Ahmed Matout or the Success Story of Exceptional Moroccan Man

Fez – No matter how hard we try to get it, success can, sometimes, be elusive and unattainable, yet it is the ultimate dream of every rational human being. However, we all have to go through failure in our journey to success because failure breeds success.

Undoubtedly, the most inspiring success stories throughout history are those of people from zero to heroes! Ahmed Matout is a self-made man who slowly but steadily climbed the ladder of success and gave a fine image of Morocco and Moroccans abroad.

Many Moroccan nationals have achieved outstanding recognition abroad for their achievements, excellence and professional success. Dr. Kamal Oudrhiri, a research scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, was the first to tell the world that Curiosity Space Probe had landed on Mars successfully on Aug. 6, 2012 because he was the head of Radio Science team that detected signals from the robot. Kaoutar Abou Cherif is another success story in Indiana State, USA.

The 26 years old Moroccan researcher was recently granted the Excellence Award by a famous American association for her researches in Chemical Engineering. Rachid Amrous’ star twinkled in Japan where he works as a Research and Development Engineer at the Japanese aerospace agency ‘JAXA’. These people and many others like them represent Morocco and give a very positive image about it.

Born in Marrakech in 1975 to a middle class family, Ahmed Matout’s parents may have never thought that their son would go that far and become a success story on newspapers and online news outlets in Morocco and abroad. He obtained his baccalaureate in 1994 and later on his undergraduate diploma in geography from the University of Kadi Ayyad. Ahmed chose the sector of tourism as the future of his career.

Believing that success in this sector entails technical and theoretical knowledge as well as a good command of languages, Ahmed sought to develop his linguistic skills by studying German in Goethe institute in Rabat, then he obtained his diploma in social enterprise management from a private institute in Marrakech. Aware of the importance of English, Ahmed continued his quest for languages by studying English at the American Language Centre and obtained an advanced certificate in 1998.

Ahmed Matout started his career in the sector of tourism by working as a receptionist in a number of hotels in Marrakech. In 2000, Ahmed received an employment contract to work in Dubai, UAE, as a receptionist. In parallel with his work, Ahmed attended several tourism institutes and got more diplomas and certificates in Dubai; which qualified him in 2002 to a more prestigious position as Duty Manager. Thus, he worked with many international hotels in Dubai. Ahmed was later selected to work in VIP services as a Public Relations Manager; a position that enabled him to come in contact with a number of VIPs, presidents, ambassadors, and stars, as he told MWN.

Despite his success in Dubai, Ahmed decided to move to the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur in 2005 and work there with one of the largest tourist resorts in the position of Director of the Office of Public Relations. Ahmed’s work in Malaysia added a great deal to his experience and his name became more famous in Asia. Kuala Lumpur was not the last stage in the course of Ahmed’s quest for professional success. He looked farther and zoomed in on Japan; his “dream place” as he told Morocco World News.

In 2008 his dream would come true after he traveled to Japan where he worked, at the beginning, in a small hotel which mismatched his big ambitions and previous great experiences. After gaining command of the Japanese language, Ahmed got the awaited chance to work as the Public Relations Manager in one of the best tourist resorts in the world in Nagasaki. There, Ahmed asserted himself again and proved that he is head and shoulders over all other workers. His success and excellence would be recognized in 2012 in the annual award distribution ceremony by awarding him the Best Employee Award, the Best Seller and Promoter Award, and the Best Performance Award. Following his success, Japanese, Asian and even Australian media hailed this Moroccan man who came from afar to excel over the Japanese and ‘harvest’ all the awards!

“It’s not an easy thing to assert yourself and succeed in an environment where most people (if not all) are naturally diligent, serious and hardworking. It was a challenge for me when I came here but thank God I won this challenge. I’m so happy and proud to represent Morocco in Japan and Asia,” Ahmed tells MWN.

Ahmed is a polyglot, for he speaks Arabic, French, English, German and Japanese. His ambitions are unflagging and his tenacity and determination are the secrets behind his success. His success overseas would never stop his love for his country as he says.

“I will open a travel agency that would bring tourists from Asia and Australia to Morocco, because our country has much to offer in this regard. I would so much love to do more for my lovely country and my dream will remain to serve my country and people.”

Ahmed doesn’t claim his success for himself. While talking to MWN he insisted on expressing his indebtedness to his late father, his mother, brothers and sisters and to his country.

I admit that Ahmed taught me a great lesson: people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things. And because the worst part of success is trying to find someone who is happy for you, as Bette Midler said, this article is to tell Ahmed we are happy for you and your country and fellow compatriots are proud of you.