It's only seven o'clock in the morning and yet several hundred of them are rushing into the buildings of Casanearshore (for Casa and offshore), 53 hectares of state-of-the-art equipped offices, with restaurants, shops and a sports centre, 5 kilometres from the centre of Casablanca. The reason they work so early is that they are on French time. After all, the people they deal with are the customers of major French companies, particularly online retailers such as Pixmania, who outsource their call centres here.<\/p>\n
At the moment Mohamed, Farid and Hasna are smoking a cigarette in the courtyard. But in a few minutes, once they've settled down behind their computers, headphones screwed on, they'll be Nicolas, Patrick and Elodie. So as not to \"disorientate\" their French contacts at the other end of the line! Casanearshore is the most spectacular manifestation of the policy initiated by Morocco a few years ago, aimed at attracting to its territory companies, mainly French, tempted by the siren calls of relocation. Particularly in the coveted call centre sector. With real success, the number of centres has risen from three in 2002 to over 80 today. And the kingdom has set itself a target of 90,000 jobs in the sector by 2013. \"Rather than see companies leave for other African countries, such as Tunisia or Senegal, Morocco has created structures and put in place an incentive policy to attract centres. In addition to this support, the country's political stability is reassuring\", explains Henri Loizeau, a French journalist working for the Moroccan magazine Actuel.<\/p>\n
Opened in 2008, the Casanearshore site alone employs 8,000 people. A further 30,000 jobs are expected by 2020. But here, the term \"offshoring\" is almost considered a dirty word. Offshoring is the preferred term. Especially as the subject is sensitive, not to say taboo. The proof is in the statements made before the summer by Laurent Wauquiez, former Secretary of State for Employment to the Minister for the Economy, Industry and Employment, who announced that he wanted to tax companies that relocate their call centres abroad.<\/p>\n
And yet, for these companies, the calculation is quick. In Casablanca, the price of premises - modern and wired - hovers around eight euros per m2 per month (around 40 % less than in France), and companies are exempt from tax for five years, like in a free trade zone. Above all, labour is much cheaper than in France and the labour pool is huge, with a population of 32 million, including 20 % of young people aged between 10 and 19. As a result, \"a Moroccan call centre employee is paid between 400 and 450 euros a month (better than the Moroccan minimum wage, which hovers around 250 euros), compared with a minimum of 1,320 euros gross in France\", according to the Syndicat des professionnels des centres de contact. Not to mention that in Morocco, the working week is set at 44 hours. As a result, costs are 40 % lower, for an almost identical quality of service. After all, French is spoken in Morocco, and the kingdom provides financial support for companies to train their employees, one of the sinews of war.<\/p>\n
These arguments have won over websites and mail-order companies. But they are also winning over major French groups, particularly in the IT sector (Atos, Bull and Ubisoft) and the financial sector, such as Axa and BNP Paribas, which employs several hundred people in Casablanca. These companies are no longer relocating their customer services, but their engineering and back-office activities, with the result that more highly-skilled jobs, particularly engineers, are being relocated. To keep pace with this trend, Morocco has committed to training 10,000 engineers this year. BNP Paribas is working on IT developments for Europe, while Ubisoft is developing new video games in Casablanca. Of the Top 25 French IT services companies, 11 are present in Morocco.<\/p>\n
But relocations are not confined to call centres alone: all sectors combined, they are estimated to account for 35,000 jobs across the country. And this is just the beginning. Like China, Morocco is becoming an increasingly attractive location for offshoring, and Casablanca is gradually establishing itself as the \"economic suburb of France\". The authorities are expecting 100,000 jobs in 2015, in addition to the 65,000 employed by the 500 subsidiaries of French companies based in Morocco, this time with the aim of developing their activities on the African market. \"We're seeing more and more relocations for services, consultancy, bookkeeping or even television security,\" explains Kamel Chra\u00efbi, a partner in the GCL group, which offers logistics consultancy services to companies setting up in Morocco. Industry is also in the government's sights.<\/p>\n
In order to attract multinationals - such as Nokia, Microsoft and Valeo - that could relocate certain activities here or set up local headquarters to make Morocco their bridgehead in Africa, the Cherifian kingdom has opened its doors to foreign investors, Europeans of course, but also from the Gulf States, for structuring projects. As a result, Morocco has embarked on a number of vast projects, from the creation of motorways to tramways in Rabat and Casablanca, announced for 2012. This was becoming a matter of urgency for the country's economic capital, whose 4 million inhabitants still have to get around on old RATP buses!<\/p>\n
Other pharaonic projects include the construction of a high-speed train line between Casablanca and Tangiers, due to start up in early 2011. Not forgetting the port of Tangier Med, now the largest in Africa. Granted in part to foreign companies such as Maersk and MSC\/CMA-CGM, it enables giant container ships to reach Marseille in 24 hours. Enough to convince manufacturers to relocate to the region, especially as a free trade zone has been created around the port. Renault is one of them. The French manufacturer will open a factory in 2012 with a capacity of 20,000 vehicles a year, to supply the African market as well as Europe.<\/p>\n
Other sectors are likely to be seduced by this \"delocalised development\". Aeronautics in particular. Some forty companies have already set up at the Nouaceur aeropole, near Casablanca airport. Aircelle's factories, for example, make components for the A380, and the Boeing 737 engines of several European airlines are sent to Snecma Morocco's workshops. To convince other big names in the sector to set up here, the region recently launched the CasaA\u00e9ro City 2.0 project. The region emphasises its low costs, but refuses to be seen as just another low-cost destination. To stand out from the crowd, the region has announced a 206-hectare site that meets the needs of the aeronautics industry, with flexible production facilities and office space, as well as logistical proximity (three days from Europe by road), existing companies in the sector to facilitate exchanges and relations, and a skilled workforce strengthened by the recent opening of the Institut des M\u00e9tiers de l'A\u00e9ronautique (IMA). Finally, here again, there is plenty of support: subsidies for the acquisition or construction of industrial buildings, payment of part of the cost of employee training (up to 70 % of the costs incurred), exemption from social security contributions and employers' contributions, and no tax for five years.<\/p>\n
Casablanca has every reason to be ambitious: the city aims to grow from 40 aeronautical companies today to 70 by 2020, and from 5,000 to 30,000 jobs. It is already working on its next target: the renewable energy production equipment industry, from the manufacture of wind turbines to the photovoltaic market. The aim is to convince groups to open local production units by creating a cluster (a geographical location with a concentration of companies in the same sector), and by highlighting the ease of transport to Europe from the ports of Casablanca and Tangier Med. Once again, the aim is to create 40,000 additional jobs by 2020.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"