup is never easy. Building one in a sector that doesn’t exist locally is nearly impossible. But that’s exactly what Nada did. “One of the most significant obstacles I faced was the lack of infrastructure and resources for prosthetic development in Tunisia,” she explains. There were no local suppliers. No specialized labs. No embedded systems. Just Nada, a vision and her willingness to learn everything from scratch.
She taught herself electronics. She dug deep into open-source tools. She used the scattered resources of fablabs and incubators to carve her vision into existence. From MakerLab to Orange Fab Lab, from ESPITA to Techopole Ghazala, she found allies in innovation and turned abandoned spaces into creation zones.
Another major obstacle Nada faced was breaking through the barriers of funding and visibility in a space where the odds were stacked against her. “As a young female founder without a traditional tech background, it was difficult to gain credibility in a male-dominated sector and convince funders to back a hardware startup from Africa,” she explains. With limited access to conventional investment channels, she had to chart her own path. “I had to rely on bootstrapping, grants and international competitions to prove the concept and earn recognition,” she says.
Her first invention, ErgoLeg, a purely mechanical prosthesis, was tested not only in Tunisia but in Qatar’s Hamad Medical Corporation. That initial success became the launchpad for the BioniLeg, an AI-powered prosthetic that adapts in real time and her upcoming bionic arm, which uses EMG sensors for intuitive control. “We’re particularly excited about the integration of machine learning and biosignal processing (EMG and EEG)… for enhanced responsiveness and user interaction,” she says.
Acknowledgment That Amplifies Impact
Nada’s work has not gone unnoticed. “We have been recognized nationally and internationally for our work,” she says, underscoring the breadth and credibility her startup, Bionic Soul, has achieved in just a few years.
One of the most significant milestones is her patented invention: “I have been granted patent T2021/0248 for the design of the smart bionic leg, protecting my innovative approach to prosthetics.” This patent not only secures the originality of her design but positions her as a pioneering figure in assistive tech coming from the Global South. Her research has also been published in academic circles, including platforms like the Journal of Mechanical Engineering Research and ResearchGate, through the paper “Intelligent Bionic Leg for Transfemoral Amputation”, further establishing the scientific depth behind her creations.
The momentum began with her proof of concept in July 2021 and has since accelerated with a string of accolades: the Tunisia e-Health Valley Prize in both October 2022 and September 2023, and the official Startup Label in June 2023. Her innovations were also celebrated at the Realities & STTM_E Health Competition and the More Special Needs Prize, both in May 2023.
August 2023 marked a major personal and professional honor as she was named Best Tunisian Entrepreneur, a title that not only reflects her technical achievements but also her growing influence in Tunisia’s startup ecosystem. In October 2023, she received the International Women’s Prize (POESAM, Orange), which spotlights transformative female leaders in tech across the globe. Most recently, in October 2024, her work was formally acknowledged by the Tunisian government with an award for Innovation and Creativity in Prosthetic Technology, a landmark moment not just for her but for the future of med-tech in the region.
Creating a Movement, Not Just a Product
Nada doesn’t just build prosthetics. She builds people. “I co-develop educational programs that introduce high school and university students to AI and biomedical innovation,” she says. Her lab is not just a workspace, it’s an ecosystem, buzzing with interns, graduates and young dreamers who want to make tech for good.
She opens her doors to student projects, helping bridge the gap between theory and real-world application. Her collaborations with the Centre de Recherche en Microélectronique et Nanotechnologie (CRMN), ESPRIT and other institutions aren’t just academic. They’re deeply personal. “We offer students and researchers opportunities to work on real-world impactful projects,” she adds.
Advice From a Woman Who Refused to Break
To other entrepreneurs, especially those just starting out, Nada offers this: “Start small but think big. Focus on solving a real problem with limited resources and don’t wait for perfect conditions to act.” She adds, “Build meaningful partnerships early… and always listen to your users.”
And above all else: “Be resilient. Challenges are part of the journey but with persistence and purpose, even the most ambitious vision can become reality.”
Toward a Future That Feels
Nada Ghammem’s story is not a tale of overnight success. It is a chronicle of defiance, against poverty, invisibility, loss and limitation. She did not inherit her power. She built it. Piece by piece. Sensor by sensor. Decision by decision. She took the raw grief of losing her mother and the quiet determination of her disabled father and transmuted them into blueprints for something the world had never seen before.
As she moves toward launching the world’s first affordable, AI-powered bionic arm that reads both brainwaves and muscle signals, Nada is no longer just an engineer or an entrepreneur. She is a soul worker, engineering dignity, building humanity into hardware and writing the future of mobility with her own hands.
She says, “The most significant lesson I’ve learned is that no matter the obstacles, pain, or loss we face, we must never give up.” Because, in her words, “The future isn’t given, it’s built with our own hands.”
And if you ever doubt that, look to Djemmel, where a girl once began building bionic souls in silence and now helps the world walk again.
