So, doing business in Morocco is supposed to be fun, and it’s a piece of cake too, right? Wrong! To begin with, it’s not exactly your childhood neighborhood. Experts seem to agree with me. The latest World Bank report, “Doing Business 2008: Comparing Regulations in 178 Economies” ranks Morocco 129th among 178 nations on the ease of doing business. Morocco ranked low especially in the areas of employing workers (ranked 165th) and protecting investors (ranked 158th). Getting credit (135th) and paying taxes (132nd) were also rated poorly. My native Korea was ranked rather mediocre 30th. The top ten countries in the 2008 ranking were:
- Singapore
- New Zealand
- The United States
- Hong Kong, China
- Denmark
- U. K.
- Canada
- Ireland
- Australia
- Iceland
The report basically shows the extent of how each government makes the commercial regulations more friendly toward doing business. Morocco’s low ranking isn’t exactly encouraging for those of us trying to venture into starting businesses in Morocco. In addition to the bureaucratic hurdles, corruption (though the government is working to make improvements – read this article), language limitations (English isn’t enough! French isn’t enough! Arabic isn’t enough! We need all three!), and additional difficulty of being a foreigner in a totally different culture would make it a hard place to do business. Just the other day, a Swiss-German consultant friend of mine encouraged (!) me that I’d better get ready to suffer if I want to start a business in this region. (I think he means well, and he said it half-jokingly.)
It actually raises an interesting question for me:
What would it take for an entrepreneur to succeed in business in cross-cultural contexts?
Is it language skills, cross-cultural awareness, understanding and adaptation to the target culture, plenty of start-up capital, honest and capable local partners, passion and vision, entrepreneurial talent, or pure luck? The answer seems to be all of the above, or at least most of the above. That’s why it is wise to team up with a few people who have different talents and skill-sets to share the load and develop business together.
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn