Five Moroccan startups are set to visit India from October 26 to 30 to learn from the Indian tech ecosystem and identify prospects for cooperation.
Morocco’s Ministry of Digital Transition of Administrative Reforms and the Agency of Digital Development (ADD)have selected e-commerce platforms Chari and myTindy in addition to SOWIT , NHS, and OCP Maintenance Solutions to represent the North African country in India.
The five startups were selected from 38 applications. Only 13 of them were pre-selected by ADD, Technopark, the ministry, the Federation of the Startup Ecosystem in Morocco (MSEC), and the Moroccan Federation of Information Technologies and Offshoring (APEBI).
Eight of the pre-selected startups are currently on the waitlist including logistic startup Freterium.
The waitlist also includes Indatacore, Go Online Accelerator, Robots & More, Now Edge, Ta7alil 2.0, Atarec, and Iconcierge.ma. The five-day visit would be an opportunity for the selected Moroccan startups to meet with Indian stakeholders in Delhi for the first three days before moving to Mumbai and Bangalore.
Given the recent surge in the number of startups in India with Bangalore serving as the country’s “silicon Valley”, the Moroccan companies appear to be excited to learn more about the Indian experience to improve their own national and regional ecosystems.
ALSO READ: Singapore in talks to Buy Carbon Credits from Morocco and other countries
Speaking to Morocco World News, the Founder of craftsmanship-focused startup myTindy Aida Kandil stated that the Indian visit would be a “great way to look at what has been already done and to have a look into the future.”
Kandil added that the work trip would enable her team to “learn in a very condensed way a lot of things that we [are] gonna be able to bring back to Morocco to further support the artisans of Morocco.”
On a similar note, the co-founder of Moroccan B2B ecommerce startup Chari Ismael Belkhayat said that India, which currently ranks as the world’s third-largest startup ecosystem, is “for traditional retail B2B eCommerce what Silicon Valley is for Web3.”
“When you are a Startup in Africa, you don’t need a crystal ball to guess what are the next challenges facing your space,” Belkhayat added. “Visiting India and South East Asia is a way to travel into the future.”
With that context, the trip is aiming to provide inspiration to the rising Moroccan startups that are working on building the future of their country and Africa as a whole.
In the past months, Morocco and India have expressed interest in advancing cooperation in key sectors such as outsourcing, defense, and automotive.
The rapprochement between Rabat and Delhi provides an opportunity for Indian businesses to explore growth opportunities in the North African market while allowing the exchange of expertise with Moroccan stakeholders.
SOURCE: Morocco news