Virtual Magazine of Morocco on the Web
Morocco Week in Review 
December 12, 2009

Morocco unveils programmes to support SMEs. By Sarah Touahri 2009-12-09

Small businesses in Morocco are due to receive a boost from the government, as new agreements provide greater access to capital and credit. The Moroccan government is taking fresh steps to support beleaguered local businesses, which are a key part of the national economy. Two new programmes by the National Agency for the Promotion of Small and Medium Enterprises (ANPME) are intended to boost competitiveness in the struggling sector.

The first, called Imtiaz, is designed for companies with development plans who wish to take advantage of assistance worth up to 20% of their investment in tangible and intangible assets. The subsidy can be up to five million dirhams. The second programme, called Moussanada, is designed to help SMEs in the process of modernising and improving their competitiveness by setting up operational support programmes which are accessible to all businesses.

To facilitate financing for these projects, the government signed two agreements with banks on December 1st.
ANPME director Latifa Achihabi told Magharebia that the central aim is to promote the financing of projects for SMEs which have reached their maximum borrowing level and have plans for further development. She said it marks the first time that a part of the national budget has been earmarked to support and help SMEs with development plans.

Trade and Industry Minister Ahmed Reda Chami stressed that these two programmes are aimed at providing the necessary support for SMEs, which make up 90% of the national economy, to enhance their competitiveness. Chami said that to this end, 1.2 billion dirhams had been set aside to support the initiatives through 2015.

Prime Minister Abbas El Fassi said at the signing ceremony for the two agreements that they would make it possible to give businesses the support they need and to realise the aspirations of the national economy, which is trying to find its place within international markets.

Managers of the participating banks also expressed their determination to support the Moroccan economy. Mohamed Kettani, managing director of the Attijariwafa Bank Group, said that the Imtiaz and Moussanada programmes would provide valuable help in restructuring small businesses and improving competitiveness.

Economist Mohamed Chandili told Magharebia that it was time to offer support to this sector, which has suffered from difficulties including the lack of competitiveness, difficulty in accessing financing, and a shortage of staff training. "In these crisis-ridden times, it is essential to help small and medium enterprises follow through on their vision," he said.

Business leaders have waited a long time for this initiative to be introduced. Ahmed Bouchtioui, who manages a textiles business in Salé, said that a lack of financial resources had led many businesses to fail. "SMEs need credit if they are to develop," he said. "Otherwise they'll shut their doors. If the banks and the government can give the sector their support, many problems will be solved."
http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2009/12/09/feature-02
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AMIDEAST to open entrepreneur training centre in Morocco.
2009-09-29

AMIDEAST and Cisco Entrepreneur Institute will open a training centre for young entrepreneurs next month in Rabat, organisers announced on Monday (September 28th). The programme aims to help young Moroccan men and women "gain skills and knowledge that will enable them to be successful in the global marketplace", AMIDEAST president Theodore Kattouf said.
http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/newsbriefs/general/2009/09/29/newsbrief-06
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Morocco says no funding threat to key farm reforms.
Fri Nov 20, 2009 By Amena Bakr and Zakia Abdennebi SKHIRAT, Morocco (Reuters)

Morocco has the resources to press ahead with farm sector reform, even if many foreign investors are unwilling to commit for now, industry officials said. Foreign investment in the north African country had fallen by a third in September compared to a year earlier, according to government figures, as the global banking crisis made investors loath to venture into new markets,

Morocco has said it needs to muster 150 billion dirhams to upgrade and diversify agriculture, which suffers from droughts and poor yields. A 10-year farm reform drive seeks to replace cereals, which account for 75 percent of Morocco's arable land of 7.5 million hectares, with more lucrative crops such as olives and boost food exports as trade barriers fall.

Gulf Arab investors should be ideal partners for the plan as their countries need to secure food supplies after prices rose sharply. Yet big inward investment deals have been largely absent.

At a two-day conference near the Moroccan capital Rabat, local officials sought to convince Gulf investors that heavy bureaucracy and complex land ownership rules, long seen as decisive obstacles, are a thing of the past. The charm offensive has worked in some cases -- Saudi Arabia's Tabuk Agriculture Development Co. said it planned to invest about $10 million in Moroccan olive farming early next year. It started looking at opportunities in Morocco in 2008. And an Abu Dhabi-based private sector investment firm told Reuters this week it had signed a contract to lease up to 700,000 hectares of farmland in southern Morocco and would invest 30 million euros.

