Karim was a tech optimist, known for his boundless energy and big smile. As a professional, he was a mad scientist, capable of building the coolest electric bikes from scratch as a hardware entrepreneur at his company Cowboy. He was obsessed with solving issues through innovation. Impatient to find solutions, he would often say, "What else is new?" if the proposed solution wasn't bold enough. Karim was also a very generous person, always eager to encourage young people to pursue engineering studies.
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In 2018, after discovering a tumor in his knee while training for a marathon, he was diagnosed with synovial sarcoma.
In 2023, a metastasis paralyzed him from the chest down. Despite trying numerous clinical trials across three countries and five hospitals, he passed away in September 2023. During this journey, Karim and his wife experienced the challenges of using a wheelchair in all aspects of their daily life, even in hospital surroundings.

After thirty carefree years, Karim and his wife were confronted with the challenges of using a wheelchair. A few examples: while searching for a solution to live together because their apartment had no elevator, they discovered that only one listing in all of Paris was available for a wheelchair-accessible apartment. Finding the wheelchair-accessible entrance to public spaces, especially hospitals, was always a hassle; sidewalks were sometimes too high to cross without the caregiver putting their full weight into helping. The handles and sinks in accessible rooms were often too far for Karim to be independent.
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Karim believed that everyone should be able to live independently and saw a clear lack of innovation for affordable, low-tech products for wheelchair users. While there were many high-end solutions, such as fancy wheelchairs costing 30,000 EUR, they were too expensive for most people. In Belgium, electric wheelchairs are not even covered by social security if the user can still use their arms. This prompted Karim to ask his wife, Aurore, to create a fund in his memory, just days before his death. The goal was to support entrepreneurs developing prototypes to help people in similar situations maintain their independence.​

The Karim Slaoui Fund is now active. It is embedded in the King Baudouin Foundation (KBF) and governed according to the KBF, and it's us affiliate “The Myriad Alliance” rules and procedures, by a committee including his wife Aurore Balsan and his father Moncef Slaoui. They have invited wheelchair using entrepreneurs to advise them on the projects to support.