Zakaria En Nana, the soul of a Tea for Peace

In the heart of Rosières, a former workers' town south of Bourges, a handful of tea lovers had the privilege, in 2021, of entering the still confidential workshops of Maison NANA1807 . For the first time, its doors opened to the public as part of the Secret Visits organized by Tourisme & Territoires du Cher.

Founded in 2020 within the family home, the company was emerging timidly. However, behind this youth, a deep story already resonated, whose values ​​seemed to respond to a common quest after the Covid-19 pandemic, a rediscovered thirst for sharing. “ In Morocco, from the Royal Palace to the humblest home, mint tea is a tradition consumed by everyone, a symbol of art and hospitality ,” says Zakaria En Nana, creator of the house, with a smile.

From his origins in Salé, a Moroccan town where he was born in 1967, to Rosières where he grew up, Zakaria, proud to be “ Moroccan Berrichon ” , shaped himself “in a social, religious and cultural mix” , where mint tea embodied “ a generous and unifying value ” . In France, his mother, Fatna, who was just beginning to speak French, enjoyed sharing this drink with the neighbors. “ My parents were part of the economic migratory wave that contributed to the reconstruction of Europe ,” explains Zakaria.

In the 1960s, his father, Brahim Cherkaoui – renamed En Nana to facilitate his integration among the many Cherkaoui immigrants under the Franco-Moroccan convention of 1963 – was recruited by a French government agent for missions in the construction industry in Vatan, in Indre. He first made several return trips between France and Morocco, where his family still resided. “ One day, Dad decided not to return to France without his wife and children. His employer, satisfied with his work, then provided him with a furnished house and we arrived in Vatan in the middle of May 1968. ”

In 1972, Brahim was hired at the factories that manufactured the famous Rosières cookers and cast iron pans and it was there that Zakaria, then aged 5, discovered the rich diversity of this industrial village. Up to 1,300 workers, French and foreign, shared a solidarity forged by their common journeys, before the slow decline and definitive closure of the foundry.

Bathed in this multiculturalism, Zakaria remembers an “ extraordinary childhood in Rosières ” and “ summer vacations at the beach in Salé . ” Two places, two stories, “ two refuges where I loved to recharge my batteries between my travels. When I visited my parents in Berry, my mother always welcomed me with a delicious mint tea according to the tradition of Moroccan hospitality .”

Because before creating the Maison NANA1807 , Zakaria traveled around the world for several years.

Among the 193 member countries of the UN, he visited “ the most economically developed two-thirds ” . Business engineer at IBM, where he sold IT solutions to the largest manufacturers, then international director at Innovatron, a pioneering smart card company, Zakaria's “main residence was Air France” , he jokes.

He also spent a year in Cairo, Egypt, a territory that had a profound impact on him. “ It was just before the Arab Spring. We felt a tension building in the country and I think that it was this, apart from my desire to return to my roots, which made me return to France .” Perhaps it was also destiny because, in 2006, he met Adeline Moniez, designer of skin jewelry and founder of the luxury house Marbella. She will become the mother of his children, Adam, now 17 years old, Engie and Emma, ​​15 years old, all three partners in the tea house in Rosières.