AKWA Group

ABOUT THE CO-FOUNDERS

Ahmed Ouldhadj Akhannouch was born in the village of Tafraout in the region of Souss, Morocco.^[6] Following the French occupation in 1907, the city of Casablanca became a destination for young Souss immigrants who were looking for opportunities. In 1932,^[7] Akhannouch left his home village and headed to Casablanca to start a business. At a time when the oil industry in Morocco was dominated by foreign companies, Akhannouch bought fuel from the American oil company Socony-Vacuum (later renamed Mobil) and started retail sales.^{[8] [9]}

His business operated successfully for over a decade, and in 1943 he moved to Agadir, where he launched multiple business ventures. First, he established a fish processing workshop in the Anza area. He then co-founded a marble company called Marakham Sous with French investors; he was a significant shareholder in two other French-Moroccan joint ventures as well.^[10] In the 1950s, Akhannouch became involved in politics, which eventually led to his imprisonment and subsequent exile by the French colonial authorities for cooperating with the national liberation movement.^[11] In 1956, after Morocco gained independence, Akhannouch returned to Agadir only to find that all his businesses had collapsed. He moved back to Casablanca and resumed his previous profession, opening two fuel distribution stations.^[12]

Ahmed Wakrim was born in Tangier, Morocco. His father, Mohamed, was a self-made entrepreneur who had moved from Souss over a decade before Wakrim’s birth. From early in Wakrim’s youth, his father instilled in him an entrepreneurial spirit and taught him various skills needed in commerce. When Wakrim became an adult, his father helped him establish his own business in Darb Omar in Casablanca, which he ran with the assistance of other family members. Around the 1950s, Ahmed Wakrim married the sister of his friend and neighbor Ahmed Olhaj Akhannouch.^[13]

FOUNDING STORY

In 1959, Ahmed Ouldhadj Akhannouch and his now brother-in-law Ahmed Wakrim partnered to establish Afriquia SMDC, one of the first fuel distribution companies in Morocco.^{[14] [15]} The national economy of post-independence Morocco was undergoing massive transformations, creating openings for new companies like Afriquia to win contracts and grow quickly.^[16] By 1962, the company had purchased a major storage facility (286,000 cubic meters)^[17] to store its growing stock of petroleum products for redistribution.^[18]

GROWTH PHASE

In 1965, Afriquia diversified its operations, adding the redistribution of natural gas to its portfolio as the two partners established Afriquia Gaz. From there, further diversification of business lines followed, notably when they partnered with the French company Elf Aquitaine to distribute oil machinery lubricant.^[19]

The global oil crisis in the early 1970s had a considerable negative impact on Morocco’s oil industry. Lack of supply led to strikes by oil and gas workers across the country.^[20] King Hassan II asked Afriquia to intervene. Ahmed Akhannouch had established invaluable connections with colleagues in Moscow — a network he mobilized to import 200,000 liters of pure petroleum from the Soviet Union.^[21] As their holdings grew, Afriquia faced storage space challenges, which they addressed by building simple, primitive tanks from the remains of old American military bases in Morocco.^[22] In 1977, the partners created Maghreb Oxygène and started production of multiple industrial gas products at a factory in Casablanca’s Berrechid district.^[23]

In the late 1980s, second-generation Aziz Akhannouch and Ali Wakrim — sons of the two founders — joined the family business.^[24] Born in 1961, Aziz completed his secondary schooling in Morocco before heading to Canada for further studies. He obtained an MBA from the University of Sherbrooke, Quebec, in 1986. After returning to Morocco, he joined Afriquia as deputy general manager.^[25] Ali Wakrim joined the family business as chairman after receiving a graduate degree from Université de Pau in France.^[26] A major industrial and financial restructuring plan led to the business being reorganized in 1993 under the name AKWA Holding.^[27]

In 1999, the group entered the telecommunications and the media sector, acquiring the Caractères Group, with subsidiaries including SFPP, publisher of La Vie Eco, and Communication Economique, publisher of Femmes du Maroc, Maisons du Maroc, and Nissaa Min Al Maghrib. The group also launched the innovative Villages Afriquia concept and introduced Speedy centers around Morocco. Two years later, the group was renamed from AKWA Holding to AKWA Group.^[28]

In 2003 that Aziz Akhannouch started his prominent political career that led him to occupy the position of Minister of agriculture then later Prime Minister of Morocco.^{[29] [30]} The 2000s were a prosperous decade for the group, which continued to expand and diversify. In 2005, AKWA Group merged with Somepi Carburants. Two years later, a real estate division was created. In 2008, the group won the concession for Terminal 3 of the Port Tanger Med and a couple years later expanded into the tourism and hospitality sector. After a fruitful decade, AKWA Group rebranded its visual identity and adopted a new slogan, “The Energy of Entrepreneurship.”^[31]

TODAY

Headquartered in Casablanca, AKWA Group has grown into a diversified conglomerate that operates across various sectors, including oil and gas, construction, and real estate.^{[32] [33]} With over 10,000 employees, it is one of the largest family businesses in Morocco. The group is run by members of the second generations of both families, with Aziz Akhannouch serving as CEO and his brother Abdelhadi Akhannouch as regional director. Ali Wakrim is the group’s chairman and his brother Jamal Wakrim is a manager with Afriquia, now a subsidiary of the group.^{[34] [35]}