Meeting with Otmane Serraj, General Manager of Bull Maghreb

Morocco is the Maghreb country that received the most foreign direct investment (FDI) in 2013. How do you explain this success?

Otmane Serraj - Just as Dubai is becoming a hub for the Middle East-Africa zone, Morocco is tending to become a hub for French-speaking Africa and the Maghreb. This trend has even accelerated in the wake of the Arab Spring. Even companies that were based in Tunisia or Egypt have finally repatriated their activities here. The attractiveness of the airport has a lot to do with it: if American companies like HP or Dell choose Casablanca as a bridgehead to cover Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire or Gabon, it's also because they are sure of having a flight a day to most of these destinations. Similarly, when they travel through Africa, international conferences choose Casablanca because they don't want to take any risks in terms of access or security. And it's far from over: the Sidi Maârouf and Casanearshore business districts are continuing to develop, while other major projects such as the Marina and Casablanca Finance City are awaited.

Against this backdrop, is Casablanca still the place to do business?

O. S. - Many players have moved to Sidi Maârouf or Casanearshore, but a large number have also stayed in the centre of Casa. These include government departments, of course, but also property giants, pharmaceutical laboratories and banks. Around the Moulay Youssef and Hassan II boulevards, you will find the headquarters of BMCE, CIH, Attijariwafa Bank, etc. Of course, this could change with the creation of Casablanca Finance City, which should lead these financial players to move out of the centre of Casa and concentrate on the former Anfa airport site. But, for the time being, the centre of Casablanca is still very important for business life: at Sidi Maârouf, you won't find any hotels and relatively few restaurants offering a good 'business' standard...