Mapping Morocco’s green entrepreneurship ecosystem

A World Bank Group team set out to answer the questions: Who are Moroccan green entrepreneurs, and what is the entrepreneurial landscape they operate in? They found that:

• Almost half of surveyed Moroccan green entrepreneur businesses are solo-run.

• 84 percent of surveyed entrepreneurs were self-funded at the early-stages.

• 54 percent of entrepreneurs identified a lack of access to market information as the biggest barrier to doing business in Morocco.

Those are just a few findings from their work on the first World Bank Group climate entrepreneurship ecosystem diagnostic in Morocco, a deep dive into the North African nation’s green start-up ecosystem.

The diagnostic, surveying more than 300 entrepreneurs and industry players, shines unprecedented insight into multiple facets of Morocco’s climate entrepreneurship ecosystem, and how different political, financial, and cultural forces play out to drive the sector. 

In a highly visual format, a new report explores the top findings from the diagnostic, bolstering them with case studies, key facts, and graphics. The report uncovers interesting clues to Morocco’s strengths and challenges: Typical Moroccan green entrepreneurs are young, educated, and started their businesses because they wanted to be their own boss. These entrepreneurs work in diverse sectors — from green information technology to energy efficiency — and are creating and adapting technologies and solutions to solve some of Morocco’s greatest environmental challenges.

But hurdles abound: later-stage support for entrepreneurs is woefully lacking, as well as a pipeline of solid, vested mentors to guide their journeys. Morocco’s clean-tech startup scene is growing, but fragmented, with poor communication among the key players. Risk-averse investors, absent corporate linkages, and misconceptions on policy support further hamper green entrepreneurship.

The report, done in partnership with the Morocco Climate Innovation Center and with the support of the Moroccan Agency for Sustainable Energy, delves into these topics, documenting and summarizing findings from interviews with over 40 stakeholders. It also steps back to give the reader a bird’s-eye view of the ecosystem, illustrating with detailed maps of the linkages between key players, including funding flows and partnerships, as well as their roles in the ecosystem.

This report is essential for anyone interested in gleaning insights on the Moroccan climate entrepreneurship landscape, including donors, policymakers, entrepreneurs, institutions, and other stakeholders — as well as onlookers interested in deploying diagnostics for their own regions.