Rabat – The Moroccan Center for Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship (MCISE) announced the inauguration of the first phase of the “Tatwir – Startup” program for 450 startup projects.
The program is launched by the Ministry of Industry, Trade and the Green and Digital Economy,and is organized by the National Agency for the Promotion of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (Morocco SME) Agency in partnership with the Moroccan Start-up Ecosystem Catalysts (MSEC) and MCISE.
“The first stage began in Beni Mellal on September 10 through a 3-day Hackathon encompassing 30 project ideas from Moroccan leaders who were able to identify the main problems of the region such as air pollution, public transports etc. and to come up with adequate solutions,” said MCISE in a press release.
The hackathons continued in Marrakech between September 17 to 19, and will resume in Fez between October 8 to 10 with the aim of developing innovative local projects and services that are led by startups and to select those that provide solutions to specific problems in the region.
“Faithful to its vision of deploying its incubation and entrepreneurship inspiration activities in all regions of Morocco, MCISE has chosen to hold the first stage of the Tatwir-Startup program in the 3 cities of Beni Mellal, Marrakech and Fez, in the form of ideation Hackathons,” MCISE said.
During the hackathons, facilitators push participants to identify problems in the industrial sector regionally and nationally and suggest solutions through ideas for startup projects. Participants gain a sense of innovation and become solution oriented in the process.
As a part of the deployment of the Industrial Recovery Plan 2021-2023, Zahra Nafaa, Director of Operations of MCISE, said that “the Tatwir-Startup program is a real opportunity not only for project leaders in the industrial field, but also for the economic development of the regions. The program is ambitious and we believe it will give a real boost to the industrial sector and job creation.”
MCISE aims to support 450 startup projects through the program and will provide industrialization support to the 50 selected industrial startups by 2023, as well as investing 30% in tangible and intangible capital to enhance their growth.
The program involves the implementation of 2 components: pre-incubation and incubation to support project leaders throughout the pre-creation chain until the actual creation of their companies.
A number of initiatives have been developed over time to help future entrepreneurs with high growth potential, to promote the “made in Morocco” label, and to encourage local consumption.
