As published on: https://businessplus.ie/news/sandyford-business-district-signs-deal/
Sandyford Business District (SBD) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Casablanca Finance City (CFC) in Morocco.
The deal was struck during a recent trade mission to the north African country.
Officials from the Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council, along with a number of local business owners, laid what was described as the “foundation for a promising bi-lateral economic partnership between the two leading business districts.”
The Irish delegation included Leo McBride, Founder, DCaaS Global, Gavin Duffy, Director, RealSim and JJ O’Hara, CEO, Future Cast.
In a statement, SBD said the mission “aimed to explore the mutual benefits in strengthening bi-lateral collaboration, promoting international visibility of the business districts to talent and investors, and sharing learnings and best practices between districts for the benefit of their respective businesses, universities, investors and communities.”
The mission culminated in a signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), signed by CEOs Ger Corbett of SBD, and Said Ibrahimi of CFC.
Mr Corbett pointed to the Fintech sector as an ever-growing sector which is leading in attracting investment.
He highlighted the recent acquisition of Irish fintech company CR2 by Moroccan group HPS.
In addition, smart cities and the use of technology in urban modernisation were highlighted as promising areas for collaboration between Morocco and Ireland, alongside AgriTech, industry, construction and tourism.
Mr Corbett underlined the significance of CFC’s strategic positioning as a business hub, with a strong pool of qualified talent, a bilingual French and English speaking workforce, high levels of mathematics knowledge amongst the workforce.
He noted it also had privileged access to both African and European markets as strong assets that will underpin the bi-lateral economic partnership.
Mr Corbett said: “Much like Sandyford Business District, Casablanca Finance City has a clear vision for ambitious economic development and growth over the coming decades.
“Morocco invests strongly in infrastructure, innovation and education, and I have no doubt that it will continue to build on the momentum of those investments to establish itself as a key trading player in the global economy.
He added: ‘Although Sandyford Business District and Casablanca Financial City are at different stages of development, our shared visions and values will enable us to learn core lessons from one another on how to ensure our business districts continue to attract investment, and to learn and build upon one another’s successes on infrastructural development.
“The Memorandum of Understanding signed last week lays the foundation for the strengthening of trade ties and lucrative academic and professional partnerships that will develop from future cooperation between our districts.”
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