Morocco World News
Morocco World News
New York, November 24, 2012
Since the signing of the USA-Morocco Free Trade Agreement, there has been a lot of debate about whether the agreement would boost the economic exchange between the two countries. Many Moroccan-American entrepreneurs and CEO’s of flourishing companies have complained of being marginalized from the process that could render the bilateral agreement a success.
Unfortunately, Moroccan officials have failed to reach out to these entrepreneurs and seek their experience to further strengthen economic ties between both shores of the Atlantic and to assist in transferring technology and know-how to their country of origin.
To address this problem, a number of active members of the Moroccan community in the United States will organize a CEO’s summit that will bring together Moroccan-American and Moroccan entrepreneurs who have succeeded in their respective fields of expertise.
According to Mohammed El Hajjam, owner of a communication and public relations company in Washington DC, and organizer of the CEO summit, the purpose of the summit is to provide a forum for a dispassionate exchange between Moroccan CEO’s and encourage them to share their experiences and lessons learned in doing business in the United States. Mr. El Hajjam stated, “We want to also create synergies between Moroccan entrepreneurs and explore investment opportunities available to them both in Morocco and the broader MENA region.”
Mr. El Hajjam indicated that there is a pool of talented and successful Moroccan entrepreneurs in the United States. His desire is to “hopefully enable them to cooperate in order to strengthen their standing in the market and help them increase their revenues.” He also wants “to encourage them to create chapters of their companies in Morocco in order to promote technology transfer and know how to their country of origin.”
Mr. El Hajjam’s efforts have been well received. Mustapha Abdelmoumen, a sound engineer in Washington DC, told MWN that he is pleased to see some Moroccans take this kind of initiative that will be beneficial to any young Moroccan freshly coming to the US and who is aspiring to launch their own businesses. He stated that he “has no doubt that much will be learned from the experiences of the speakers who take part in the summit.” Mr. Miloud ElAomari, a Moroccan-American hip hop artist who is known by his stage name as RS Lou, is very excited about the summit and expressed gratitude to those organizing the event.
The day-long summit is scheduled for May 23, 2013 and will feature a gala with music by RS Lou and a merit awards ceremony recognizing a number of successful Moroccan entrepreneurs. Announcement of the event has attracted the attention of many sponsors and Moroccan artists who expressed their desire to be part of the program. Among these artists are Fatin Hilal Bik, Mohammed Reda, Nidal Ibourk, Moroccan Canadian R&B/Soul & Pop Singer Sarah Karkouch and others.
The organizer of the summit intends to organize a follow up summit in Morocco, tentatively scheduled for November 2013 in Marrakesh, with the participation of CEO’s of SMEs from the United States, Europe and Morocco.
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