Commitments so far are relatively small but Moroccan industry officials are staying upbeat, saying foreign investment is very welcome but not essential for its farm reform plan to succeed. "There is already a commitment from (Moroccan) state and financial institutions," Tarik Berkia, a managing director at Moroccan bank Credit Agricole, told Reuters. "The money is there. If there are big scale projects, we could call upon foreign funds. That does not mean foreign money is not welcome."

He said there was keen interest in farm projects from French, Australian, Spanish and Italian investors.
Some Gulf investors at the conference said they were starting to sit up and take notice of Morocco's farm sector.
"All the world is worried about food security and Gulf countries are investing in Sudan and Western Asia," said Ali Hamid al-Missifri, first executive manager at Qatar International Islamic Bank. "I think there's now an opportunity to go to Morocco -- it's a very important agricultural country."

Other delegates said they were still put off by Moroccan red tape and the relatively small size of farm units generally on offer. "I'm not coming here to invest in small land," said Saad al Swat, chief executive of Tabuk Agriculture Development Co. "We're not talking about 500 or 700 hectares. Our farm in Saudi is 35,000 hectares... With a small farm, nobody is going to notice your input in the economy."
http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE5AJ0KS20091120
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Mohammed V Foundation raises funds for training centres.
By Sarah Touahri 2009-11-30

Moroccans had the chance last week to contribute to a charity drive to build more professional training centres for the underprivileged. Moroccans recently flocked to banks and post offices to buy yellow solidarity badges to support the construction of professional training and development centres for the poor.

Their efforts supported the 12th annual Mohammed V Foundation solidarity campaign, which mobilised Moroccans from November 15th-25th to help finance the construction of the centres. "Since its inception, the foundation has been able to fund hundreds of social, humanitarian or sustainable development projects thanks to donations from the Moroccan public," said Kaiss Ben Yahya, the foundation's communications director. The most important achievement of the campaign is "rallying Moroccans in support of the noble values of solidarity, which are anchored in the nation's culture", he concluded.

Last year's campaign raised more than 230 million dirhams to help fund the construction of seven vocational training centres for young people. The Office for Professional Training and Promotion of Employment also contributed money to the project.

Two additional training and skills centres were built last year, in co-operation with the Ministry of Agriculture. The Ministry of Youth and Sport also collaborated with the solidarity fund to bring two more social and education centres to the Moroccan public.

Such charity campaigns have won a broad echo of support in public and political circles."We need to put our faith in young people, particularly through education, if we want to combat inequality and poverty," said Istiqlal Party member Mohammed Ansari. "This kind of initiative can only promote social development in Morocco and facilitate social cohesion," he continued. Ansari called the impact on beneficiaries "huge", and lauded the foundation for focussing on training society's poorest members to help them become integrated into the mainstream.

Lahcen Daoudi, an MP representing the Party of Justice and Development, praised the foundation for its work. However, he added that such campaigns were "not enough". "It's essential to involve all NGOs," he said, adding that more media-driven awareness-raising campaigns were needed to communicate with the public about solidarity. He also suggested that the state create a special authority to raise zakat (alms) and encourage Moroccans to give more generously by providing tax breaks for donors.

"The idea of solidarity and giving has changed a great deal due to declining living standards in the country," said the MP. "It's hard for someone who lives in a flat measuring 40 square metres to look after their parents. So solidarity is beginning to fade due to changes in the living conditions of ordinary Moroccans." Daoudi also suggested the promotion of waqf (endowments) as a tool for social solidarity.
http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2009/11/30/feature-01
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Morocco budgets money for fund for divorced women.
2009-12-01 By Sarah Touahri

Government measures to support divorcees "will make a big difference in the daily lives of many women and children", according to Rabat community leader Fatima Maghnaoui. Morocco's Parliament has voted to push forward with creating a long-discussed fund to support divorced women and their families.

The Family Solidarity Fund, which was planned for in the 2003 Family Code, will finally be set up under an amendment to the 2010 Finance Act. "The provisions of the Family Code must be enforced, since MPs passed the laws years ago," said MP and leader of the Party of Justice and Development, Mustapha Ramid, on November 23rd.

The fund will provide money for divorced women and mothers whose husbands fail to pay alimony, and will then recover the money from men who refuse to make payments. For the time being, the fund will be financed with tax money.

Halima Allioui is among the many women who have eagerly awaited the fund's creation. Since her divorce six months ago, taking care of her children has been a struggle as a result of her ex-husband's failure to pay court-ordered alimony. The fund will help her provide for her family and recover the funds she is owed.

