Moroccan Tycoon Elalamy Reveals Strategy Behind Société Générale Maroc Acquisition

At the invitation of the ESSEC Maroc association, Moulay Hafid Elalamy discussed various topics with the students of ESSEC Paris. During these exchanges that lasted two hours, the one who is about to acquire Société Générale Maroc addressed this topical issue. "Sogé Maroc is a gem of the Société Générale group. It is a very beautiful bank that was not on the list of companies to be sold. So, I created the opportunity," he clarified at the outset. The president of the SAHAM Group confides that he created this opportunity because the context lends itself to it. "The banking sector in the world, as you well know, is going through difficult times. And so, the refocusing will be done. Mergers will happen more," he details.

Moulay Hafid Elalamy also looked back on his professional career and did not fail to mention the Agma affair. "I was the general secretary of the ONA group and I realized that after several years of hard work, I had a huge salary and that at the end of the month, I had exactly the same balance on my bank account as when I started at the bottom of the ladder... I absolutely wanted to undertake, so I left to undertake," recounts the president of SAHAM, who adds: "When I left, I bought a stake in a business they had, which I had bought myself before for 20 million dirhams, and they resold me two years later at a value of a little over 60 million dirhams for a small stake."

This is how the businessman took off, with the financial support of a bank. "From there, I developed the business, I bought a second business, a third and it became the leading insurance broker in Morocco... and I did a stock market listing..." develops Moulay Hafid Elalamy, who specifies that "in all this operation, I made 12 million euros in profits". A fortune that has brought him many troubles. "So, I became the richest man, practically, for the media. And they shot at this affair by saying that it was not possible to have sold, resold, etc. [...] To see someone who, overnight, realizes capital, it could only be a racket."

But the businessman has managed to overcome this "denigration" campaign. "Charge ahead when you are straight in your boots, when you are sure of what you are doing," he advised the students of ESSEC Paris. With the capital realized in the AGMA affair, Moulay Hafid Elalamy bought "a sick insurance company called CNIA and a dead insurance company (Saana). And so, we merged a corpse with a cripple. And we made an athlete out of it... who became a pan-African leader in 27 countries." Does the businessman plan to return to politics? The former minister answers in the negative. "I gave to the CGEM. I served a term and decided not to serve a second. I was a minister for eight years. That’s an important slice of life. I’ve worked a bit in business, my aspirations are still in business, there are things to do, it amuses me."