For Plug And Play Tech Center's Karima El Hakim, Morocco Co-Hosting The 2030 FIFA World Cup Is Reinforcing An Investment Thesis Already In Motion

Editor's Note: This article is part of a special Inc. Arabia series examining how Morocco's business ecosystem is positioning itself ahead of the country co-hosting the FIFA World Cup in 2030. Check out the full series here.

Five years ago, when Plug and Play Tech Center, the global innovation platform operating across more than 60 locations around the world, chose Morocco for its first long-term presence in Africa, it was making a deliberate bet. But it wasn’t on Morocco as a market—it was as an entry point. “From the outset, Morocco was never viewed as a standalone market,” Karima El Hakim, Plug and Play’s Partner for Africa, tells Inc. Arabia. “We see it as a strategic gateway connecting Africa, Europe, and the broader Mediterranean, with a unique ability to host regional champions rather than purely local startups.”

Five years on, El Hakim believes that bet is paying off, with Morocco’s co-hosting of the FIFA World Cup 2030 accelerating investment cycles that were already well underway. “Fintech and digital payments remain central, particularly solutions linked to financial inclusion, cross-border trade, and merchant services,” El Hakim shares. “Hospitality, proptech, and smart infrastructure are also gaining momentum, especially where they intersect with sustainability and asset efficiency. From a limited partner (LP) perspective, these tournaments act as a signal of execution capacity and policy continuity. In a regional context marked by currency volatility or market saturation, Morocco is increasingly viewed as a stable and investable platform with long-term visibility rather than short-term hype.”

This thesis is indicative of how Plug and Play has built its Morocco portfolio. The firm invests from pre-seed to Series A, backing scalable, infrastructure-level technologies across fintech, cybersecurity, enterprise software, logistics, healthtech, and digital public infrastructure, closely aligned with national and regional priorities. Its Morocco platform has supported over 138 startups and led to 14 direct investments, including Alya Pay, Journify, Chari, Wafr, Stairling, and DeepEcho. “More importantly, Morocco has become a sourcing and scaling hub within our Africa and MENA strategy, not just an investment destination,” El Hakim adds. “Our model combines venture capital, corporate innovation, and ecosystem building, with a strong emphasis on translating innovation into real economic value.”

Morocco’s most sustainable growth opportunities thus remain those tied to its structural priorities, with El Hakim pointing to sectors like green energy, agritech, water management, and climate resilience as examples. “Our investment philosophy emphasizes unit economics, long-term contracts, and institutional relevance,” she explains. “Startups that embed themselves into public systems, supply chains, or core enterprise operations will remain resilient regardless of the event cycle. Conversely, startups built purely around temporary tourism, staffing, or short-lived event services will face a natural correction. The tournament effect fades quickly. Structural modernization does not.”

According to El Hakim, three reforms would accelerate Morocco’s innovation trajectory. “First, greater flexibility in foreign exchange regulations for startups,” she says. “Access to global cloud services, software-as-a-service (SaaS) tools, and international marketing remains unnecessarily complex for early-stage companies... A fast-track foreign exchange (FX) framework for certified startups would immediately improve competitiveness. Second, the implementation of a ‘Startup Act’ with a clear and enforceable startup label. Tying this label to tax incentives, social charge relief, and simplified access to foreign talent would be a structural game changer. Third, credible exit infrastructure. Establishing a dedicated tech segment within the Casablanca Stock Exchange adapted to growth-stage companies would unlock domestic capital, improve liquidity, and allow value to be recycled locally.”

There are also lessons to be learned from previous hosts of the World Cup, El Hakim adds. “Qatar delivered impressive systems at speed, but the most successful technologies were those that became embedded into national infrastructure rather than remaining tournament- specific,” El Hakim points out. “For Morocco, the priority should be citizen-first technologies. Mobility, payments, security, and digital services must continue to deliver value to residents long after visitors leave. From an investor perspective, durability comes from integration, not spectacle.”

This article was originally published in the May - June 2026 edition of Inc. Arabia. Check out the issue in full on this link.