Regional Investment Centre

New and the first of its kind in Morocco

Regional Investment Centre

Casablanca, a better place to invest, to work and to live

James Williams wrote from Casablanca:

The Centre will assist with the registration of a company in Morocco and aims to cut the time of doing this to a week or less. They have consolidated within the Centre, representatives from all the different departments which one formerly had to deal with in order to register a company. There is now a 'one-stop-shop', which can take care of all the administrative paperwork in a new and vastly streamlined service. To be continued here

Casablanca is a surprisingly modern city, with wide boulevards, tall white buildings, and efficient maintenance. The commerce capital of the country, it combines its cosmopolitan atmosphere with the charm of its old quarter and central market. Combining famous sites such as the Royal Palace and Mohammed V Square with popular restaurants and clubs, it offers an adventure with every visit.

Beside this, it is also an immense and huge business center of the whole country, with its very animated largest-African port and international airport active all year long. A great place to live and a wonderful strategic position from where you can do business with the neighboring European Union and the whole African continent. Closer integration with the European Union (EU), through the Association Agreement, provides an important opportunity for boosting economic momentum.

Today, there is another reason to come visit Casablanca to meet Mouâad Jamai, one of the younger generation of successful Moroccan entrepreneurs who was brought in to establish, set up and run the Regional Investment Centre and its newly equipped offices in 60 Avenue Hassan II. The centre was inaugurated just few weeks ago by His Majesty King Mohammed VI. The offices reflect the aims of the Centre. They are modern, open plan, clean and efficient. Their design and finishing are to the very best of Moroccan standards and they are equipped with the most advanced technology available.

Mr. Jamai's objectives are simple; "We want to make it easy for people to set up a business in Casablanca and we are here to help them. Secondly we want to make Casablanca an attractive place for people to invest in".

How is the centre going to achieve this? The Centre has a five-point objective. The first two points are, as Mr. Jamai puts it, 'purely technical'. 

The Centre will assist with the registration of a company in Morocco and aims to cut the time of doing this to a week or less. They have consolidated within the Centre, representatives from all the different departments which one formerly had to deal with in order to register a company. There is now a 'one-stop-shop', which can take care of all the administrative paperwork in a new and vastly streamlined service.

The Centre offers investors a service which can provide them with all necessary information about the region from the potential local market to the availability of development sites, the availability of local services and supplies, the availability of labor as well as assistance in finding local consultants and expertise where required. In this respect, the Centre wants to offer an 'after-sales service', not just help investors set up business but to be there and able to offer help, assistance and advice once the business has been established.

The other three objectives are all connected with the promotion of Casablanca and Morocco in the Global Market.

The Centre has to inform people and companies of the changes that are taking place in Morocco and the reduction in import tariffs by 2010. In a global Market, Mr. Jamai sees Casablanca as having much to offer in terms of communications and its strategic position as a link between the America, Europe, Africa and the Arab markets. The Centre hopes to help globally strategic companies but at the same time, study the market to establish a clear target strategy for development in the region.

Web should prepare for a non-English majority : Creativity and Cultural Translation, not language translation, A Priority



This predominance of non-English-speaking users means it's imperative for you to begin offering multiple language choices on you Web sites.

We know you work hard getting traffic to your Web sites, so it's ludicrous to then just commit suicide with bad communication or some poor translation software getting in the way. For you sites to be successful, you need to communicate and build a relationship with potential buyers.

Sites interested in marketing to a world-wide audience aren't just faced with the burden of language translation, but also with the issue of cultural translations. We believe that we, people on the content creation side, have to do much more than simple language translation, we have to be creative, culturally literate and to have a grasp of the idiomatic sayings and "quips" that make marketing successful.

Recent studies concluded that by 2002, the majority of world-wide Internet users will be non-English-speaking; and three years later, 6 out of 10 Internet users are expected to speak a language other than English.

We've seen astronomical growth in the presence of Japanese and Chinese on the Internet, and we think multi-language sites are going to be the norm next year.

We opened this Internet Avenue to continue our research on the information technology challenge, and we are sure to succeed because we are creative, up to date and more importantly, we extremely love what we are doing through studies and research, and the sky will not be the limit. This is exactly why we have been recently recognized by the International Who's Who of Information Technology.

Rajae Soufi ... The Sound Of Sacred Music

Cinema
Music
Painting

A "World Bridger" to help connect the cultural extent between East and West and between traditional and contemporary

Her name is Rajae E. M. Soufi, 23. This young Moroccan started dancing when she was just 4 years old, played classical music from 8, studied at a music conservatory at 16, changed her path to become a full artist at 20.

Born in Larache, raised in A'dam, staying in La Hague, getting ready to move to London, planning to settle In New York to expand her multi artist talent and to put the last touches on her album scheduled to be recorded in the U.K by the end of October.

Poetry writer, singer and producer, composer in all various styles or mixing them, from acoustic jazz, pop, drum n bass, soul, funk/trip/hip hop, spoken words and then her own songs, in English, sometimes in Arabic too.

Her topics are as diverse and complex as life itself, from Sufism, to love, life, light, happiness, anxiety, distress, suffering, interaction and communication. She just feels that she is going back to her Moroccan sources. They call her the "World Bridger" because she is in between of both worlds, integrated but yet authentic. "I'm taking my time doing this album", she said to Morocco Today, "because I want to have a good team to stick with and travel with, and that takes time."

Rajae Sufi added, "Music is my life and I breathe music... I'm guided by a many inspiring artists, helping me deepen out my artistic skills. They give me space to find myself and teach me patience and faith, and everything. One step at a time... and I'm taking my time going public".

As for Morocco, Rajae has a wish: "Morocco is my motherland and I'm very eager to do things there, present myself there without the pressure of being held back in other countries. I would like to get in touch with people from the music, entertainment, and media scenes in Morocco to eventually visit and collaborate. I'm gathering a band now to start rehearsing again to do some promo concert around.

And Rajae concluded: "It's all with the help of and unconditional faith in God, my witness in this process of artistic life that I feel my skills are so numerous and creative. The more I'm in this biz, the more I feel duty and responsibility of my words, deeds an actions."