A total of 100 entrepreneurs and aspiring business owners in the Oriental region are to receive mentoring from Moroccan professionals based in Belgium under a €500,000 program financed by the Belgian government.
The scheme, called Maghrib Belgium Mentoring, will draw on the expertise of Moroccan entrepreneurs and professionals in Belgium to help participants develop their businesses and gain access to new markets.
An agreement launching the program was signed in Casablanca on Thursday by CGEM president Mehdi Tazi and Benoit Legrand, Enabel’s resident representative and country director for Morocco.
The program provides for women to account for up to 40 per cent of beneficiaries, while at least 30 per cent of mentors are to be women.
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Tazi said the scheme would combine the expertise of Moroccans abroad with CGEM’s business networks to help entrepreneurs in the Oriental region expand their activities.
“Growth and value creation begin in our regions,” he said, adding that particular attention would be paid to young people and women.
The objective, he said, was to help participants reach new markets and grow their businesses, with the hope that those receiving guidance today would eventually become mentors themselves.
Karim Amor, president of MeM by CGEM, the confederation’s network for Moroccan entrepreneurs and professionals abroad, echoed that ambition.
“Tomorrow, these 100 young people will be the mentors of future generations,” he said, describing the program as a way of passing experience from one generation of entrepreneurs to the next.
The signing ceremony was attended by Belgian Ambassador Gilles Heyvaert and Mohammed Amine Fatmi, president of CGEM’s Oriental regional branch.
The program is being financed by the Belgian state under the Morocco-Belgium bilateral cooperation program for 2024–2029.
