Moulay Hafid Elalamy–Richard Attias : regards croisés sur le Maroc qui entreprend

Summary

At a CGEM forum, business leader Moulay Hafid Elalamy and events executive Richard Attias discuss how Morocco can attract investment and build an entrepreneurial economy. Their central message is to combine a clear development roadmap and business-friendly strengths with ethical wealth creation, investment in talent, and readiness for AI-driven change.

Business Strategy and Investment Attractiveness

• Stability is Morocco’s leading investment advantage. Elalamy says foreign investors prioritize political and security stability over low labor costs. He argues that this advantage must be maintained as automation and robotics make labor-cost competition less durable.
• Build on complementary strengths. Attias highlights human capital, education, international exchanges, geographic position, and Morocco’s relationships with major powers as assets that support investor confidence.
• Treat national development as a long-term roadmap. Attias praises Elalamy’s roadmap for identifying risks and strengths and showing how to build a lasting legacy. The discussion emphasizes sustained effort and continuously aiming higher rather than expecting perfection.
• Make investment promotion future-oriented. Attias says governments are focused on security and on positioning their countries in areas such as AI, data centers, and robotics.

Frameworks, Processes, and Playbooks

Country-attractiveness playbook

1. Maintain stability and security.
2. Invest in education and talent, including international exchange.
3. Build on geographic and diplomatic advantages.
4. Develop capabilities in future-facing sectors.
5. Sustain a clear roadmap and execute it consistently.

Ethical entrepreneurship

Elalamy argues that operators—not the state alone—create wealth. He says entrepreneurial success should be celebrated when businesses pay taxes and register employees with Morocco’s social-security system (CNSS).

AI readiness

Elalamy urges countries to plan for AI’s effects rather than rely on rules and assumptions from the past. He warns that countries that prepare can adapt, while those that delay may struggle.

Leadership and legacy

Attias frames economic diversification and attracting international investment as ways leaders can build a lasting legacy. Both speakers stress work ethic, improvement, and setting a strong example.

AI: Opportunities and Operational Risks

• Potential benefits: Elalamy cites medical imaging as an example of AI-enabled technology helping identify health problems earlier. Attias describes an anecdote about using AI algorithms to select football players.
• Workforce impact: Elalamy warns that AI tools such as Claude may reduce demand for some junior employees, including in research roles. Governments and businesses need to anticipate the effects on people entering the workforce.
• Business implication: Prepare for AI to affect every industry while assessing both productivity opportunities and workforce transitions.

Ethics, Wealth Creation, and Organizational Reputation

Elalamy advocates for successful, ambitious entrepreneurs who create wealth transparently, pay taxes, and formally employ workers. He argues that treating all wealthy businesspeople as unethical can discourage entrepreneurship.

Attias supports celebrating wealth earned through work as an inspiration rather than a source of envy. He also identifies corruption as a serious obstacle and says it has repeatedly prevented him from developing activities in Morocco.

Both speakers connect business credibility to ethical conduct, trust, and visible contributions to employees and the wider economy.

Examples and Metrics Mentioned

• Girona football anecdote: Attias says an investor used AI-based player selection with a club in Spain. He claims the investment was about 100 times smaller than the spending of PSG or Barcelona, while Girona achieved major sporting success. This is presented as an anecdote, not a detailed financial case study.
• China: Attias cites 350 million people moving into the middle or upper classes as an example of wealth creation at scale.
• Targets and timelines: No specific revenue, margin, employment, investment, or AI-adoption targets are set. Elalamy mentions having advocated for ethical operators around 20 years earlier, when he was CGEM president.

Presenters and Sources

• Moulay Hafid Elalamy — founding president of Saham Group and former Minister of Industry.
• Richard Attias — executive chairman of Richard Attias & Associates.
• Interviewer: Médias24 presenter, unnamed in the subtitles.
• Source and context: Discussion recorded at a CGEM forum at Mohammed VI University of Health Sciences. Attias also refers to a presentation by Simo Laftimi.