“What Makes an Entrepreneur?

"

It's another world here," Wafa Zerrouki says, as we visit the rural women
who are at the heart of her business, La Femme Artisan. Just 25 minutes' drive
from bustling Marrakesh, a group of women in traditional clothing sit together
making the baskets that they have learned to weave and now sell for up to $13 (£8,
10 euros) each.
Wafa says, “80% of rural women cannot read and write, and the culture is
conservative." “Most of the women here could not just leave their homes to come
and work for me. I had to talk to their families and make them realize that what
these women are doing is something positive," says Wafa. One of them, Selwa, is
married with a two-year-old, but doesn't know her own age.
Communication is limited to basic Arabic, as the women mainly speak the
local language Berber, while Wafa speaks French and Arabic. “For a woman in
Morocco there are always obstacles, whether you are married or single, rich or
poor, you always have to prove that you are worth something,” says Wafa
Zerrouki, Founder of La Femme Artisan.
Beginning in the center of Marrakesh, she barely broke even in the first two
years, and had a turnover of just $260. The rural women found it hard to commute.
Some could not get permission from family members to travel. So she opened a
rural workshop, and had the idea of weaving with natural materials, such as pine
leaves and grass, which the women could gather from near their own homes.
But Marrakesh, with its plentiful tourists, remained the primary market. "It
takes about two to three days to make a bag," Wafa says. Over the years, Wafa has
borrowed about $2,500 (£1,700, 2,000 euros) from microcredit organizations,
which she has used to cover costs such as office rental, help with product design
and training for the women. The loans have now been largely recouped. The
business has expanded from 10 basket-makers to more than 100, and annual
turnover is about $13,000. The bags and baskets are sold to traders who market
them to tourists—mainly in Morocco, but also as far Afield as Belgium, France
and Spain.