“Today, 90% of startups succeed in their journey at Technopark, after 5 years of daily support to meet their specific needs,” said Ms. Benmakhlouf, in an interview with MAP, on the sidelines of Gitex Africa which is being held until May 31 in Marrakech.
“Currently, we support 500 startups and digital VSEs. So it is really a very strong concentration of these companies that have specific needs in terms of financing, market access and skills development,” stressed Ms. Benmakhlouf, noting that the real contribution of Technopark is how to accelerate the growth of these startups by providing them with all the means and resources so that they can succeed quickly.
According to the General Director of Technopark, the startup ecosystem in Morocco is experiencing great momentum, with a convergence of actions and collaboration between the different players.
“The real added value of Technopark is that we offer an environment where we facilitate connections and interactions between the different actors and startups, accompanied by what we call startup coordinators,” explained Ms. Benmakhlouf.
Thus, among the 200 startups that were supported to be present at Gitex Africa, 25% are from different Technoparks, which means that the support given to them is beneficial, she maintained.
Addressing the new strategic roadmap, validated in early 2023, Ms. Benmakhlouf noted that it focuses on advanced regionalization, with an ambition to reach 10 technoparks by 2027 instead of 6 today.
“The second axis is the strengthening of support. In this sense, the Ministry of Digital Transition and Administrative Reform has granted us a grant dedicated to specific programs that aim to accelerate startups and help them raise funds in Morocco and internationally, operate in Morocco and explore international markets,” said the DG.
According to a Technopark survey, 35% of these startups already export internationally. “Our ambition today is for this indicator to be even more important in the years to come. And we are working on it,” she said.
2024-09-19 18:20:27