While I was giving training in #digitalmarketing , participants were secretly taking pictures of me. Well they actually turned out good! Thanks #female #businessowner association of #casablanca #morocco #northafrica #afem #apefe @exchangevzw #minajliki
#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.
Day of Arrival: Tangier, Morocco
Catching a flight at 7AM from Charleroi South is always a disaster. That meant getting up at 3:30 AM for me which equals not sleeping for me. Anyhow everything went smooth and I arrived safely in Tangier. As of a matter of fact when you land in Tangier, you immediately get that Welcoming feeling of landing in Africa.
Tangier is the most northern point of Africa and closes to Europe. It’s one hour away by glider from Spain. Tangier was always colonized by the Spanish and the majority of the population speaks Spanish. The South of Morocco was also colonized by the Spanish and the the middle by the French. That makes that Moroccans are quite fluent in French, Spanish and Arabic. Here in Tangier that makes chit chatting very easy. In Antwerp, I often hear Arabic so when mixed with French and Spanish; there is no issue not understanding.
Chahine from APEFE immediately recognized me at the airport. He is such a warm and welcoming person. We drove through Tangier, I immediately took some snaps of the city and went to the hotel. The hotel is fantastic. I mean how many people can say there mission organized a full pension - 4/5 star hotel for them. The hotel has 6 restaurants and my room is huge. Tangier wants to become a well developed holiday resort and they are well on their way. I quickly went to look at the conference room where I will be hosting sessions on entrepreneurship for females only and everything is state of the art / well prepared.
The only thing so far that’s a pity is the cold weather that I brought from Belgium!
2015, was an exciting year for me. I worked hard together with my team to make microStart Antwerp a success story. We have shown again that those considered unbankable and not creditworthy are bankable. We also proved that they are able to set up long term businesses.
microStart, microfinance and coaching; helping people battle poverty through entrepreneurship is my career but it is also my passion. My career is going in the exact direction as planned. Next to the professional experiences at microStart in 2015, I came in contact with the organisation Exchangevzw through BNP Paribas Fortis Benevolab whom send me on a mission to consult a tea union and microfinance agency in Rwanda. Looking back on 2015, I realised again that I personally grew a lot and gained a lot of new professional experiences in Belgium and internationally. After my Exchagnevzw, BNP Paribas Fortis Benevolab mission in Rwanda, I decided to be a Country Coordinator Uganda for Exchangevzw as I would like to continue supporting an organisation that helps develop SME’s in developing countries.
I love professional missions that allow you to gain, exchange new experiences and at the same time you get to visit other countries. In 2015, I travelled for fun to Dubai - UAE, Mumbai - India, Provence - France and Antalya - Turkey. I feel that when I stay too long inside one country I become stupid. It is when I travel my creativity gets tickled! So when in doubt - Travel.
The first mont of 2016, I wil be in Morocco working on a project called AFEM (Association des Femmes Chefs d’Entreprise du Maroc), business association of female moroccan entrepreneurs. AFEM specialises in female entrepreneurship and leadership. AFEM provides trainings on entrepreneurship and serves as a business incubator in Casablanca, Tanger and Tétouan. Through entrepreneurship these Moroccan women can battle poverty. The program is supported by APEFE (Association pour la promotion de l’Education et de la formation à l’étranger), a Belgian Walloon educational center for the promotion of female entrepreneurship. APEFE also supports MIN AJLIKI, which organised Casablanca startup, AL MANA microfinance, DFP (Département de la Formation Professionelle) the professional coaching department of the Kingdom of Morocco and the ANAPEC (Agence Nationale de Promotion de l’Emploie et des Compétences), the National Labour and Competencies Agency. All of the above again supported by the Belgian Development Cooperation.
I will be giving trainings & coaching to large groups of women interested in setting up new businesses. The trainings will vary from 1) how to develop a business plan, 2) how to develop a financial plan, 3) sales: how to find customers (commercial skills/ marketing) 4) administrative capabilities 5) digital skills and a workshop on finance. I will be travelling to Casablanca, Tangier and Tétouan. 2016 - it is! Lets do this ! My professional coaching experience at microStart will be of great use.
