On the sidelines of the 14th session of the US-Africa Business Summit 2022, which closed its work on Friday evening, the Moroccan Agency for the Development of Investments and Exports (AMDIE) has organized a meeting around the thematice : ” Morocco: a platform of opportunities and a hub for business and investment in Africa“.
The event was divided into two sessions, one of which was devoted to presenting Morocco’s assets as a hub for Africa, while the second was reserved for Moroccan success stories in sectors such as automotive industry, aeronautics and technology.
The panel of speakers did not fail to underline the role played by Morocco in mobilizing and directing investments towards Africa. They notably cited Casablanca Finance City as an example as the leading African financial center, not to mention the networks of Moroccan banks in Africa.
Reda Hamdoune, executive director of the company Nareva which specializes in renewable energies, reviewed the major achievements orchestrated by Morocco in the field of renewable energies. He recalled that the investments mobilized to promote this sector of the future exceeded 10 billion dollars. Hamdoune also returned to the contribution made by Nareva at the national level: “Nwe have tworked hard and mobilized all our efforts to provide green energy at the lowest cost and put it to the layout of the industrial sector in Morocco” , did he declare.
For his part, Mohamed Bachiri, Chairman and CEO of the Renault group, returned to Morocco’s very successful experience in the field of the automotive industry, recalling that this sector has become the leading exporter in Morocco and the second in terms of employment. Automobile production in Morocco has also increased from 15,000 cars in 2005 to more than 500,000 cars today annually.
Bachiri further added that the automotive sector in Morocco is succeeding in its energy transition since it has now become dependent on renewable energies, at a time when the global trend is towards the imposition of carbon taxes.
For his part, Abdeslam Housni Sqali, founding president of Hitech Payment Systems, returned to the main stages linked to the development of his company which specializes in the production of banking software, and which now exports its products to various regions of the world.
As for Youssef Mansour, the American of Moroccan origin who managed to establish the back office of an American company in Morocco, he explained that the representative office of his company was initially to open in India, but that he had finally succeeded in convincing his group that Morocco had all the qualities required to host this project. During the first two years of its start, this office employed only 200 people; today it is on track to employ 3,000 people.
In turn, Travis Langham, representative of the aeronautical industry giant Boeing, returned to the dazzling development that this high-tech sector has experienced in Morocco over the past 20 years. ” We have worked on setting up ofa ecolocal industrial system; today, this same ecosystem provided usdoesn’t continuously in spare parts” , did he declare. It should be noted that this virtuous ecosystem is made up of no less than 142 Moroccan companies, which manufacture 39% of the parts and components used in the field of aeronautics.
Finally, Houda Farah, Managing Partner at Enjima, highlighted the experience of his company, which succeeded in mobilizing several engineering talents in Morocco and becoming one of the national leaders in the field of engineering expertise.
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