Morocco’s Entrepreneurial Spirit
Skip to content
Dec 10, 2013

Morocco’s Entrepreneurial Spirit

By Jessica Love

“Morocco is a country that would be described as an emerging market, even a frontier market,” says Russell Walker, a clinical associate professor of managerial economics and decision sciences at the Kellogg School. The nation’s GDP is relatively low—approximately $3,300 per capita according to the World Bank—but its economy is poised to grow. According to Walker, the business community should take note.

At the invitation of the US State Department, Walker recently traveled to Morocco to speak with various groups of business leaders. “Young, vibrant—it’s only been fifty or sixty years since they achieved their independence from France,” he says. He left the North African nation optimistic about where its economy is headed—so much so that he’s encouraging his students to partner up with Moroccan business leaders, particularly Moroccan entrepreneurs interested in thinking big.

Russell Walker speaking to business leaders in Morocco.

“There are still millions of people in Morocco whose GDP and personal affluence are low, and the ability to create a product or transform their lives is very high [for] entrepreneurs,” he says. “It’s in the spirit of what Kellogg establishes and what it aspires to. And here’s a tactical place where that can be done.”

There are, of course, risks to entering the Moroccan market or investing in Moroccan businesses. “Their business [and] banking climates in particular have not established the institutions that we rely upon for making lending decisions,” explains Walker. Credit bureaus and rating agencies are missing, as is transparency in the reporting of loan documents. “There’s maybe an element of apprehension to full disclosure of financials,” says Walker, citing the nation’s history as a potential cause. “And of course that is contradictory to the principles of economics. If we want to establish efficient markets for lending and risk management, we need flows of information.”

But, Walker believes, Morocco’s unique strengths should in the end outweigh its weaknesses:

1. Infrastructure and Resources
The country has made tremendous investments in infrastructure—“ports and airports and highways that are probably better than some of the ones here in Chicago,” says Walker. Morocco has also invested heavily in solar and other sustainable energies. Add these investments to Morocco’s natural resources (the nation is one of the largest producers of phosphates) and a government committed to further investments, and you have the groundwork for rapid economic expansion.

2. Location, Location, Location
“If you think about where the world is going to be in 50 or a 100 years, the largest population centers will be in west Africa,” says Walker. With one coast along the Atlantic Ocean and a second along the Mediterranean sea, Morocco bridges—culturally, logistically—west Africa and Europe.

3. Multilingualism
French and Arabic are spoken in Morocco, and a growing number of Moroccans are obtaining fluency in English as well. When it comes to outsourcing products, these language skills provide the nation with “an opportunity to service many parts of the world,” says Walker.

4. Tourism
Tourism is already an important industry in Morocco. The country “has a very interesting story to tell,” says Walker—and once it makes its story known, the tourism dollars could flow even more generously. “You know what you’d go see if you went to India,” he reasons. “You’d go see Taj Mahal—something iconic.” Morocco has similar cultural riches, but at least among most North Americans, they are far less well-known.

5. Entrepreneurial Spirit
Walker noted a “tremendous amount of creativity” among business leaders and entrepreneurs in Morocco. “This is in some ways typical of emerging markets. If there’s a lack of resources, then the mother of invention is creativity,” he says. One company, for instance, is making new luxury skincare products from cactus seed oil.

Editor's note: Top image courtesy of TreasuryTag at en.Wikipedia. Bottom image courtesy of Russell Walker.

Editor’s Picks

A mentor puts capes on mentees.
Careers

Podcast: How to Be a Great Mentor

Plus, some valuable career advice that applies to just about everyone.

Kids decide whether to buy water or soda.
Marketing

A New Way to Persuade Kids to Drink More Water and Less Soda

Getting children to make healthy choices is tricky—and the wrong message can backfire.

Computational Social Scientists discuss solutions.
Innovation

How Can Social Science Become More Solutions-Oriented?

A conversation between researchers at Kellogg and Microsoft explores how behavioral science can best be applied.

An entrepreneur enters an established company.
Innovation

Buying a Company for Its Talent? Beware of Hidden Legal Risks.

Acquiring another firm’s trade secrets—even unintentionally—could prove costly.

Careers

Take 5: Tips for Widening—and Improving—Your Candidate Pool

Common biases can cause companies to overlook a wealth of top talent.

Drug innovation at a pharmaceutical company
Innovation

Everyone Wants Pharmaceutical Breakthroughs. What Drives Drug Companies to Pursue Them?

A new study suggests that firms are at their most innovative after a financial windfall.

How to be prepared
Careers

4 Key Steps to Preparing for a Business Presentation

Don’t let a lack of prep work sabotage your great ideas.

Healthcare workers meet in a hospital corridor.
Healthcare

Video: How Open Lines of Communication Can Improve Healthcare Outcomes

Training physicians to be better communicators builds trust with patients and their loved ones.

A man tries to improve OR scheduling.
Operations

Here’s a Better Way to Schedule Surgeries

A new tool could drive savings of 20 percent while still keeping surgeons happy.

Voters who do not trust each other.
Politics & Elections

Why Economic Crises Trigger Political Turnover in Some Countries but Not Others

The fallout can hinge on how much a country’s people trust each other.

A clerk scans brand trademarks.
Marketing

Building Strong Brands: The Inside Scoop on Branding in the Real World

Tim Calkins’s blog draws lessons from brand missteps and triumphs.

Two coffee growers harvest safely
Economics

How the Coffee Industry Is Building a Sustainable Supply Chain in an Unstable Region

Three experts discuss the challenges and rewards of sourcing coffee from the Democratic Republic of Congo.