There are genuine concerns over the growing phenomenon of the rising unemployment situation in the African continent. A negative development that has succeeded in pushing many African governments to the brim following the anger and resentments that accompany joblessness.
But, in Morocco, a new business incubator with sufficient matching grants, known as Emerging Business Factory (EBF) has been established by young Moroccans to address the growing unemployment in the country.
Located at Marrakech, the tourism city of Morocco, the multi-faceted factory, has various structures and components under its belt.
The factory, being managed by brilliant young Moroccans have over fifty companies working under its umbrella, connecting individuals, organizations and institutions with the right synergies to actualize their skills, talents and ideas.
The factory has its own studio to carry out all kinds of entertainment activities including music production, movies, documentaries, advertisements and related services.
There are also banks, civil society organizations, real estate, ICT, a restaurant, art gallery among others all working within the setup of the factory.
Speaking to eight Ghanaian journalists who visited Morocco as part of activities being carried out by the Journalists for Tourism Advocacy (JTA) to promote tourism and business development, Taoufik Aboudia, one of the young Moroccans behind the factory, explained the essence of Emerging Business Factory.
He said the factory is just one of the avenues made available to young Moroccans as a start-up incubator nurturing young Moroccans to dream big and to realize their potential.
He said the factory has been working with Artists, producers, facilitating the production of videos and using social media effectively to achieve results.
He pointed out that the group has been working with the Regional Center for Environment to constantly scan the environment and improve things.
The group, he noted, again developed poke space (a visionary creative hub for events formation, exposition, concept store among others.
The organization, he said has also established a ticketing business called ‘Tidar’ and working hard to make it popular globally.
On his part, Nawfal Ouaadil, one of the founders of the group, discussed with the team, tourism attractiveness, attributes and marketing strategies, a case study of Marrakech and Region, with the Regional Council of Tourism.
He outlined quite significant initiatives being introduced by the start-up group to drive tourism development and its growth in Marrakech and ultimately Morocco.
He enumerated that Marrakech has more than seven hundred (700) riads, more than one thousand six hundred (1,600) historical sites, Gastronomy, Hamam Spa, historical gardens, creative gardens, more than fourteen (14) gulf courses, world-class waves along beaches, therefore making Marrakech the land of inspiration and celebration.
He announced that the new ticketing platform (Tidar) created by the group would focus primarily on accessibility, timing, and how events that are being affected during covid 19 can be managed properly to recover and record good numbers.
He described the new application as not just an app for booking, but for all events and disclosed that currently thirty five (35) million people, out of the forty-three (43) million population in the country have been connected to mobile phones, and therefore would rely on their services.
Music, he underscored, currently contributes five per cent (5%) to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) hence their determination to improve the sector.
He disclosed that there are presently ten (10) festivals in Morocco, five (5) collections as recurrent events, promoting culture, creative touch, tourism and content, ostensibly to advance the region, Morocco and the sub-region of Africa.
In addition, the city of Marrakech, he explained has developed an electronic music festival, perhaps the first of its kind in the world to promote the activities of local artistes.
Speaking on the topic “Technology applied to tourism monitoring”, Reda Aboudihaj, one of the partners, said it was necessary for industry players to track activities in the sector to guarantee transparency and quality data collection.
He said Marrakech has been divided into seven provinces and as an organization, they are trying to put adequate measures in place to measure the reputation of Marrakech.
Following this, the description of visitors as tourists, he emphasized has been banned in Marrakech.
Consequently, he said due to all the new initiatives rolled out, tourism numbers have been picking up gradually despite threats of COVID-19.
The ‘Tidar’ application, which has been described as a complete African ticketing app for democratizing access to cultural events, he added has been counted to the numerous initiatives being promoted in Morocco and internationally.
He mentioned transportation, services sector, accommodation, online booking, use of WiFi as some of the elements being used to measure the reputation of Marrakech whereas all these have been categorized, with classifications and quick ratings done to measure the reputation of all activities being carried out along the value chain.
Amine Benkeroum, on the other hand, emphasized building the right business synergies to respond appropriately to present and future actions for the development of the city and growth of Morocco.
Although the journalists were selected by Journalists for Tourism Advocacy (JTA), the trip to Morocco was sponsored by Morocco Embassy in Ghana and facilitated by Moontouch Travel Limited.
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