Investment opportunities in regionally organised, clustered industrial real estate development.
A wealth of opportunity: industrializing local leather production
Despite the rich bounty of hides and the wealth of craftsmanship available across the Kingdom, tanning is historically heavily concentrated in Fez (62% of national capacity), with Casa (22%), Marrakech (7%) far behind. In other regions of Morocco, the wide-ranging stock of high-quality hides produced is underexploited for lack of tanning capacity, despite regional success stories such as footwear and luxury leather goods in the Souss Massa for example.
For each of the kingdom’s twelve regions, the national industrial acceleration plan (IAP) provisions aim to provide critical infrastructure in each region, simplify procedures, and create value locally. The advanced regionalization reform creating a single-window authority in each region (CRUI). for access to subsidized land purchases and other financial incentives and support for foreign or local investors seeking to invest in the tanning or processing of leather.
As with the other 7 IAP-targeted sectors, all are also supported by dedicated vocational training institutions to provide the market-tailor professional qualification programs which businesses need to grow, expand, export, and create jobs, value, careers, and opportunities.
Point in case: Leather in the Souss Massa Region
Other than tanning, the IAP focuses also on footwear and leather crafting, in which local artisans offer world beating quality items, but lack industrial-quality tanned products to fuel their growth. Under the IAP provisions, purchases of quality lots in dedicated industrial parks can be subsidized by regional bodies by up to 150% of the purchase price on the development of any lot lower than a hectare in size.
Already exquisitely proficient in leather good for refined interiors, luxury car seats, boosting local tanning capacity will allow the Souss Massa region to capture more value locally from its rich bounty of available hides, including cows, sheep, goats, donkey, horses, wild boar, and camel.
Industrial land can be purchased in display, front, and highway- facing lots, with prices locally lower than the regionally set subsidy of Dh250/m² ,or USD 2.45 per square foot at average spot market rate for 2020, or USD 106,722 per acre. For IAP aligned ventures, quality industrial land is available in clustered real-estate developments with prices starting as low as USD2 per square foot (Dh200/m²).
Such strategically located industrial parks(IP) enjoy privileged access to dedicated road and sea transport, logistics, storage and export solutions, local lab and certification centers, as well as corporate and professional services.
For ventures collecting more than 85% of revenue outside Morocco, Agadir’s free zone offers tax and duties exemptions. In some of the dozen or so IPs, regional subsidies can refund half, all and sometimes more than the cost of purchase of industrial land upon development (limited to 1 hectare or 2.47 acre maximum land purchase)
Supplies, logistics and procedures: ease of business
A bustling metropolis of almost a million souls, Agadir is the beating heart of this region hosting three million people and about half the size of Vermont. The largest sardine landing port, the third largest airport, and the fourth largest container port in the kingdom, provide Greater Agadir and the region with easy access to national, West African and international markets.
The upcoming ‘road & rail’ dryport to back up the sea port and a new passenger terminal for the national high speed train network will connect Agadir to Marrakech, Rabat and Tangier in respectively 1½,3 and 5 hours.
Spanning the Atlantic coast and the mountains of the Atlas, this region, rich in history, is also blessed with fertile valleys and hard-working people. Largest national producer of citrus and other fruits or vegetables, Souss Massa’s climate is welcoming for business and for leisure.
Although tourism plays a big part in Agadir’s economy, it also a city of merchants: Its strong work ethos has allowed to harvest a rich bounty of oranges, efficiently and rewardingly exported abroad, which, in turn, fuelled industrial investment in the processing and conditioning of land produce, livestock and sea food (agrifood industries).
Quality of life in Agadir and the Souss Mass region
Greater Agadur offers a modern and affordable lifestyle for a wide ranges of tastes and budgets, from humble seaside shack to lavish private villas and estates, from windswept beaches to dramatic mountains landscapes. The people here are proud of their can-do attitude, their constant resilience, and their openness to the world and the values of others.
Agadir was host to one of the first private universities to be recognized by the state (Universiapolis) and advanced regionalisation has provided Agadir with a world class, 867 bed teaching hospital (CHU) with dedicated mother & child, and surgical units. State accredited private education is competitive, and Agadir hosts one private international school.
Agadir’s generous mix of fertile land, quality food, ocean front and reliable sunshine has attracted many foreigners who have settled here as air links to Europe are excellent from Agadir Al Massira Airport (AGA), the third largest airport in the country by traffic.
The region is central to the national roads networks, with Marrakech, Casablanca and Tangier respectively 3,5 and 10 hours away by road along tolled expressways. The region’s spectacular and historically rich mountains landscapes are only a three hour drive away. Beyond Agadir’s sea front resort, the coastline also provides easily accessible, family-friendly or adrenaline-seeking getaways.