An incubator to boost entrepreneurial spirit among Moroccan women

28/08/2006

In October, the Association of Moroccan Women Business Leaders incubator will start receiving applications from the first businesses to be created by female initiatives in the field of services and Internet and communications technologies. The UN Development Programme and the UN Development Fund for Women are supporting the initiative.

By Adam Mahadi for Magharebia in Casablanca – 28/08/06

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The Association of Moroccan Women Business Leaders (AFEM) has decided to launch an incubator called "Casa Pionnières" to counter the fact that women still considerably lag behind men in the business world. The initiative is dedicated to helping women with innovative ideas create their own businesses in the field of services and information technology.

Casa Pionnières aims to contribute to Morocco's economic fabric. In Morocco, most women business leaders work in the informal sector, such as domestic work, meaning their work and contributions do not appear in national economic statistics. Much of their work is also performed under difficult, precarious conditions for low wages.

Project co-ordinator Salwa Kerki Bekziz, the ex-president of AFEM, thinks the project can be a first step towards bringing about change

"The appeal for applications will be launched by Casa Pionnières during October with a view to select projects to benefit from personalised assistance and mutualised services," she said. The incubator steering committee will select the 25 projects to benefit from accommodation, equipment, assistance, training, and networking.

After the selection of future beneficiaries, the project has planned a preliminary "pre-incubation phase" to help the women prepare their business plans and gain training in administrative, financial and marketing management techniques.

The final aim of the AFEM incubator is to teach the women to develop independence so that they will be able to move out of Casa Pionnières.

Once the results of the Casablancan pilot incubator project are in, AFEM hopes to replicate the experiment in Fez.

The 3,500,000-dirhams Casa Pionnières project has the support of several governmental partners and international organisations, including the Ministries of Endowments and Islamic Affairs, the UN Development Fund for Women, the UN Development Programme, Paris Pionnières, the Maroc Entreprendre network, and the BCP Foundation for Business Creation. .