El Ghaouari: Support for Small Enterprises Learned from the Mistakes of “Startup”
Abdelatif El Ghaouari, Governor of Bank Al-Maghrib, stated that the initiative to support medium and small enterprises primarily responds to the challenges posed and aligns with the directives in the royal addresses—those of July 30 and the opening of Parliament. He explained that lessons were learned during its preparation from the shortcomings that the “Startup” program encountered.
During a press conference following the Bank Al-Maghrib Council meeting on Tuesday, El Ghaouari highlighted that institutions have been engaged for years in supporting the financing of businesses, particularly very small, small, and medium enterprises, through mechanisms for refinancing the banking sector, which requires allocating at least 30 percent of refinancing for this entrepreneurial fabric.
He pointed out that this approach is not new; it has been adopted for years and encompasses funding both operating expenses and investments in response to royal directives, with the belief that movement should be gradual and calculated, benefiting from the experience of the “Startup” program, which was launched under the patronage of the King and mobilized nearly 9 billion dirhams for approximately 38,000 enterprises.
However, this experience revealed a concerning fact: over 40 percent of the projects submitted to banks were rejected, necessitating an examination of the underlying causes to ensure there is a real issue in supporting these enterprises and not just in financing.
El Ghaouari explained that the new program fundamentally differs from “Startup” because it emphasizes real support from start to finish rather than just formal assistance. The aim today is not only to inject funding but to build resilient and developing enterprises.
He confirmed that small enterprises represent approximately 94 percent of the national economic fabric, the majority of which have annual revenues not exceeding 10 million dirhams, with around 80 percent generating no more than 3 million dirhams, reflecting a significant level of vulnerability.
He emphasized that this vulnerability makes these enterprises the first to be affected by any shock, whether internal or external, in a global context leaning towards more protectionism and market fluctuations.
El Ghaouari added that the stakes are not just short-term but represent medium and long-term objectives aimed at strengthening the foundations of these enterprises so they can transition from vulnerability to stability and then to being organized enterprises capable of creating value. He emphasized that this transition cannot happen without the collective mobilization of all stakeholders.
To this end, El Ghaouari mentioned that all relevant parties were gathered around one table, including banks, business leaders in Morocco, the Ministry of Economy and Finance, and the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, to develop a shared vision for achieving this qualitative leap.
Among the fundamental measures adopted is the establishment of a unified national scoring system, as opposed to relying solely on internal systems specific to each bank. He explained that this system is being developed in partnership with the Credit Bureau and Moroccan companies specializing in artificial intelligence and that banks will be required to rely on it, ensuring increased transparency in financing decisions, whether acceptance or rejection.
The speaker also addressed the issue of support in remote regions, where it is difficult to find technical competencies capable of guiding enterprises, noting that this gap was one of the reasons for the stagnation of several projects in the “Startup” experience. Therefore, agreements were made with specialized institutions to develop national support and training programs, focusing on training trainers, not just allocating budgets.
He pointed out that the funding mobilized under this new program would exceed that allocated for “Startup,” as the guarantee rate will rise to 75 percent, reaching 80 percent when the enterprise is managed by a woman, as part of encouraging women’s entrepreneurship.
El Ghaouari confirmed that this effort also includes microfinance institutions, which have been integrated into the system, in coordination with the Ministry of Finance, to broaden the base of beneficiaries within a collaborative approach where each party bears its responsibility.
