In light of the successful results achieved with the Association of the Industrial Zone of Tanger (AZIT), IFC’s Access to Business Services (A2B) program has been cooperating with another Moroccan industrial estate association, the Organization of the Entrepreneurs of the Ait Melloul Estate in Agadir (ADIZIA), to assist it in becoming a professional and sustainable service provider.
When it was established in 1990, AZIT primarily played the function of advocate, addressing infrastructure-related problems in the largest industrial zone of northern Morocco. The association, representing 120 companies and 30,000 employees, did not perceive itself as a service provider and sought IFC’s advisory services to evolve from a businessmen’s club focusing on social events, to a fee-based service provider.
Mostafa Temsamani, AZIT’s Managing Director, was very skeptical when the association first introduced cost covering fees for services provided to member enterprises: "I was scared that a member revolt could take place." In August 2005, just two years after the project’s inception, AZIT had evolved significantly: it introduced fees for existing services ranging from waste removal to management trainings, while launching new fee-based services such as the rental of technical instruments and a library. Revenues from services increased by 300 percent within a year, while membership satisfaction improved. Today, Mostafa Temsamani advises other Moroccan associations such as ADIZIA on how to initiate a similar transformation from a businessmen club to a professional service provider.
Since 2006, IFC’s A2B program has been seeking to replicate the success of AZIT across other Moroccan industrial estate associations. The zone of Ait Melloul counts 128 industrial companies, and ADIZIA represents one third of them. Though it has only been a few months since the project’s launch, initial results can already be seen: ADIZIA’s board presented a proposal to the general assembly to increase membership fees in order to further develop the association’s activities as suggested by IFC. Despite the fact that such proposals had always been rejected in the past, a large majority of members approved a 60 percent increase of the annual membership fees based on the solid and promising nature of the partnership.
Further, due to ADIZIA’s lobbying efforts, the local government of Ait Melloul committed $2.4 million to the renovation of the Industrial Zone, which started in 2006, and which entails the provision of electricity, road, and waste collection services. The governor of Ait Melloul has repeatedly communicated his desire to see ADIZIA’s membership increase, to enable the association to assume full managerial responsibility of the zone.
For additional information contact:
Egidio Germanetti
Communications Analyst
Cairo, Egypt
Tel: 20-2-461-9140
E-mail: EGermanetti@ifc.org
