In 2015 CEED Morocco launched a ‘sole proprietor’ project with the aim of encouraging self-employment and promoting the ‘sole proprietor’ as an entity to run an independent professional activity. CEED worked with more than 400 young people between the ages of 18 and 25 located in different regions throughout the country and helped them both create and grow their companies. 30% of the young entrepreneurs were women.
CEED specifically sought out and secured collaboration among its members in the organization and delivery of 178 workshops, training sessions, B2B meetings and networking events. In these sessions the sole proprietors had great opportunities to meet and learn from CEED members such Mehdi MouKit, the founder of Melint. He organized a series of specialized workshops to help sole proprietors market and expand their business as plumbers, painters, dressmakers, artisans and carpenters. Khalil Larhrib, founder of Sos Maalam, was an active mentor to the sole proprietors. He helped them develop their business plans and business models to launch their projects more efficiently.
Additionally and in partnership with microcredit associations based in Casablanca and El Jadida, CEED enabled beneficiaries to pitch their projects to raise funds and grow their businesses regionally.
The project is an illustration of how CEED helps change the narrative and drive the development of entrepreneurship in-country, in this case by effectively leveraging the entrepreneur members in Morocco to catalyze and encourage increased entrepreneurship among its younger generation.
