Rabat – Critics have slammed the “Forsa” government investment program, to promote young entrepreneurs, “for lavish spending and unnecessary use of influencer advertising campaigns.”

Vocal opposers of the programme that the government launched earlier this month include politicians, political parties, and academics, among others.

“The program does not need influencers that create a desire for purchases in consumers, but intensified and responsible institutional communication that suits the ambition of Morocco’s youth,” academic and analyst Mohamed Bouden said last week.

The Party of Justice and Development’s (PJD) Secretariat General called out Aziz Akhannouch’s government for its management of the program and its advertising campaign, saying that the government is “mixing the management of public programs and private matters.”

The PJD also criticized what it perceived as an absence of transparency and fair competitiveness in the program.

The Forsa program has a budget of more than 1 billion MAD ($100 million) for the year 2022, which aims to fund and train 10,000 entrepreneurs with interest-free loans of up to 100,000 MAD ($10,000) for each.

Advertising campaign

A total of 23 million MAD ($2.3 million) is dedicated to the advertising campaigns for the program, a figure that attracted significant criticism.

Critics say that the figure is too high for the advertisement of a government program that ultimately does not have much relevance or effect on the average consumer, and does not provide a tangible product.

Hicham Al Mhajeri, a member of Parliament with the Party of Authenticity and Modernity (PAM), also heavily criticized the advertising campaign and what he saw as general mismanagement of the project.

“Should it really cost this much money and effort to pick five projects in each municipality?” he said about the program, arguing that the budget is overblown for its scale. “Something is not clicking.”

Critics said that the hiring of influencers for the advertising campaign only served as a way to cover up for poor communication from the government’s side, adding that the Moroccan Agency for Tourism Development (SMIT), which is tasked with managing the project, has had a poor track record in past endeavors.

The SMIT has also come under fire for corruption allegations, with some people questioning the need to put management of the Forsa program in the hands of a private institution.

Influencers in society

The debate has revitalized a discussion around the role of influencers in society, with some warning against a slippery slope that sees a few social media personalities dictate consumption and thought habits of the populace, while others also warned against the effects it can have on kids and teenagers.

In addition, vocal critics panned the program for not doing enough to advance the country’s lacking startup environment, claiming that access to loans and investments is only one of the obstacles facing the country’s young entrepreneurs.

Previous similar programs for job creation and entrepreneurial support faced similar criticisms, with people arguing that they don’t live up to the government’s promises and present an inefficient use of public funds.

“The government’s promises of 1 million new job openings seem to have evaporated in a short period of time,” the PJD said in its statement. “It has become comprised of programs that are only talked about due to their mismanagement and lack of transparency.”