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Meknes — ClimateLaunchpad Morocco opened its 2026 Regional Bootcamp Tour in Meknes on Saturday, with Dutch cleantech expert Ron Bloemers leading an intensive two-day training program for aspiring climate entrepreneurs across three regions.
The first stop took place on July 11 and 12 at the Faculty of Letters and Human Sciences at Moulay Ismail University in Meknes. The tour will continue in Errachidia on July 14 and 15 before concluding in Agadir on July 17 and 18.
Vice Dean Hicham Fatmi welcomed the organizing team and participants, emphasizing the scale and urgency of the environmental crisis. He described climate change as one of the defining challenges of our time, stressing that confronting it demands more than scientific expertise and technological progress.
“Addressing climate change requires not only scientific knowledge and technological innovation, but also creativity, entrepreneurship, collaboration, and a strong sense of social responsibility,” Fatmi said.
Ahmed Larouz, founder of Women in Cleantech and leader of ClimateLaunchpad Morocco, then stepped in to deliver the opening remarks
“The most beautiful thing about this tour is that we are combining ClimateLaunchpad with Women in Cleantech, which we launched two years ago in Morocco,” Larouz told Morocco World News (MWN).
“We really believe that we have to go to unconnected cities, or cities where they do not have a bigger ecosystem,” he added.
Larouz said the regional approach seeks to identify talent beyond Morocco’s traditional entrepreneurship centers. Meknes is hosting the first cohort, followed by Errachidia and Agadir.
“We want to reach the brains, we want to reach the women in cleantech, and we want to reach the top minds of clean technology in Morocco,” he said.
Taking climate entrepreneurship to the ‘marginalized’ regions
The tour forms part of an effort to decentralize access to green entrepreneurship support. Organizers are targeting students, researchers, professionals, and founders developing solutions in areas such as energy, agriculture, water, waste, and the circular economy.
Larouz said Morocco placed fourth in the global ClimateLaunchpad application rankings for 2026. He added that the Moroccan program attracted more than 210 participants, with women and men represented equally.
The global competition received more than 4,150 applications from 51 countries for its 2026 edition, according to ClimateLaunchpad Morocco.
Larouz described the participation figures as a sign of the growing interest in climate entrepreneurship across Morocco and Africa.
“What the world needs right now are cleantech heroes and entrepreneurs with impact,” he said. “We need entrepreneurs who want to challenge global problems and develop solutions for them.”
Bridgizz leads the Moroccan chapter of ClimateLaunchpad. The organization also co-created Women in Cleantech with the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (German Agency for International Cooperation, GIZ).
Building viable green businesses
Dutch cleantech expert Ron Bloemers took over after the opening session to lead the intensive bootcamp.
Bloemers is one of the co-founders ClimateLaunchpad and managing partner of Amsterdam-based cleantech accelerator START-U-UP.
Bloemers has worked as a ClimateLaunchpad trainer since 2014 and has more than two decades of experience in the global cleantech sector.
Through eight training modules, participants examined market needs, customer profiles, value propositions, business models, financial planning, climate impact, and pitching strategies.
Bloemers framed cleantech as “a trillion-dollar market” and “the biggest economic opportunity of our lifetime.” He also presented examples of ventures that transformed environmental challenges into commercially viable products and services.
ClimateLaunchpad, powered by Climate KIC, describes itself as the world’s largest green business ideas competition. Since 2014, the program has supported over 5,000 teams across 97 countries who raised over € 0.5 billion in investment.
Its wider process includes an initial course, an intensive bootcamp, targeted coaching, national and regional competitions, and a Global Grand Final.
Bloemers invited the participants to find further educational material and business case studies through the START-U-UP YouTube channel, which features material related to climate innovation, startup development, and global cleantech markets.
Women seek stronger networks and opportunities
Marwa Lazafar, program lead for Women in Cleantech in the Fez-Meknes region, said the initiative emerged from the barriers women face when entering entrepreneurship ecosystems.
“Women do not always have access to networks, ecosystems, and knowledge,” Lazafar told MWN. “Our goal is to support people, especially women, through programs, sessions, and training.”
She said her regional team has organized workshops, conducted market research, and raised awareness about cleantech opportunities across Fez-Meknes.
Lazafar added that community-building can encourage more entrepreneurs to consider environmental impact when developing their businesses.
“Every entrepreneur, woman or man, should have a vision and a direction to think green,” she said.
Rethinking cosmetics packaging
Among the participating entrepreneurs is Zineb Oudghiri, founder of the natural cosmetics brand Oznatic and the cleantech startup EcoStation.
Oudghiri launched Oznatic in 2022. While working in the cosmetics sector, she identified packaging waste as a major environmental challenge.
The observation led her to develop EcoStation, an automated refill machine for cosmetic products. The proposed system aims to reduce plastic waste at its source and introduce a more circular distribution model.
“People rarely think it is possible to create a cleantech solution in cosmetics,” Oudghiri told MWN. “By joining Women in Cleantech, I realized that there is always a solution.”
She said the Meknes bootcamp is helping her examine how to make the concept more viable and economically feasible.
Oudghiri’s project reflects the tour’s broader purpose, i.e., helping entrepreneurs connect environmental challenges with realistic business opportunities.
