Casablanca: the EBRD launches its “Youth in Business” program – Media7
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) launched the “Youth in Business” program in favor of youth entrepreneurship in Morocco on Monday in Casablanca.
This program will strengthen youth access to skills development and financing opportunities to unlock their full potential as drivers of inclusive economies.
This new initiative highlights how important it is to support young entrepreneurs who bring new ideas to the market and reinvent traditional sectors with innovative business models.
According to the market study carried out by the EBRD for the program, there is strong untapped market potential, 79% of young project leaders mention financing as the main obstacle to the growth of their business, only 22% have resorted to a loan and 52% plan to use it in the future.
Speaking during the opening ceremony, the general director of Bank Al Maghrib (BAM), Abderrahim Bouazza affirmed that the development of entrepreneurship is at the heart of current economic issues, recalling that the number of young unemployed graduates is five times higher than that of young people without diplomas according to statistics from the High Commission for Planning (HCP).
Referring to the “Youth in Business” program, Mr. Bouazza specified that it constitutes a new brick in the process of building the ecosystem of entrepreneurship for young people and small businesses which has continued to develop under the impetus from the government and BAM, with the contribution of actors in the financing and support ecosystem.
“This program adopts an integrated approach to the extent that it covers the dimension of financial and non-financial services aimed at developing the capacities of project leaders,” he indicated, stressing that this demonstrates the conduciveness of the institutional environment. of Morocco for the implementation of important socio-economic programs, particularly those initiated by the EBRD.
For his part, the director of the EBRD for Morocco, Antoine Sallé de Chou, argued that this program is the first in Morocco of this type and is one of the most important that the EBRD has been able to carry out in relation to this stake.
“It demonstrates better than anything the interest we have in this major theme of the economic inclusion of young people which, with digital technology, is among the strategic axes of the EBRD,” he said. note, noting that through this program, the EBRD supports the economic participation of young people by financing businesses run or owned by entrepreneurs under the age of 35.
According to Mr. Sallé de Chou, the EBRD will make available 100 million euros in credit lines for the on-lending of loans to young small and medium-sized businesses over a period of five years and will offer capacity building to partner financial institutions.
On the sidelines of this meeting, the EBRD signed a loan of 20 million euros granted to Crédit Immobilier et Hôtelier (CIH Bank). This is the first loan from the EBRD under the program for young entrepreneurs in Morocco, which should allow the granting of loans to SMEs owned or managed by young entrepreneurs.
CIH Bank will benefit from a technical assistance program and will be encouraged to develop a strategy to better serve youth-led businesses. This assistance will also include a capacity building component for SMEs run by young people, which will make it possible to offer personalized consulting projects, entrepreneurship training and digital mentoring.
