The Entrepreneurial Profile of Morocco, published in December 2023 by EiNA, the African Development Bank and the Moroccan Ministry of Economy and Finance, pays particular attention to the situation of Moroccan entrepreneurs and their challenges.
The Assafae association for sustainable development provides concrete assistance to entrepreneurs, especially women, in the Drâa Tafilalet region south of the Atlas Mountains.
Founded in 2000, the association focuses on the economic inclusion of women, supporting them in developing professional and managerial skills so that they are better able to engage in income-generating activities. Currently, it employs 11 people and has several volunteers.
Rural women who often have little education are the main target clientele for the association, which supports them in traditional activities such as handcraft, sewing, cooking, catering and domestic work. It also ensures that they can use modern, digital technologies to expand their market.
Market access is important for these women living in these rather isolated areas, where access to the country's main urban and peri-urban zones is difficult. Here, the digitalization of sales processes becomes even more important.
Assafae supports around 150 projects a year, representing some 200 women, to whom it awards a diploma. Support starts at the project's inception and continues to its implementation.
The association directs beneficiaries towards financing organizations and supports them in their administrative procedures at the regional and national levels. It puts them in touch with the main players involved in supporting entrepreneurs, including the Agence nationale de promotion de l'emploi et des compétences (Anapec), Ana Moukawil, Forsa and the Initiative nationale pour le développement humain (INDH).
Assafae also offers training in marketing, customer loyalty, packaging, and sales. It helps these women entrepreneurs to participate in trade fairs, where they can present their products to a wider public and find new outlets and customers.
One of the association's major challenges is to help women move beyond survival production and generate permanent jobs. This requires better integration into the value chains of the local and regional economy, and greater synergy between different players in the ecosystem (training organizations, public players, businesspeople, experts in different fields).
The association also works on changing mindsets. First and foremost, among women, by instilling in them the right reflexes in terms of business conduct, and among men. For the past two years, it has been organizing awareness-raising workshops for the spouses of women entrepreneurs to help them better understand the issues and challenges of female entrepreneurship. Given the success of these workshops, Assafae plans to organize others in 2024 for the benefit of families.
The results of its action make Assafae proud: in addition to training women in entrepreneurship, its beneficiaries include women who have entered local, regional, and even national politics. This just goes to show that entrepreneurship opens new horizons.
