14.10.2025
Through its campuses, programs, and the engagement of its global alumni network, ESSEC Business School drives an entrepreneurial strategy with a strong international footprint. Africa occupies a central place in this vision, particularly Morocco, where the school has built a dynamic, purpose-driven ecosystem around its Rabat campus.
Since 2018, In-Lab Africa, ESSEC’s entrepreneurial innovation hub in Rabat, has supported pan-African project leaders in transforming their ideas and integrating them into the local economic fabric. This initiative operates on a co-creation model with businesses, researchers, and local authorities, delivering concrete and innovative solutions to the continent’s development challenges. One flagship program, #63 Changemakers, developed in partnership with Tibu Africa, has already empowered numerous young people to launch high-impact social initiatives in the field of sports.
This commitment is part of ESSEC’s academic partnership with Mohammed V University (UM5), with a particular focus on supporting female entrepreneurship. To date, more than 250 women have received guidance in developing their projects, and over 16 companies have been funded through awards.
More broadly, ESSEC’s activities in Morocco reflect an ambitious vision of the entrepreneurial pipeline, from ideation to pre-acceleration, incubation, and acceleration.
This approach is now embodied in the Dislog Entrepreneurs Awards, a new initiative co-organised with Dislog Group, a leading Moroccan industrial player. Its goal is to identify, structure, and support high-potential Moroccan start-ups in key development sectors, including Green Tech. Winners will participate in a learning expedition in France at ESSEC and Station F and take part in Global Entrepreneurship Week on November 11.
ESSEC’s ambition in Rabat is clear: to act as a catalytic connector among change-makers. This commitment extends to research support, on topics such as female entrepreneurship and industrial transitions, and to the establishment of a four-helix model encompassing academic, scientific, technological, and social dimensions. This unique framework, anchored in indicators such as Technology Readiness Level (TRL), enables a 360° approach to supporting entrepreneurial projects, including Deep Tech ventures with significant environmental impact.
Within this dynamic, ESSEC has launched its first geographically focused Chair on the Rabat campus: Business and Industry in Africa, supported by Africa Global Logistics, ARISE IIP, and the IBL Group. Designed as a platform for both education and action for future entrepreneurs and industrial development leaders, the Chair contributes to sustainable, value-creating industrialization across the continent. Since January 2025, students have benefited from a comprehensive program including an immersive experience in Côte d’Ivoire, a semester of specialized courses, and a six-month internship at the heart of Africa’s industrial ecosystems.
Leveraging its alumni network and industrial and academic partners, ESSEC is establishing in Morocco an unprecedented model: a pan-African entrepreneurial innovation hub, connected to the school’s other ecosystems in Europe, the Atlantic Africa region, and Asia-Pacific, supporting a new generation of entrepreneurs equipped to tackle the major challenges of tomorrow.