After the MPs approved the 2010 Finance Act on November 17th, Finance Minister Salaheddine Mezouar said that all parties had supported the idea of the fund, as long as all the "necessary components" such as budget allocations were present. Ahmed Zaydi, who leads the Socialist Union of Popular Forces in Parliament, said that the government "never refused to set up the fund, but for financial reasons ... planned to create it in 2011".

While there is criticism of certain aspects of the new fund, including calls to extend the deadline for filing alimony claims, some activists are eagerly embracing the concept. "The measure will make a big difference in the daily lives of many women and children," said Fatima Maghnaoui, who heads the Annajda Centre in Rabat. The centre helps divorced and abused women.

"Non-enforcement of nafaka (alimony) has adverse consequences, such as children dropping out of school and juvenile delinquency," she said. Maghnaoui said that other Arab countries, such as Tunisia and Egypt, provide funds to divorced mothers and report a lower truancy rate.

"The government always cited the pretext of the lack of funds to put into the Family Solidarity Fund, but many funds related to other sectors are being financed out of public money," she said. "It's easy to find sources of funding, such as from zakat (charity) or the introduction of a special tax on prenuptial agreements." "It's never too late to do the right thing," added the community leader.
http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2009/12/01/feature-01
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Moroccan advocate for single mothers receive $1m award.
By Imane Belhaj 2009-11-19

The Opus Foundation recently honoured grass-roots activist Aicha Ech-Chenna for her work to help Moroccan single mothers achieve dignity and self-sufficiency. A Moroccan community leader who has braved death threats for her work on behalf of single mothers has received a million-dollar award from the international Opus Foundation.

Aicha Ech-Chenna, who founded the Association Solidarité Féminine (ASF), was honoured at a Casablanca gathering on Friday (November 13th) to celebrate the award. "I've suffered a great deal and been pained by hard-liners who want to turn our country into a country of orphans," said Ech-Chenna, who has stuck to her work despite threats to her life from those who claim she promotes casual sex and children born out of wedlock.

ASF works to empower vulnerable women by enrolling 50 of Casablanca's poorest single mothers in rehabilitation programmes, and fully supporting each of their children. The association also tries to keep single mothers from abandoning their children and helps them secure official identity documents for the newborns.

"I can no longer take it when I hear about a father who married his daughter, because he never got to know her since she grew up in a foster family, or a brother who married his sister, which happens every day," Ech-Chenna told those at the Friday event. "I continue to fight so that every mother can keep her child, by offering her the appropriate conditions to raise him or her, unhindered by financial or legal problems."

The Opus Prize is a faith-based humanitarian award given annually to recognise "unsung heroes of any faith tradition" who are working to eliminate persistent social problems anywhere in the world, according to the foundation's website. The prize "recognises individuals whose work and story can inspire us to tackle the world's most-deeply rooted problems", said the executive director of the Opus Prize Foundation, Amy Sunderland. "They demonstrate what faith, will and vision can do to make our world a better place. They show us change is possible."

Ech-Chenna plans to use the prize money to open a hostel for out-of-town Casablanca students, which will be staffed by women in the ASF programme.

One young Casablanca woman who benefitted from the programme choked back tears when describing how much the association had done for her. "It offered me so much support when I was going through hard times with my unexpected pregnancy," said Fatma, 21. "The aid I received from the association kept me from falling apart."

Fatma credits ASF with helping her make a new start, hold her head high and lead a normal life with her son.
Ech-Chenna lauded the example provided by single mothers such as Fatma, who she said constantly "rise to the challenge" and hang onto their children, despite the "cruelty" of society. The determination of these women to succeed despite these challenges motivates the association, she added.

ASF also helps families overcome other difficulties by convincing fathers to marry the mother of their child and urging the families of single mothers to reconcile with their daughter. Ech-Chenna noted that some adversaries have become proponents of the ASF, "especially since we've turned the association into an example that a number of countries hope to follow".

Activist Zainab Zul Faqar, who works on behalf of women in rural areas, came from France to congratulate Ech-Chenna on her prize. "Every time I meet this woman, she gives me loads of hope and energy to pursue my efforts. I've learned a lot from her," she said.

But Ech-Chenna insists she is no hero. "The most courageous women are those who choose to keep their children, rather than dump them on the street," she said. "The principle of the association is to enable every mother to lead a dignified life, and to help her take responsibility for her child." http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2009/11/19/feature-01
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Diplomats raise funds for Moroccan projects.
By Siham Ali 2009-11-25

Each year in Rabat, the diplomatic community hosts a bazaar to raise money for projects throughout Morocco. Morocco's diplomatic community on November 21st held its annual International Charity Bazaar, in which handicrafts and other goods from around the world are sold to fund social projects. The Diplomatic Circle, a group which includes the wives of foreign ambassadors to Morocco, organises the annual bazaar. This year's event took place at Rabat's Mohammed V Theatre.

