The Moroccan Diaspora at the Heart of Investment Strategies
In celebration of the National Day of Moroccans Abroad, the Regional Investment Center (CRI) Marrakech-Safi has strategically positioned the Moroccan diaspora as a focal point in its attractiveness strategy. Through its initiative, "Marrakech Invest MDM," the CRI aims to harness the emotional ties, financial resources, skills, and international networks of Moroccans living abroad, converting these aspects into productive projects that create jobs and support the Kingdom's major development goals aimed for the year 2030.
This strategic focus comes at a time when Marrakech-Safi is establishing itself as one of Morocco's leading investment hubs. Notably, in 2024, the Unified Regional Investment Commission (CRUI) approved a remarkable 798 projects, up from 537 in 2023, marking a significant 49% increase. These projects amounted to investments totaling 95.9 billion dirhams and are projected to create approximately 26,619 jobs. Although this figure is lower than the 118.4 billion dirhams recorded in 2023, the increase in the number of projects and anticipated job creation indicates a vibrant and expanding regional investment landscape.
Investment Growth and New Opportunities
The momentum of investment continued into 2025, particularly with a marked acceleration in the first quarter. The CRI approved 231 projects during this period, representing an 18% increase over the first quarter of 2024, with an investment value of 38.5 billion dirhams, reflecting a 51% growth and an expected creation of over 11,100 jobs, an impressive rise of 135%. The industrial sector alone accounted for 8.3 billion dirhams and nearly 6,000 jobs, with significant projects associated with renewable energy, agri-food industries, and industrial infrastructure. Services captured nearly half of the financial commitments, while tourism remained a crucial driver, with 116 approved projects. However, it is essential to differentiate these quarterly results from the annual summary for 2025, as the available public data does not yet provide a comparably consolidated annual figure to the 95.9 billion dirhams of 2024.
Looking ahead to 2026, early indicators suggest that this investment acceleration is set to continue. Between November 24, 2025, and April 30, 2026, a total of 570 projects were approved, representing projected investments of 50.9 billion dirhams and nearly 24,900 jobs. This expansion indicates that Marrakech-Safi is evolving beyond its reputation as a premier tourist destination. The region is now diversifying into key sectors such as industry, agro-industry, renewable energy, logistics, services, digital economy, blue economy, and cultural and creative industries.
In this evolving landscape, the Moroccan diaspora represents a substantial reservoir of capital, expertise, and international networks. According to the Office of Foreign Exchange, remittances from Moroccans residing abroad amounted to 118.979 billion dirhams in 2024 and rose to 122.023 billion dirhams in 2025, reflecting a 2.6% increase. However, it is crucial to understand that these remittances should not be directly equated with productive investment. The available public data does not allow for a precise distinction of the amount invested by Moroccans living abroad in the Marrakech-Safi region for the years 2024 or 2025. Therefore, the challenge lies in converting a portion of this financial capacity into productive capital, including industrial enterprises, agri-food units, tourist establishments, logistics platforms, digital services, renewable energy projects, and innovative activities.
Marrakech, with its exceptional competitive advantage stemming from its international recognition, hotel infrastructure, airport, and tourism ecosystem, stands out as a national tourist investment leader. In 2025, national tourism investment reached approximately 8 billion dirhams, with nearly 30% concentrated in the Marrakech-Safi region, translating to around 2.4 billion dirhams. This concentration underscores Marrakech's role as a national tourism locomotive, as well as a service platform for events, catering, transportation, leisure, and real estate investment associated with tourism.
The upcoming 2030 World Cup adds a new dimension to this dynamic. Investments in sports infrastructure, hospitality, mobility, transport, logistics, digital services, and urban services open up a vast market for both Moroccan enterprises and international investors. Notably, the Grand Stadium of Marrakech is among the infrastructures poised for enhancement. For Moroccans abroad, these developments represent not merely a short-term opportunity but a long-term market that is expected to generate significant needs in accommodation, catering, mobility, services, construction, technology, and the digital economy.
At the core of this initiative is "Marrakech Invest MDM," a program from the CRI designed to structure support for diaspora investors through information dissemination, guidance, training, networking, and personalized assistance. This initiative encompasses various aspects such as financing, land use, urban planning, permits, taxation, and sectoral opportunities, along with initiatives to connect investors with financial institutions and local ecosystem stakeholders. This approach aims to mitigate the administrative and informational barriers that may hinder the realization of projects.
The pressing challenge now is to evolve the relationship with the diaspora: transitioning from being mere visitors to becoming investors, and ultimately, sustainable economic partners in the region. Marrakech-Safi boasts a particularly diverse portfolio of opportunities across tourism, agro-industry, agricultural transformation, industry, renewable energy, blue economy initiatives around Safi and Essaouira, logistics, digital services, enterprise support, training, health, and cultural and creative industries.
The international profiles of many Moroccans living abroad also serve as a significant advantage, as their contributions can extend beyond financial input to include management expertise, technologies, commercial networks, knowledge of foreign markets, and the ability to establish international partnerships.
The available data outlines a clear trajectory: 95.9 billion dirhams of approved projects in 2024, 38.5 billion in the first quarter of 2025, and 50.9 billion from November 2025 to April 2026, while remittances from Moroccans living abroad exceeded 122 billion dirhams in 2025. Consequently, Marrakech-Safi is entering a new phase where the goal is not just to attract capital but to select, accelerate, and localize investments that can generate greater added value and job creation.
By 2030, the Moroccan diaspora could become one of the key accelerators of this transformation. Through "Marrakech Invest MDM," the CRI is striving to build a bridge between Moroccan expertise abroad and the needs of a rapidly changing region. Marrakech-Safi now possesses a rare strategic asset: a global destination, a diversified regional market, developing infrastructure, robust industrial and tourism sectors, and a diaspora capable of simultaneously providing capital, expertise, technology, and international networks. The true challenge in the coming years will be to transform this potential into productive, sustainable investments that create jobs.
As reported by industries.ma.
