Leila Doukali: An Eminent Advocate For Women Entrepreneurs In Morocco

Rabat – Raised by a business-oriented family, Leila Doukali grew up to be a champion of women entrepreneurship in Morocco.

Born in Casablanca in 1970, the President of the Association of Women Entrepreneurs of Morocco (AFEM) currently works on supporting rising female business-owners across the country.

Doukali joined AFEM in 2000 as the head of the communication committee and a member of the board of directors with the ambition of honoring female entrepreneurship in Morocco.

Nineteen years later, Doukali was elected President of the Moroccan association, facilitating her vision for gender parity in national economy.

Passion for business

In an interview with Morocco’s Press Agency (MAP), Doukali unveiled the story of her early exposure to the business field discussing how her parents and siblings played key roles in introducing her to the secrets of running a business.

“With my brothers and sisters, we were always involved in their businesses,” she said, adding, “We often attended business dinners.”

After obtaining her baccalaureate at Lycee Lyautey in Casablanca, Doukali pursued her passion for business management and international relations at Sorbonne University in Paris. After completing her studies Doukali returned home to start a 20 year t career in the business sector.

In October 1997, she opened her first Variations store in Casablanca after noticing a gap in the market providing clothing options for professional women. To finance her project, the businesswoman applied for a bank loan.

Recalling the financial constraints she faced throughout her journey, the Moroccan businesswoman stated: “I admit that at times, the end of the month was complicated.”

After experiencing first-hand the struggles of women on this career path, Doukali decided to dedicate part of her time to supporting local talent.

In addition to running her own business and engaging in social work, since 2013 she has served as the head of her family business that specializes in the high-seas fishing industry.

In spite of this heavy workload, Doukali has managed to navigate a balance between her work and personal life with the support of her family.

Assisting women entrepreneurs

Aware of the low-female representation in the entrepreneurship sector, Doukali is trying to address this issue through her work with AFEM.

Doukali recognizes that female students represent more than half of the university graduates in Morocco. Voicing her opinion in an interview with Eina4jobs she argued that “the number of women entrepreneurs is not growing as fast as we would like, or as it should, because women do not have the same opportunities as men to become entrepreneurs under healthy conditions, in order to establish their competitiveness.”

The share of Moroccan women entrepreneurs currently stands at 10-15% which is costing Morocco “huge loss in terms of skills,” says Doukali.

The COVID-19 pandemic further exacerbated the situation for women pursuing business careers in Morocco.

Doukali calls for addressing “gender in all facets of entrepreneurship” from training to financing. This is vital, she argues as the world is headed towards a post-COVID-19 economy with little to no data available on the status of women entrepreneurship in Morocco.

“The rules of operation of a classical economy have been shaken,” The Moroccan businesswoman stressed. “New consumption patterns, the emergence of new models, new businesses and the opening up of new horizons are forcing us to rethink our business model, our vision and our roadmap.”