I was pleased this past week to be in the Maghreb region in North Africa where Morocco had the Global Entrepreneurship Week spotlight.  I spent a couple of days across the border with several entrepreneurs in Algiers at the Maghreb Entrepreneurship Conference. Morocco and the all the Maghreb countries are not missing any chances to use entrepreneurship as a force for good.

People in Morocco have the right attitude for the goals of GEW.  They are not succumbing to the pessimism surrounding the country’s below average rates of economic growth in recent years. For example, 95% of Moroccans believe that hard work allows people to get ahead, placing the country seventh highest on this variable. Luckily, the overall freedom to start, operate, and close a business is relatively well protected under Morocco’s regulatory environment compared to many countries (e.g., registering a business takes less than half the world average of 35 days).

GEW Morocco presented a diverse program, with activities focusing on entrepreneurship and the environment, education and beyond. A theme in all these activities was that entrepreneurship opportunities are never disassociated from social preoccupations. Think job creation and innovations that address challenges.

On Thursday, participants were taken on a full day tour of recycling and waste management businesses in Tanger, followed by reflection sessions and workshops. On Saturday, Casablanca GEW participants were introduced to “the entrepreneurial spirit” through educational activities aimed to challenge the idea that entrepreneurs are simply born. I applaud Morroco GEW host, the Centre of Young Enterprise Leaders (CJD), for these well-planned events.

The Maghreb Entrepreneurship Conference I spoke at in next-door neighbor Algeria was a follow-on to Obama’s Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship held in April 2010 in Washington, DC. The gathering of the Maghreb entrepreneurial leaders in the region (MoroccoAlgeria, Tunisia, Libya, and Mauritania) was designed to discuss strategies to promote job creation though entrepreneurship. Hosted by the U.S. Department of State and the U.S.-Algeria Business Council, the conference brought together business talent and public officials from participating countries, including entrepreneurs of the North African Diaspora. The U.S. delegation to the conference was led by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Economic, Energy and Business Affairs, Jose W. Fernandez, who was eager to continue the work to encourage entrepreneurship and create partnerships with the Muslim world.

Among the announcements of concrete initiatives was the U.S. Department of State’s new public-private sector partnership, the North African Partnership for Economic Opportunity (NAPEO), which will build links between entrepreneurs and business leaders in the United States, Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia. The NAPEO also plans to sponsor a regional initiative for start-ups in new technologies, and support science, math and technology training,

The conference paid special attention to youth entrepreneurship in North Africa. To promote it, regional American embassies selected 10 rising entrepreneurs to attend. Their stories were impressive, with business innovation beyond the domains of oil and gas, the region's main exports. For example, Omar Abdelaziz Abdelati al-Obeidi, who has been blind since he was 2 years old, started Libya’s first Internet café for the blind and the Arab world’s first online library for the blind. Many others told their stories about how they turned their passions into profit and innovation. Like in Morocco, entrepreneurs across North Africa have the willingness to address challenges through entrepreneurship. In Tunisia, 80% of respondents to a survey felt that their city or local area was a good place to start a new business, according to the Legatum Prosperity Index.

It is clear that our current GEW Maghreb leaders, Morocco and Tunisia will serve as a beacon to the other nations of the Maghreb region to advance their efforts in promoting entrepreneurship.  During my visit I gathered together an impressive group of individuals and organizations to lead a GEW effort in Algeria in 2011.   I also met with some young entrepreneurs from Libya keen to take the lead with developing a new campaign out of Tripoli.  I hope all of their examples will engage their leadership and governments and we can continue building the momentum for entrepreneurship as a force for good with new policies to strengthen the environment for business creation and innovation in the region.

tags: Ortmans