“Social Enterprise Competition” is a project launched for the first time in Morocco by the British Council in partnership with the World Bank under the theme" Provision of Employment and Inclusion Services for Youth in Morocco".
The competition aimed to encourage and support the best ideas and projects in the social entrepreneurship field. It was open to young people aged between 18 and 35 years, owning a non-profit organisation, a business or applying as an individual or group of individuals. Social enterprise projects and ideas are located in the regions of Rabat and Casablanca.
The Social Enterprise Competition key events include: raising awareness campaign, boot camp, pitching day, award ceremony, incubation programme for the ten winners and a study tour to the UK in order to expose the Moroccan social entrepreneurs to the best practices and social enterprises in UK.
Raising awareness campaign
The raising awareness campaign was launched in early December 2014 using different communication channels to target broader audience and to engage with the public. The main goal of the campaign was to raise awareness about the social entrepreneurship concept, encourage social entrepreneurs and associations to apply to the competition and finally explain the focus and rationale for the selected theme (provision of employment and services for unemployed youth).
Boot Camp
The shortlisted candidates benefited from five days intensive boot camp training delivered by UK experts and facilitated by Moroccan local partners in social entrepreneurship. This training helped the participants enhance their skills and strengthen their knowledge in order to enable them to develop a robust social business plan.
The Boot Camp was a golden opportunity for the participants as they had the chance to put their skills into test and to practise their pitches in front of the experts before the final pitching day.
Pitching day and award ceremony
In February 2015, the finalists presented their projects during the final pitching day in front of a panel of judges.The best ten Moroccan social enterprises were awarded the prize of USD 10,000 for each project to ensure sustainability of their social business models and to help them make a positive social impact in their communities.
The social enterprise competition winners received not only the financial and business support to build sustainable social enterprises. They also benefited from the training, coaching and mentoring delivered by a team of experts from Red Ochre UK. In addition to that, the awardees have access to the UK expertise in the field.
The ten winning projects are:
- Talibjob - Aboubakr Jeddioui:Talibjob.ma is the first student job platform in Morocco offering the possibility to students to have professional experiences, to generate an income and to improve their soft skills. Talibjob will allow students to learn and enhance their skills in order to integrate the professional life via part time jobs and training.
- Bonum - Bilal Baguennou: Bonum is a mission-driven organisation that imagines a world where both profit and non-profit sector partner together to alleviate social challenges. Bonum will drive social impact in Morocco by creating and developing the pro bono movement , mobilising and engaging business professionals in skill-based volunteering missions via standard or customized programs.
- SkillsMotion - Camelia Drissi : SkillsMotion is a Moroccan social enterprise that aims at supporting young graduate employability. It helps young jobseekers giving the best impression to employers by offering them soft skills development services and an online platform to connect with employers through innovative video resumes and catchy web CVs. A good part of the profits will be used to provide marginalised young people with all these services for free.
- Taharak- Haitam Rifi: Taharak.ma is a web based platform with the mission of interconnecting NGOs with volunteers and the vision of making Moroccans more supportive of each other. NGOs , social associations and entities can use Taharak.ma to have an online profile and can use advanced search criteria to find the right volunteers and to publish volunteering campaigns and activities. The volunteers can also have access to the platform and check these campaigns using their accounts and apply to the ones which are suitable for them.
- Guidek - Imane Adnane: Guidek is the first urban guide for students studying in Casablanca. The goal of Guidek is to simplify their daily lives by giving them an easy access to the information they need. Guidek will be an urban guide and a website that will contain orientation information, study advice and discount coupons.
- Educationcm- Jihane Laraichi : Educationcm is a web platform that helps college and higher education students improve their study skills, have a scholar and professional project and develop their employability. It provides one to one trainings and coaching in Casablanca and contains online information including advice, articles, tests and database of courses and jobs.
- Educall- Nada Bouzid: Educall is a social enterprise establishing the links between students in universities or graduates seeking employment and students (in elementary, middle or high school) who need tutoring. An easy access to a database with tutor profiles will be given to students and parents. Educall also organises tutoring for the benefit of orphans and underprivileged children.
- Ktaby- Sami Lamqaddam: Ktaby is a social enterprise that aims to collect school manuals and second hand manuals through the help of students or other channels. The idea of the project is based on books sharing for change. It is an innovative solution that aims to help students to share and buy their books and textbooks on a website easily, as well as sharing these books and manuals for free with other students in need.
- Art Act- Taoufik lahjouji: Art Act is a project that aims to connect amateur, semi-professional , and professional artists together in order to create shows and artistic products, and promote art in general, and specifically in socially challenged areas . The core motivation is to enable them to better their skills through a peer to peer approach and diversify their income sources through teaching, and exchanging with artists from complementary disciplines.
- Douar'in- Youssef Zakaria: Douar'in aims to make villages a better place to live. Interns are hired from all backgrounds to lead sustainable high value-added projects with villagers in Morocco. Douar’in offers internships with a great human experience and an incredible social impact.