Al Akhawayn University celebrated its entrepreneurs this Saturday, November 9, on its campus in Ifrane. Startup projects cover various sectors, such as agriculture, health, education, technology and finance. This event aims to encourage innovation among young Moroccan entrepreneurs.
The challenge is to make its students people ready for the challenges of the current job market. “300,000 students graduate each year, except that the market only has 100,000 jobs. To remedy this, we must increase the number of jobs, so we must have more companies than Morocco has. Thus, we must encourage entrepreneurship and innovation”explains Dr. Christopher Taylor, vice-president of academic affairs at Al Akhawayn University.
The international mentors who participated in this event were able to coach the students, and at the end, choose the best among them to make financial investments and targeted coaching. “Some new companies (startups) do not need money, but advice”, specifies Dr. Christopher Taylor.
Rewarded startups
Entrepreneurship month in figures is 137 young people coached, 36 of them were awarded prizes. Among the award-winning startups we can cite Internship finder which connects students and recent graduates to internship opportunities via a platform powered by artificial intelligence. The startup won 18,000 dirhams and personalized support. There is also TeleHeard, a startup dedicated to mental health. This offers online and virtual reality therapies. The startup won the support of six investors, with funding of 12,000 dirhams.
La startup SafeDrink, specialized in portable water purification thanks to bottles equipped with UV technology won 2000 dirhams. The startup Bankly obtained 22,000 dirhams in financing. It consists of a digital banking solution with single-use payment cards to secure online transactions
Claro Digital Services won the jackpot with two prizes. 17,000 dirhams investment and the “Startup Most Likely to Succeed” award. It is an agency that aims to help Moroccan businesses bridge the digital divide through e-commerce solutions and multilingual chatbots.
“This is the 5th time we’ve participated. The first three times we didn’t win anything, but we learned how to structure the business model, pitch an idea, etc. The last edition we won mentoring. I am very happy to receive these awards this year”says Mohammad Zentari, final year student at Al Akhawayn and co-founder of Claro digital services. The young entrepreneur created his startup when he was in 2nd year.
Pan-African startup
The pan-African Student Paddy platform attracted the attention of mentors who offered up to 50,000 dirhams in equity participation. This start-up connects students, employers and alumni in Africa. It uses AI to facilitate job matching, offer internships and career development tools. “We are present in Nigeria at the moment. We are very proud of the opportunity that Entrepreneurship Month offers to have mentoring, meetings with industry experts who offer us invaluable advice. These people have years of experience and they understand the market better. We had the opportunity to pitch our solution”says startup co-founder Nnaemeka Praise Ifeakor alias Nachi. Her colleague Hajar Nafid is very confident about the positive impact that their startup can have on African markets. “We can expand the talent base and help young people become better for the future,” she says.
The leaders of tomorrow
At Al Akhawayn University, during the first two years, students can choose a wide variety of courses, from business, psychology, social sciences, etc. After two years, they choose the path they want to take. “We want our students to taste different futures. We participate by giving them the confidence necessary to become an entrepreneur. Finally, we connect them to make them future leaders”declares the head of the employability and entrepreneurship department at Al Akhawayn University.
Developing leadership and self-confidence are the key words for Nicolas Klotz, director of the entrepreneurship department at Al Akhawayn University. He claims that Gen Z suffered a lot from Covid, which “created an obvious deficiency in behavior and self-confidence”. The role of the university is to facilitate dialogue with business leaders and to help students know themselves better.
“Our job is to develop the self-confidence of the student who had lost it as a Gen Z, who knows how to do lots of things, with lots of qualities, and who surfs in all directions,” says Nicolas Klotz.
Al Akhawayn University makes it a point of honor to work for the employability of its students. In 2023, 84% of graduates found a job before graduation. By 2025, the objective is to reach 90%. “Student families have made a big investment, and we believe they need to recoup it very quickly. The way to do this is for their children to quickly find work,” concludes Dr. Christopher Taylor, vice president of academic affairs at Akhawayn University.
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