The YMEC provides a forum in which participants can develop and test their business vision and plans, develop their business ideas, and compete for cash prizes. The competition provides a network of resources for mentorship, team creation, education, networking and new venture financing for these aspiring entrepreneurs. In addition, all participants receive feedback from qualified judges from the US and Morocco on the business plans they submit.

The competition will be hosted by AMPA (Association of Moroccan Professionals in America ) and AIESEC

Past Winners:

YMEC 06: Hybrida, YMEC 07: Vita Club

Awards:

First Prize:

– 30,000 DH

– Qualification to the TIC AMERICAS 2008 finals in Colombia . http://www.ticamericas.net

– 20,000 DH towards the trip to TIC Americas in Colombia

– Business coaching by «  le réseau Maroc Entreprendre »

Second Prize:

– 15,000 DH

– Business coaching by «  le réseau Maroc Entreprendre »

Third Prize:

– 10,000 DH

– Business coaching by «  le réseau Maroc Entreprendre »

TIC AMERICAS 2008 finals in Columbia : TIC Americas is an international business plan competition that provides young people of the world the opportunity to develop and implement their ideas into real business, as well as serve as a platform to scale up those initiatives by providing them access to markets, investment and training opportunities, as well as other resources.

On the first edition of TIC Americas , 800 teams from 42 countries were involved, having more than 2000 young people involved. This year, the finals will be held in Medellin , Colombia within the framework of the XXXVIII OAS General Assembly and in parallel to the V Private Sector Forum of the Americas . Up to know, almost 1,000 teams are already registered.

Sponsors:

Group OCP, Maroc

TIC Americas , Colombia

Young Americas Business Trust

Maroc Entreprendre

Confidentiality:

The only individuals who will have access to your business plans will be the judges who are assigned to read your plan. These judges are largely professional venture capital investors, who regularly deal with confidential information in the course of their work. We will ask them to treat your work product with the same care and respect for confidentiality. We also ask them to remove themselves from judging your plan if they have a real conflict of interest. Feel free to mark your plan—or particular piece of it—as "confidential."

Note that the short description of your idea which you include with your entry form may be used in public documentation relating to the contest.

Requirements for the team:

A team may consist of full-time or part-time candidates. The spirit of the contest is that it could be a launch pad for young entrepreneurs who wish to start a business. We also encourage entrepreneurs to work with students, scientists and executives from industry who may have an intriguing idea.

Candidates may participate on up to two teams. However, past experiences suggest that they should restrict their participation to a single team for several reasons:

• To avoid any conflicts of interest between potential businesses.
• To avoid the perception of a lack of real commitment to one particular business plan. This perception can easily arise among the judges.

Note that the Young Moroccan Entrepreneurs Competition is largely a student-run activity organized by AIESEC. However, the selection of judges and the management of the judging process are handled solely by the Association of Moroccan American Professionals (AMPA). For this reason, the student organizers of the Contest are permitted to participate in the competition.

Requirements for the idea:

The objective of the business plan contest is to provide a meaningful learning experience for students who are interested in pursuing an entrepreneurial opportunity at some point in their careers. As such, most ideas entered in the competition will be ideas for a new business. In certain cases, this business may include a substantial acquisition component. For example, one submission entailed making a significant number of acquisitions of smaller companies in a specific industry. The plan involved a good deal of substantive work on how value would be created through acquisitions and subsequent management, and was a solid piece of work. However, a plan that simply called for the acquisition of one company and the creation of value through "better management" would not be an appropriate submission. Another type of valid submission would include the opportunity to substantially remake an existing enterprise with a dramatically new strategy.

Deadlines:

Entry Form: An Entry form is required to officially enter the Contest. Forms must be submitted by April 25th 2008 deadline.

Final Plan Submission:
The Business Plan submission is the actual plan you are submitting for judging and is due by April 25th, 2008 . At a minimum, final submissions should include:

• Five copies for distribution to judges;
• Quarterly financial projections for two years and annual projections to five years with both a pro forma cash flow and budget analysis, and in the case of social enterprise, impact potential and funding model;
• Other analysis, as appropriate (e.g., break-even analysis; estimated market share calculations; SWOT);
• A working model or prototype, if practicable;
• Market data based on customer research and customer response analysis; and
• No more than a twenty-slide "PowerPoint" or similar overview/summary of the proposed business (does not count towards thirty page limit).

Live presentations:

Semi Final Round: The Association of Moroccan Professionals in America will pick the top ten business plans who will be invited to the final in May 7 th , in Casablanca .

Final Round of Judging: All Business Plan finalists will be invited to make live presentations to a panel of judges. Details will be announced as the contest progresses.

Mentoring:

After choosing the top 10 teams in April 25 th , AMPA will assign mentors to each of the 10 teams to help the finalists in their presentation materials

For more details contact YMEC08@amp-usa.org or call us in Morocco at 062-46- 06-48 or in the US at 1 301 728 4366.

GOOD LUCK!