Visa-FT Financial Literacy Forum Series, Rabat

Conference Chair
Peggy Hollinger Leader Writer, past Paris Correspondent, Bureau Chief Financial Times Peggy Hollinger was appointed Financial Times Leader Writer in September 2011. Prior to this, she held positions as the Paris Bureau Chief and Paris Correspondent. Before that she was a UK Company News Editor and the Retail Correspondent. Joining the FT in 1987, Ms Hollinger has also covered UK utilities and oil and gas, and written for Lex. She graduated from Trinity College, Dublin, with an honours degree in History.
Opening Remarks
Mohamed Touhami El Ouazzani General Manager for Morocco and Francophone Africa Visa Mohamed Touhami El Ouazzani is General Manager for Morocco and Francophone Africa at Visa, responsible for the growth and development of the company’s electronic payments’ business in these markets and for pioneering new opportunities in Francophone Africa. In his role, he manages strategic relationships with key financial institutions, industry partners and government bodies. Mr Touhami El Ouazzani joined Visa in 2006 in marketing and communications for the Middle East and North Africa region, and ran integrated campaigns across the GCC, North Africa and Levant. Prior to joining Visa, he headed up marketing and communications at Goodyear for several years and was Professor of Marketing and Communication at l’Ecole Supérieure de Gestion and l’Ecole Nationale de Commerce et de Gestion in Casablanca. He is also a certified Dale Carnegie management coach. Mr Touhami El Ouazzani holds an MBA in Marketing and Management from Paris and London Ecole Superieure de Gestion.

Keynote
Nezha Saadani Director, Communications Division Bank Al-Maghrib Nezha Saadani has been Director of the Communications Department of Bank Al-Maghrib, the Central Bank of Morocco, since 2009. She is a member of the Bank’s Managing Board and several strategic and operational Steering Committees. As a member of the executive committee of the Moroccan Foundation for Financial Education, which was created in 2013, she is helping to lead the development of the three-year national strategy for financial education. Ms Saadani has held various roles within institutions and NGOs that operate in economic and social fields, in particular, Kinderdorf International and the Social Development Agency. She also served as a consultant to several public and private entities and led a Franco-Moroccan network for communications and cultural mediation. Before joining Bank Al-Maghrib in 2008, she was a member of the SOMACA Renault board, in charge of communications. She has undertaken several studies and published articles about the promotion of civil society in economic and social integration. She was editor of several corporate publications, including the Bank Al-Maghrib magazine. Ms Saadani graduated from the High Institute of Business Administration (ISCAE). She also holds a postgraduate degree in public and private political communications.
Panellists
Jaloul Ayed former Finance Minister Republic of Tunisia Jaloul Ayed was appointed Minister of Finance of the Republic of Tunisia in January 2011 and served in the two interim governments that were formed following the Tunisian revolution. He began his banking career in 1980 with Citibank, where he spent 18 years. He held various country management positions in the emerging countries of North Africa and the Middle East, and was a Senior Banker with the Capital Markets Group at Citicorp International plc in London (1996-1998). Mr Ayed joined the BMCE Group in 1998 as Head of the Investment Banking Division. He is the founder of BMCE Capital, a leading investment bank in Morocco and the region. He also initiated the activities of BMCE Capital in Central and West Africa through the creation of a subsidiary of BMCE Capital in Senegal and Cameroon. In 2006, BMCE Capital launched its subsidiary AXIS Capital in Tunis. Mr Ayed also supervised the creation by BMCE Bank of MediCapital Bank, an FSA-authorised wholesale bank in London. Mr Ayed chaired the Management Committee of the BMCE Group, as well as the boards of several fully owned subsidiaries of BMCE Bank and FinanceCom. He also founded Argan Invest, the largest private equity platform in Morocco. Mr Ayed held several other senior positions in the FinanceCom Group including, but not limited to Vice-Chairman of the Supervisory Board of RMA Watanya, the largest insurance company in Morocco; Director of Bank of Africa; and Chairman of the Board of Axis Capital, Tunis. He was also a Director at Proparco, the French development agency, and Vice Chairman and co-founder of Euromed Capital Forum. Mr Ayed obtained a Master’s degree in Economics at the University of Maryland in the US. Alongside his long career as a banker, he is a renowned composer of classical music. His works include piano concertos (‘Touches of Life’ and ‘Mogador), a violin concerto (the ‘Jasmine Concerto’) and a symphony (‘Hannibal Barca’).
M'Hammad Abbad Andaloussi President Injaz Al-Maghrib M’hammad Abbad Andaloussi, a former banker, is working to improve the education system in Morocco by mobilising the private sector and fostering collaboration between businesses, the community and government. He launched the Al Jisr NGO, which encourages businesses to adopt schools in order to upgrade the quality of their education through financial and technical contributions. He also launched Injaz Al-Maghrib to stimulate the entrepreneurial spirit of youth. He succeeded in involving 75 large companies to provide volunteers to implement Junior Achievement programmes on entrepreneurship, financial literacy and work readiness in secondary schools and universities. Mr Andaloussi is also a member of the Moroccan High Council of Education, an Ashoka Fellow, a Synergos Senior Fellow, and a Schwab Social Entrepreneur. He won the award for Social Entrepreneur of the Year 2010 for the Middle East and North Africa, conferred by Schwab Foundation and the World Economic Forum, and is also a recipient of the Clinton Global Initiative’s Global Citizen Award. His Injaz project in Morocco was featured in a book, Learning a Living, Radical Innovation in Education for Work highlighting 15 best practices in how to educate future workers.
Badr Benyoussef Directeur du Developpement Bourse de Casablanca Badr Benyoussef joined the Casablanca Stock Exchange as Business Development Manager in 2010. Prior to that, he was for eight years Head of Investor Relations and Financial Communication at Maroc Telecom, the leading telecom operator inMorocco, listed in Paris and Casablanca. Previously, he served as a financial analyst specialising in the economy and stock market strategy. Mr Benyoussef is a strong advocate of the importance of financial education in the development of stock markets. He serves on the boards of local NGO Injaz Al-Maghrib and the Moroccan Foundation for Financial Education. Mr Benyoussef holds a Master’s degree from Université Paris-Dauphine, and a Bachelor’s degree from the Institut des Hautes Études de Management, Casablanca. He also has a financial analyst’s diploma from SFAF-Polyfinance.
Ilham Zhiri Director Morocco Women Mentoring and Networking Ilham Zhiri is a leading entrepreneur in Morocco and the Founding President of Moroccan Women Mentoring/Networking, a national association grouping women leaders from the public and private sectors who support and economically empower other women through an intensive mentoring process. Ms Zhiri founded Moroccan Women Mentoring/Networking three years ago after benefiting herself from a mentoring process at a US Fortune 500 company under a programme run by the US State Department. Ms Zhiri is Managing Director of Imprimerie El Maarif Al Jadida, one of Morocco’s top five printing and publishing companies. She is a national board member of the National Council of the General Confederation of Moroccan Entrepreneurs, and a member of the MENA Regional Advisory Committee of the social entrepreneurship advocacy body, SYNERGOS, and she also promotes women entrepreneurship through the National Association of Female Entrepreneurs. In 2011, she was appointed General Secretary of the Moroccan chapter of the North Africa Partnership Economic Opportunity (NAPEO). Ms Zhiri holds a BSBA in Business and an MBA in International Business from the American University inWashington, D.C.