Data Sidi Ghanem

A few months ago, the Emerging Business Factory (EBF) launched Data Sidi Ghanem, a project that resulted in the creation of a detailed mapping of the industrial district aiming to – among other things – identify all the companies in the area.

Data Sidi Ghanem is a solidarity project that Taoufik Aboudia, co-founder of the EBF, had at heart. Placing data at the center of all strategies, it was a detailed study of the neighborhood’s eco-system that finally convinced Taoufik and his team of the importance of this mapping.

Sidi Ghanem, it is 457 companies mixing 5 different sectors of activity; trade, industry, transport, service and crafts.

Sidi Ghanem is also a neighborhood where, among all these companies, the vast majority has no visibility, especially on the web. And yet, optimizing one’s digital presence is nowadays an essential factor in the economic development of a company, and more broadly of a city, a region, a country.

The objective is that the companies of the industrial district can finally be placed in the spotlight and that an inventory of their respective situations is carried out and that adapted solutions are proposed to them.

Several months of meticulous work and the support of emblematic partners – the Near East Foundation, the Marrakech Safi Regional Investment Center, the General Confederation of Enterprises of the Marrakech-Safi Region and the Sidi Ghanem Entrepreneurs Association – have made the Data Sidi Ghanem project a reality.

If we simplify its role, the data gathers all the key information concerning each of the economic actors of Sidi Ghanem. This information is the result of contacts, trips and interviews conducted personally by EBF teams and data provided by the Regional Investment Center of Marrakech-Safi, a project partner.

The data collected – whose content will be regularly updated and to cite just a few examples – includes data relating to the sector of activity, turnover, the presence or not of companies on social networks, the availability of a dedicated website, an accessible telephone number, etc.

The collection of this data, in reality, is not limited to a simple collection of factual information. It seeks to respond to a current problem: how to contribute to the development of the Sidi Ghanem neighborhood and ensure its influence on a larger scale?

This project, which for the moment is only being studied in the Sidi Ghanem neighborhood, could go much further; what if we extended this idea to other neighborhoods or cities in the region?

Once the data of some 457 companies in the industrial district was collected, it was transformed into a precise and interactive map, accessible online. To complete this map, the project was accompanied by a 3D model of the neighborhood. A first in Morocco, carried out with the authorization of the Ministry of the Interior – a true supporter of the project – with plans designed with the help of drones offering an unprecedented view of this neighborhood with a strong potential for economic development in the ochre city.

The advantage of this mapping? Since a picture is worth a thousand wordsIn addition to making the neighborhood much more visually accessible, it is a real showcase for future investors.

Let us schematize this reasoning; an investor (or a project leader) needs, to project himself, to have a maximum of data on the place where he wishes to to place his money. With this intuitive cartography but also thanks to the 3D modeling, he knows in a few seconds where he could set up, where his suppliers would be, which companies he could call upon for a precise service…

This dynamic could therefore contribute to the empowerment of certain sectors by promoting relevant investments and giving them all the information they did not have before.

In addition to simplifying access to data for project developers, the creation of this map meets other challenges; it contributes to the search for solutions concerning urban planning, with the layout of streets, or mobility, with, for example, a more precise visibility of access to public transport.

Immerse yourself in virtual reality, an ideal alternative to respond to current problems and consider effective solutions.

As the World Economic Forum frequently points out, the attractiveness of a place or a region is now defined at the digital level. Not being present on the web, in the broadest sense, is closing the door to many opportunities and in fineto minimize its growth and potential.

The Data Sidi Ghanem project should therefore instill a positive dynamic on the economy of the district since it will allow to propose development solutions to the companies which, sometimes, have at their disposal neither the teams, nor the time or the material necessary to maximize their activity.

Creation of websites, visibility through social networks … many are the services that can be provided in this sense through the connection between companies and providers of these services.

Thanks to the combined efforts of the Emerging Business Factory and its partners, Data Sidi Ghanem marks another step towards the economic development of Marrakech and accentuates a desire to make the region the ideal place for project leaders – whether local, national or international.

This ambitious project is only the beginning of an exceptional adventure.