Women in Cleantech Builds a Movement Across Morocco

Women in Cleantech has expanded from regional bootcamps into a nationwide effort linking Moroccan women to green entrepreneurship, mentorship and investment. The 2026 Regional Bootcamp Tour ran two-day programs in Meknes, Errachidia and Agadir, and followed months of outreach, mentor-matching, investor-readiness workshops and awareness activities that organizers say mobilized more than 500 female students across Fez‑Meknes, Drâa‑Tafilalet and Souss‑Massa and reached thousands through in-person and digital channels.

"I started Women in Cleantech because I have always seen women build impactful businesses," said Ahmed Larouz, founder of Women in Cleantech and head of ClimateLaunchpad Morocco. "What was missing was a bridge into cleantech specifically, where that same instinct for impact meets innovation and technology."

The initiative was co-created by Bridgizz in partnership with the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) and has received support through GIZ Morocco's WoMENA project. Organizers say the program prioritized regional ecosystems outside Morocco's main entrepreneurship hubs, adapting activities to include women with disabilities and running public calls that explicitly encouraged people with disabilities to apply. The Women's Day events, local university partnerships and collaborations with regional investment centers — including the CRI of Souss‑Massa and the CRI of Drâa‑Tafilalet — helped establish a pipeline of female founders and innovators.

Women in Cleantech worked alongside ClimateLaunchpad Morocco and contributed to a striking gender result: the 2026 ClimateLaunchpad Morocco call drew 210 applicants representing 159 startups, with an exact 50/50 gender split of 105 women and 105 men. Globally, ClimateLaunchpad received more than 4,150 applications and Morocco ranked fourth among 51 participating countries that year. Larouz emphasized the deliberate nature of the parity: "The number that means the most to me is not the ranking. It is 105 women and 105 men. That parity was achieved by design, not by chance."

Projects and local impact

• EcoStation — presented by Zineb Oudghiri in Meknes: an automated refill system to reduce plastic packaging in the cosmetics industry. "People rarely think it is possible to create a cleantech solution in cosmetics," Oudghiri said. "By joining Women in Cleantech, I realized that there is always a solution."
• InovaTech Water — presented by Nouhaila Lakhchaf in Meknes: a household system to collect, treat and reuse greywater for cleaning, irrigation and toilet flushing.
• Plant Doctor — developed by sisters Chaimae and Fatima‑Ezzahra Oustani in Errachidia: an AI platform that diagnoses plant diseases, optimizes irrigation and connects farmers with researchers and biological input suppliers.

Program coordination relied on a compact national team and regional volunteers. Lamyae Afqir coordinated regional activities for ClimateLaunchpad Morocco, Reda Boujliliba managed partnerships and participant logistics, and Rime Hdioud handled communications and visibility. "Instead of asking entrepreneurs to travel to us, we decided to take the bootcamp directly to them," Boujliliba said. Dutch trainer Ron Bloemers praised the team: "What I have seen them doing was nothing less than exceptional."

Outlook: organizers plan to build on the bootcamp tour by deepening investor readiness, expanding mentorship networks and converting early-stage green ideas into structured, investable businesses. The initiative's online community has passed 1,000 followers, and organizers hope continued regional engagement and partnerships with universities, Technopark and local CRIs will sustain momentum and scale more cleantech startups led by women across Morocco.