We left the office around 10 am and headed to Ibn Zohr University in Agadir, about a three-hour drive from the High Atlas Foundation (HAF) office in Marrakesh. The purpose of the visit was to get acquainted with students who had recently attended a workshop through HAF and to get their feedback on the experience and how it benefited them. 

We arrived at Ibn Zohr University, a warm and welcoming campus rich in history and culture. Our visit started with speaking to the dean of the university. He welcomed us, and in traditional Moroccan fashion, he brought us tea and dates. We discussed the importance of HAF’s programs and how its workshops have impacted students and what skills students have gained out of these sessions. 

Another thing that we discussed was how to get proper feedback from the students using different tools such as Google Forms or even written forms, as well as speaking to the students face-to-face and understanding how they felt during the program and what benefits they've noticed after the program ended.

We then took a tour around the campus and discovered all of the history within, accompanied by one of the long-standing professors, Dr. Afaf. She then explained that the group of students we would be meeting with comes from the English Department, which would actually make it easier for us to communicate with them as most of us on the trip do not speak perfect Darija. This was a positive point for us knowing that we would be able to understand the students and that they can convey their ideas to us clearly. 

We then continued to walk around the campus. It was personally very interesting for me to see university life in another country and compare it to back home in Canada. Honestly, I saw many similarities in the way of life–many students interacting and getting to know each other, sitting down drinking coffee, enjoying a little bit of peace in between classes–and it reminded me that students everywhere have the same goal: to get a good education, have a new outlook on different topics, and, most importantly, discover themselves and develop their personality, as well as discover other people's ideas. 

I think it is a huge part of university to be able to interact with others and build new friendships. Many people, especially at Ibn Zohr, come from small villages, some from towns that are almost a thousand kilometres away, and there are even some international students. For all of them to be joined here in Agadir on one campus, sharing their experiences, is something that I think many of them don't appreciate in the moment but will in the future. 

Then it was time to actually meet the students who completed the workshop, sit down with them, and get feedback on how the program helped them and changed their mentality. We also spoke to them about taking the necessary initial steps to implement their business ideas: mentality shifts that would be beneficial for their professional and personal life. 

Many students brought up business ideas that they had in mind, but many of them also had a common issue: capital. The central idea was that instead of being held back by the fear of not having enough capital, you should instead undergo your plan–create samples if you want to make clothing, show proof of concept for your software or app, determine current demand for your tool–and present it to people. 

The message was for students to take action and see how the pieces fall into place. If we start executing our ideas, step-by-step we will see results that we never would have expected. For example, a girl in the audience who comes from a city 900 km away from Agadir spoke about wanting to launch her own clothing brand and the challenges that she faced due to not having a sewing machine. She said that it would be too time-consuming for her to create each piece by hand, and she didn't have the capital to pay for the machine. Going back to the main idea, I urged her to create a sample and wear it around to gather attention from potential customers, investors, and business partners. 

Another idea that we shared with the group is that you may not know what others are doing in the same room as you. You may be creating a clothing brand while your classmate is building a fabric warehouse or is working on a new machine that knits or is creating designs for logos. 

The point is that when we share our ideas and push them out there in the world, we find tools and resources that we perhaps would never have achieved without taking that initial step. We also emphasized that business ideas within the local community should not just be profit-driven; they should also be about helping each other and benefiting Morocco as a whole. 

We then invited students to come up one-by-one to speak about their dreams and goals for the future. We also asked them what they want to see out of future programs and how this current one benefited them. At the same time, our team was there to encourage them to take action, to think broadly and sustainably, and to push them to pursue their dreams.

As the session ended, many students came up to my fellow HAF colleagues and me, giving us feedback on how we presented the session and what segments they enjoyed. They were curious to learn how different life is for me and my colleague in Canada. We were surprised to notice that we actually share many of the same struggles. Young people entering the workforce struggle with not having a clear direction, being unsure of which path to take, and the fear of going down the wrong road and regretting the decisions later. 

We also face difficulties in finding the resources to help launch our ideas and in finding the proper guidance and correct mentors to follow and learn from. It reminded us, and them, that we always have to make the best out of whatever situation we are in. We may not have everything that we need or want now, but there is always a path to get there, and it just takes a little bit more effort for us to reach it. 

All in all, it was a great experience, and everybody there was so welcoming. We made a few friends during our time, went out for dinner, and got to see a little bit more of Agadir from a local’s perspective while also discussing the differences between life in Agadir and Marrakesh. This trip will always be a happy memory for me, and I hope to visit again sometime.