These 2 new @uantwerpen #interns got it! 3rd day of the #internship and they are experiencing our #microstart #door2door #marketing. #Microfinance #allfemaleteam
#recap of the #casablanca #coaching session in #socialmedia #marketing Last group of women coached on my #morocco #northafrica #afem #apefe #minajliki @exchangevzw
Ending the APEFE * AFEM coaching mission in Morocco
I have arrived at the end of my mission and I traveled from Tangier to Casablanca to El Jadida back to Casablanca to Rabat back to Casabalanca and now I will go and relax 3 days in Marrakech. Due to the distances it was quite a challenging project but I enjoyed it so much.
I learned a lot about Moroccan culture and most of all the struggle of Moroccan women in their society that is slowly leaning to be more women friendly. As a wrote before project such as AFEM supported by the King of Morocco are ideal. Many foreign development agencies are keeping themselves busy with coming to aid to the development of Moroccan business leaders.
My task was to provide 2 coaching sessions in each city. In Antwerp I prepared a Business Model Canvas presentation in order to easily develop a business plan. This is a good tool for revising maybe your strategy in the existing company and for the starters to develop their business plans. Also Moroccan female aspiring business leaders can request to be in the program Min Ajliki. This is an incubator in which the women whom passed the selection committee receive 18 months of free coaching and office space.
The second coaching session I prepared was marketing and social media marketing. My favourite ! The female business leaders seem to be also most interested in marketing and social media.
All the women were very highly educated which is opposite of our customers at microStart. No one was less than master qualified. The majority of them were industrial engineers. A few had given up and started their business to avoid the corporate struggle with men. Working twice as hard to be respected on for half of the work.
Find below some of the activities planning to be launched or already started: (The names are probably misspelled.)
Karima: Personal Development Coach
Hama: Artisinal custom made carpets
Hadjida: 3 star hotel in El Jadida
Fatima: event marketing company
Saida: language centre
Ream: safe toy company for kids
Wafa: daycare
Jalal: Communication PR
Haicha: interior design
Gena: pret a porter
Karima: Ecological products
Fatima: corporate consulting
Zena: coaching computers
Naima: painter
Jihenna: pret a porter
Marianne: pret a parter
Khadija: steel company
The other names I really couldn’t understand but there is still a glass company, HR consulting bureau and an online archiving company. Definitely worth the projects !
Giving these trainings in French, being flexible at all times, staying relax and entertaining women from another culture is another skill I can add to my CV. Working with Chahine Majoub from APEFE was a dream! Nothing was left to coincidence only well organised meetings.
Social Media storm in Morocco.
This is the title written by Exchangevzw in their newsletter. The article in Dutch describes my work here in Morocco and in Belgium mentioning the fact that I am (as you know) a social media fanatic. They have officially labeled my social media tactics a storm and I love it. I also give trainings in social media marketing so I should be able to create storms all the time :) I want everyone to know about the work of Exchangevzw, the work of the Moroccan female Association and the work of APEFE Belgium in supporting women projects. Good things can’t remain unnoticed. Thanks at Exchangevzw for the nice article and I will continue my dedication in helping small business in developing countries grow !
Coaching sessions continue from Tangier to Casablanca. EL JADIDA
Yesterday, we held the second day of trainings in Tangier. This time I was giving a coaching session on marketing and social media. I prepared an interactive session in which the participants had to create a logo, slogan for their company, find key words for SEO and learn how to use and choose hashtag words. There was also an introduction to the latest applications such as snapchat. It was very obvious during the training sessions that there was a generational gap amongst the future entrepreneurs. The young Moroccan ladies in their twenties ready to develop their startups and the older generation in their forties who run existing enterprises. The clash was very obvious amongst the believers of the power of social media as a marketing tool and the non believers. Yet I managed to convince the trainers/coaches of ANAPEC to utilise social media to reach out to their audience.
After another lovely French lunch in Hotel Farah Tangier we headed out to Casablanca. It was a 4,5 hour drive. We had quite some traffic on the way. Chahine Majoub (Senior Manager of APEFEASBL Morocco) and I had a longgg conversation on the road. It is fantastic to experience a culture, a country this way. These missions are a learning experience for me as well. The female Moroccan entrepreneurs, the members of AFEM and passionate, professionals such as Chahine Majoub inspire me to even do better.
Morocco is really growing on me. I am starting to feel as if Morocco is a better version of France. Not only the climate is better but the openness of the Moroccan people is very charming. The willingness of the young generation to develop to become something is fantastic to experience.
Today, this Friday we left early in the morning for another 120 Km to El JADIDA. A town outside of Casablanca in the province of El Jadida. Due to circumstances, the coaching began much later in the day and so I adapted the entire schedule. We had a full day of business model planning and marketing. We managed to crush 2 days of training into 1. The candidates were extra ordinary. One woman is developing custom made carpets through local cooperatives. Another woman is developing a secure toy start up company and developing a master franchise for children education. One is opening a psychology consult in office. Another young woman owned a language institute. Amongst the existing entrepreneurs was a hotel owner, a metal company owner and a consulting firm QSE. All of the women had 1 or more masters or MBA. Big Bravo to all of them! I will be posting later links to their companies for all of you to like & hopefully support! Inshallah
Finally we have made it back from EL JADIDA! Chahine Majoub gets to spend time with his children as we have been traveling together for a week. It’s a three day weekend so you won’t hear me complaining. :)
4,5 hours on the road ! 🚗 #tangier To #casablanca #northafrica to continue our mission to #coach #morrocan #female #enterpreneurs in #entrepreneurship #socialmedia #marketing 🇲🇦 supported by #apefe #anapec @exchangevzw
Ready to start a #marketing #socialmedia #coaching session for #morrocan #female #enterpreneurs working on their #startup in #tangier #northafrica Last day in this city, moving to another city to give more #trainings supported by @exchangevzw #apefe (at Hotel Tanger Farah 5 Etoiles)