Rabat – In line with Morocco’s vision to support and incubate innovation, the country launched its first “venture builder,” aiming to support startups working to provide digital solutions to digitize the commerce industry.
Morocco’s Industry and Trade Ministry launched yesterday, April 7, the country’s first “venture builder,” which is an organization dedicated to systematically producing new startup companies, also referred to as a startup studio or startup factory.
The new venture builder, Moroccan Retail Tech Builder (MRTB), aims to support business ventures seeking to digitize commerce in Morocco and across Africa.
MRTB was launched during a ceremony in the presence of Ryad Mezzour, minister of Industry and Trade, Hicham El Habti, president of Mohammed VI Polytechnique University, and Abelhadi Sohib, director of the OCP Foundation, a non-profit backed by Morocco’s phosphate giant OCP Group.
“This initiative enacts the start of a digital shift within one of Morocco’s most vital economic sectors that had played a key role over the pandemic,” Mezzour said on the backdrop of launching the platform.
“Commerce is one of Morocco’s largest job-generating sectors, ensuring national food sovereignty, and economic growth,” he added.
Morocco is making significant progress in digitizing key economic sectors, Hicham El Habti noted.
“A pillar to the national and African economy, commerce is witnessing significant operational changes thanks to the digital transition,” El Habti said.
“We consider this incubation and acceleration platform as a perfect representation of Morocco’s efforts to support the development of entrepreneurship in the country,” Abdelhadi Sohib said.
“The platform will offer startup access to all necessary resources to develop, not only on the national level but also on the continental level,” he added.
As a start, MRTM will launch a marketing campaign to select 100 startups that will benefit from four programs.
Aiming to support startups at all maturity levels, the platform offers a program titled “Think” for business makers seeking to transform ideas into profitable business models.
The second program “Start” targets startups looking to finance the development of their ideas, and the third program “Create” is dedicated to startups with ideas looking for initial or seed investment.
The last program “Scale” operates as a vertical accelerator program with the aim to offer startups access to funds in order to grow their business operations.
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