How it all began: the Co-founders’ Story
The idea for a brand-new form of racing involving escooters originated in a way that speaks volumes about the personalities who conceived it – at lightning speed. The eSC co-founders don’t stand still for a second.
Theirs is a story best told with all four in the same room. Fast friends first and foremost, they are accomplished former racers and entrepreneurs, bursting with creative energy and laser-focused on vision and mission.
The story goes something like this. Ex-racing driver and Middle East motorsport development consultant Khalil Beschir, eSC’s COO, and his business partner had a wild idea for a world escooter racing series while meeting with like-minded associate, tech entrepreneur and micromobility advocate Hrag Sarkissian. When the joking subsided, they all sensed there could well be something in it, and Hrag, now eSC’s CEO, was quickly drawing on his experience in innovation-led business to thread in the idea of a sport with a wider purpose – one that speaks to a new generation and could inspire a new movement for safer, sustainable and more liveable cities. eSC went from brainstorm to business plan in a matter of hours.
A few days later, Khalil reached out with a quixotic 30-second elevator pitch to their mutual friend, ex-Grand Prix driver and two-time winner of the legendary Le Mans 24 Hours, Alex Wurz, now chairman of Formula 1's Grand Prix Drivers’ Association (GPDA) and Founder and CEO of an internationally renowned business focusing on road safety, driver training and track design. The why is obvious. Alex is the pragmatic type, so it took a few minutes for him to cut through the exuberant delivery and home in on the sporting concept. He, too, was soon hooked, and proceeded to layer in his vision for eSC becoming an innovation lab that accelerates performance and safety improvements that would have real world relevance.
Enter Lucas di Grassi, who completes the co-founder quadrumvirate as Sustainability Ambassador. One of the leading lights in electric series Formula E, and keenly aware of the social, political and financial conversations that straddle the mobility realm, the Brazilian was engaged from his very first conversations with Alex, now eSC Safety Ambassador. A passionate advocate for greater sustainability in both motorsport and global mobility, he saw eSC as an important platform for showcasing climate action through sport.
Fast. Exciting. Dynamic. How eSC was born, and how it went from dream to reality in two whirlwind and pandemic-afflicted development years to finally hit the racetrack in 2022.
