Today was different than most of our other days because we traveled across multiple parts of Morocco! We left from Rabat in the morning and started the day by heading to Casablanca where we explored their Technopark campus. I was fascinated by how similar the Technopark replicated the capabilities of powerful startup accelerators in the United States, like YC and Plug and Play. Accelerators like YC are extremely well-known and their support is highly sought after by entrepreneurs across the country, so it’s admirable that Morocco is working on its own version that will hopefully lead to increased growth in startups and entrepreneurship in the country. While my site visit wasn’t part of today’s activities, the discussions of helping young entrepreneurs grow their startups connects strongly to my company, the ANDD. The ANDD helps young women entrepreneurs grow their portfolios and other personal skills, and the work of this organization could be a strong and impactful collaboration with the Casablanca Technopark.

After Casablanca, we visited Ben Guerir and toured the UM6P campus and their coding school 1337. The coding school truly stood out the most from our busy day because of its impressively high standards of excellence while also having the resources and capabilities to support students in ways that should be done everywhere in the world. I was insanely taken aback to know that students were given meal and housing stipends, free education, and 24/7 access to resources with nearly 100% post grad job placement rate. These are standards being achieved by a country that is still in development, so why is the US, a strong international superpower lagging so behind? I quickly connected this back to the ANDD which is consistently working to support young entrepreneurs with soft and hard skill development, similar to how 1337 does for its students. I’m excited to start preparing for my site visit next week and figuring out how I can connect what I’ve learned so far to development ideas for the ANDD.

It’s pretty late now so I’m going to rest up so I can be at full capacity when I spend 10 hours shopping tomorrow. I’ve loved the beautiful streets of Marrakech so far, and tomorrow is going to be an amazing day as we get to see more of it!