Double significance and double resonance for Nawal Chraibi. Through his studies and his career, as well as his functions within the national pride that is the UM6P and its entire ecosystem.
“The right woman in the right place” we will say, and in the most modest way. After working for prestigious consulting firms in Paris between 2000 and 2007, she returned to Morocco. She then worked for Alcatel Lucent, then for the MAScIR Foundation, holding a management position until December 2009. In December 2018, she was appointed Managing Director. Since October 2022, she also directs Moldiag and IAS-UM6P, the Institute for Advanced Studies, a transdisciplinary center of excellence of UM6P.
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Addressing the country and the company, it does so through its preferred axis, Research & Development and innovation, convinced “that R&D, innovation and training, not only are drivers of competitiveness but also levers for the sustainable development of States”. She confirms this conviction by emphasizing “that Morocco is aware of this, as evidenced by the UM6P project carried out by the giant OCP”. She adds “the challenge that this represents and the implementation by many ministries of strategies and programs to encourage this”. Asked about the future, she does not dissociate it from this R&D axis, inviting public authorities “to initiate incentive and financing mechanisms commensurate with the sizes of companies and their sectors”. She also notes the evolution of companies and their growing competitiveness “thanks to innovation, R&D, openness to the world and CSR”. But it is not a question of resting on one’s laurels, “it is a question of facilitating access to public procurement for our companies, so that they can be referenced and export internationally.”
Nawal Chraibi does not hide her satisfaction with her profession: “I feel incredibly lucky to have had this opportunity… joining the UM6P ecosystem has intensified and enriched my passion. It is a privilege to be a pillar of knowledge dedicated to R&D, high-level education and innovation… the benefits in terms of intellectual development and great encounters transcend the notion of work to become a Source of happiness… as Confucius said – choose a job you love and you will never work a day in your life.” That said, it is difficult to imagine a model company without Nawal Chraibi. However, she highlights an important aspect for any model, through her experience of the 2020 health crisis: “at Moldiag, I understood, during this pandemic, how crucial it is for companies to think about health security and the sovereignty of our country, whether in terms of technology, energy or food. “Made in Morocco” must be promoted and anchored.” She then discusses the national skills capable of producing and guaranteeing this security: “Morocco has become aware of national technical, technological and scientific skills, and of course women researchers, technicians and doctoral students have their part to play in this transformation”.
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As for her own role in this transformation, she is enthusiastic about continuing her work at UM6P, focused on applied research, innovation and a vision focused on Africa. It aims to place the university among the globally recognized universities in the fields of UM6P, to develop the skills of tomorrow in technologies and to participate in transforming the mindset of young people to prepare the next generation.
Tomorrow is also the general census, which would allow Nawal Chraibi to judge the progress made in the empowerment of women in education, to identify the delays and to act with a view to equal opportunities for all the women. The women that Margaret Thatcher considered more in action than in speech, which Nawal Chraibi relates to her experience in a “masculine” environment not always inclined to make her task easier, thus underlining the capacities of women to be concrete and to act despite obstacles.