Proceeds from sales went to help finance 20 social projects around Morocco that focus on education, health care and rural women's emancipation. The event has run for over 20 years, and has become one of the most eagerly awaited events in the Moroccan capital. "By buying tickets and a few items, you can help social projects," said Hamid Bellah, who travelled from Tangier to attend the fair for the third year in a row. "When everyone works together, efforts to help the poorest people in society can be made. That's why I never miss this event, which is rich in symbols," Bellah explained, as his eye wandered to a table of Algerian handicrafts.

All projects which receive funds from the bazaar are monitored closely by Diplomatic Circle members, who send committees to make regular on-site visits with spot checks that ensure the donated money is used effectively. Organisation members believe the event embodies the values of solidarity and co-existence between different cultures.

"The Diplomatic Circle intends to continue its activities jointly with the Moroccan authorities, with help from all institutions, key figures and sponsors," said the organisation's president, Humera Mahmood. Mahmood, whose husband is the Pakistani ambassador, said the circle has supported social projects since its inception.

Diplomatic Circle members work all year round to find the most interesting international products to sell, in order to ensure they can raise enough money for the projects they support. Previous projects included building an orphanage and a community centre for disabled individuals.

Local ambassadors' wives – the main force behind the bazaar – are proud of the event's success. All agree that the projects give a new dimension to diplomatic activity and should be continued. "The bazaar is an embodiment of cultural diversity since it provides an opportunity for each country to showcase its specialties," said Catherine Joubert, the wife of the French ambassador.

"It's an enriching experience for me," said 23-year-old accountant Siham Hammouchi. "I was able to share ideas with diplomats' wives from many different places, who met to achieve the same goal. I'm really interested in social development and this kind of event encourages me to play an active role in it myself."

Tasty samples from over fifty countries' cuisines decorated the bazaar tables to create a veritable international buffet, to the delight of families and foreign visitors who descended on the bazaar. Hamid Bellah said the bazaar is a godsend for Moroccans, adding that the event "enables them to find out more about other countries while having fun."
http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2009/11/25/feature-03
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Trekking the High Atlas, Taking the Pain.
11.30.09  By RPCV Jeffery Taylor

Travel Stories: A fall in Morocco's rugged mountains left Jeffrey Tayler writhing in agony -- and wondering whether to abandon his journey. 

The August sun slowly crested the iron, claw-shaped crags above, scorching Kousser, a plateau of pale spatulated lava swells dotted with clumps of dead grass deep in the semi-desert fastnesses of Morocco’s High Atlas Mountains. My guide Driss and muleteer Khalid helped me load our two mules for the day’s hike. I was researching a story on the Berbers for National Geographic Magazine. We were 11 days into a two-month, 400-mile trek from near the town of Midelt west to the Atlantic, along the spine of North Africa’s greatest cordillera. We wished goodbye to Fatima, the old Berber woman who had put us up in her stone hut at the edge of Masku, an isolated hamlet close to the 11,000-foot high summit of Mount Astif. By mid-afternoon we hoped to reach the village of Zawiat Ahansal, somewhere to the southwest.

Read more on this link: http://www.worldhum.com/features/travel-stories/trekking-the-high-atlas-taking-the-pain-20091125/
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A taste of Morocco in Studio City
By Aprile Sumague / November 22, 2009

Get ready for an exotic experience once you enter the two red doors of Marrakesh restaurant in Studio City. The intimate atmosphere inside sets the mood for a romantic Moroccan dinner date with décors like oil lamps, tasseled curtains, plush pillows and mosaic tables...
Read the rest here: http://sundial.csun.edu/2009/11/a-taste-of-morocco-in-studio-city/
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The unique beauties of mysterious Morocco
RABAT

Very few countries in the world can be described as being the “land of entrancing colors.” But Morocco is one country which more than deserves this description. No matter which Moroccan city you head to, you are bound to be met by magical beauty. While Morocco is part of the African continent, it is not like the rest of Africa, nor is it typical of the Mediterranean that lies to its north. Morocco remains a transit point between Africa and Europe…………..
More here: http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/news-193979-117-the-unique-beauties-of-mysterious-morocco.html
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