Success of INJAZ-Morocco’s Entrepreneurship Masterclass

On Friday, March 28, 29 students successfully completed INJAZ-Morocco’s Entrepreneurship Masterclass workshop at the Dar Taliba in Zaio. The workshop, which was for women, began on the evening of Thursday and continued Friday afternoon. The workshop was designed to familiarize Morocco’s youth with the world of entrepreneurship and develop their skills and talents.

INJAZ-Morocco is a non-profit association that works with the private sector on behalf of the youth to help a growing and newly emerging generation of entrepreneurs. Established in October 2007, INJAZ Morocco is a member of Junior Achievement Worldwide, which has been involved in entrepreneurship education since 1919.

Mr. Abdelaziz Askitou, a youth development volunteer and a facilitator at the workshop said that “Youth development implies that efforts should be made to help young people develop the necessary skills and competencies that will help them function effectively in their lives. Therefore, one of the main goals behind the Entrepreneurship Masterclass workshop is to engage Moroccan youth in thinking about their business ideas by providing them with information about what it means to be a successful entrepreneur.”

The primary objectives of INJAZ-Morocco’s Entrepreneurship Master workshops are to help the participants understand business challenges, acquire key entrepreneurial skills and attitudes, and test their entrepreneurial skills and strengths.

“It seems almost axiomatic that the development of organizational skills among young people will contribute to the development of both character development and community development." To that end, "Moroccan youth need to be equipped with the necessary tools, mechanisms and strategies that would help them become able to accommodate themselves to meeting the relentless changes taking place in today’s world. To succeed in this, the development of managerial and entrepreneurial skills among Moroccan youth then becomes a key issue,” Mr. Askitou stated.

The workshop started with a discussion of the participant’s goals and aspirations. The discussion focused on some challenges and obstacles facing women in entrepreneurship and ways in which to solve them. The participants went on to create a card-making company, which included their business name and logo. After identifying the main departments of a business, the participant-entrepreneurs identified their skills and strengths in order to determine their roles within the company.

Five businesses then competed to create a greeting card after having determined the direct and indirect costs of their production. They presented their products to a jury, which chose a winning company based on the criteria of price, creativity, and quality.

Special thanks went to INJAZ-Morocco for providing the materials and training, the Dar Taliba for providing the locale, and Peace Corps Morocco for facilitating trainings.