Creating industry partnerships and connecting a new class of professional entrepreneurs with opportunities overseas

he Moroccan Association of Exporters, or ASMEX, was established in 1982 to support the nation’s entrepreneurs with a desire to trade beyond its borders and to boost an uneven trade balance in the country. The organization undertook the task of supporting companies by providing information on target sectors and countries abroad, assuaging the fears of hesitant Moroccan businesses and giving the support necessary to boost confidence, which included lobbying the government for policies that would pave the way overseas for these budding companies.

Their efforts have paid off. According to Bachir Debbagh, who heads up one such company, Conagro, which exports gourmet food products to elite markets in the U.S., Morocco is now a country full of young entrepreneurs with the desire to compete in international markets. “Today we are seeing a new professional class in Morocco,” he says. “There is a whole generation of entrepreneurs and the government has made the decision to open the doors of the country not only for foreigners but also for Moroccans.”

Improving the competitiveness of Moroccan export sectors is a priority for ASMEX, especially in light of the free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States. President of ASMEX, Abdellatif Bel Madani, says that one solution has been the creation of industry partnerships. He comments, “Consortiums are one of the elements among many that were born out of the necessity to overcome problems related to the size of Moroccan companies. In textiles, for example, if somebody needs a million shirts, well, we may only be able to supply 1,000 shirts a day. This means that we are far from responding to a potential American request, and that may come from just one state in the U.S. The alternative is to create a consortium that is able to respond.”

The association’s post-FTA strategy, according to Mr. Bel Madani, is to study the U.S. market for niches that Moroccan exports can fill. ASMEX will create two export promotion agencies in the U.S. “We have signed a great agreement and we have a large market in front of us,” he states. “It is therefore necessary to have people on the ground who can tell us how to proceed, and how and what we have to sell.”