Rabat – The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the European Union (EU) launched on Friday in Marrakech the Women in Business program aiming to support women-led small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Morocco.
Signed on the sidelines of the 69th World Congress of Women Entrepreneurs (FCEM 2022), the agreement aims to support women entrepreneurs gain access to financing and technical know-how to scale up their business operations.
The signing parties include EU’s Ambassador to Morocco, Patricia Llombart Cussac, and EBRD’s Director of the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean Region, Heike Harmgart.
Under the agreement, the EBRD pledges to provide financing structures through lines of credit that would be available through local banks targeting women-led SMEs and offer technical assistance to make them more competitive.
Commenting on the signing of the agreement, Cussac said that the program aims to increase women-led SMEs’ access to financing and increase the resilience and competitiveness of their businesses.
In addition, the program aims to support women in taking advantage of the significant opportunities the digital and energy transition offer, two issues that are central to the partnership between the EU and Morocco.
The initiative also aims to boost women’s participation in the business world, and support them to acquire the skills, knowledge, and resources needed to create and expand business operations.
The program offers women training, and mentoring among other services. The EBRD equally pledges to work closely with Moroccan banks to support them develop financial products that best meet the needs of women-owned businesses.
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