Selwa Idrissi Akhannouch CEO of Aksal Group

Emad Eldin Abdalla CEO of Nesk Group

North Africa’s ultimate shopping experience will merge world-class retail, leisure and entertainment options into a lifestyle center in Casablanca.

Morocco Mall is scheduled to open by 2010 and stands to revolutionize the retail sector in North Africa, following a global trend of shopping centers that combine outdoor spaces and entertainment options with traditional retail stores. Developers say the project is part of a broader strategy to enhance Morocco’s reputation as a sound destination for foreign investment.

“The shopping center will be more than a nice building,” says Managing Director Emad Eldin Abdallah of Saudi fashion group Nesk, one of the project’s two developers. “It will be about how to create a lifestyle.”

Spanning 25 acres with more than 650,000 square feet of retail space, Morocco Mall will accommodate 5,000 vehicles, and house the first IMAX theatre in North Africa. Officials from Nesk and Moroccan apparel distributor Aksal Group, the project’s other developer, anticipate 15 million visitors annually.

“With the Morocco Mall project I wanted to put Morocco at the level of other developed countries,” says Selwa Idrissi Akhannouch, Aksal’s CEO. “We want to create a living center for Casablanca, to invite all of North Africa to come shopping.”

Ms. Akhannouch broke new ground as the first woman – and only one of a handful of retailers worldwide – to open a Zara franchise. The Casablanca store opened in 2004 and has frequently been a top selling outlet for Inditex, Zara’s Spanish-based parent company. The store’s success eliminated early trepidation about entering the Moroccan market.

“(Inditex) wondered rightly if in Morocco there exists real purchasing power and if they could benefit from the economic dynamics,” Ms. Akhannouch says. “But it was the case.”

By 2010, Morocco will benefit from the elimination of customs duties between the country and the EU, bolstering foreign trade.

“We are in the middle of the globalization process and our proximity with Europe will be reinforced. There are many virgin sectors and Morocco offers many opportunities,” Ms. Akannouch says, adding the Morocco Mall project has piqued the interest of developers in Tangier and Marrakech.

“It is true that Morocco today knows a dynamic without precedent. The human and social development is today more than ever at the heart of the national strategies. Moroccans see their way of life moving forward and they are moving more and more towards modernity. The effects on consumption are very positive.

“This mall responds to the requirements of a population with increasing needs, and to a booming tourism sector. Next to the creating of thousands of jobs, it will attract capital and human flows, and new investors, support local companies and competences, and create a new zone of attraction for Casablanca,” Ms. Akhannouch says.

Mr. Eldin acknowledges the challenges of convincing American investors to consider Africa. Nevertheless, “I believe that American companies, if they study it well, might find good business opportunities in real estate in Morocco. Morocco is a booming market with a lot of potential that is more welcoming, more open today to foreign investors.”

Concludes Ms. Akhannouch, “I truly believe that Morocco is entering a new era and that something extraordinary is happening in our country.”