El Kory: Small and Medium Enterprises Create 97% of Jobs, Government Launches New Vision to Support Them
Follow-up
The Minister of Economic Integration, Small Enterprises, Employment, and Skills, Younes El Kory, confirmed that very small, small, and medium enterprises are the real backbone of employment in Morocco, providing over 97% of the jobs reported to the National Social Security Fund.
During a regional workshop held yesterday in Errachidia, coinciding with the launch of a support system for businesses, El Kory explained that this program represents a new dynamic that surpasses the logic of traditional government plans. It relies on a precise operational structure that places employment at the core of priorities, through the integration of employment, investment, banking support, and local administration.
The minister added that the government has adopted an objective and courageous diagnosis of the conditions facing small enterprises and has launched a program that provides support in three stages (30%, 40%, and then 30%), while respecting the requirement of 13 months of continuous employment to ensure the creation of real job opportunities. He emphasized that the goal is to empower businesses to effectively overcome structural obstacles related to financing and licensing.
El Kory noted that the decision to launch the program from Errachidia carries special significance, reflecting the territorial dimension of the new government vision. He highlighted that this integrated approach relies on precise digital data and comprehensive field reforms.
The minister also revealed a reduction in the maximum support from ten or twenty million dirhams to just one million dirhams, allowing most companies with investments under three million dirhams to benefit. He pointed out that the government has avoided imposing deterrent conditions, especially in sensitive sectors like tourism.
El Kory stressed that the success of the program depends on actual commitment from the banking sector, noting that the government has launched, in coordination with the Ministry of Finance, a mechanism to monitor funding requests that meet the criteria but do not receive support. A special committee on employment will closely monitor these cases.
He mentioned that the Employment Committee also discussed the issue of “licenses” that hinder young entrepreneurs, adding that the government has decided to establish a special committee to follow up on this matter and ease procedures, so that ready projects do not stall due to administrative obstacles.
El Kory believes that this new system represents a shift in how support for small and medium enterprises is delivered and aims to establish a realistic and effective vision capable of stimulating local investment and creating sustainable job opportunities across various regions of the kingdom.
