Day 2: IBM Meeting and Traveling to Rabat






Walking to IBM office in Casablanca

   



Our team and the IBM executives in the Casablanca office.

 


Packed and ready to check out of our hotel in Casablanca.



Arriving in our hotel in Rabat... home for the next four weeks.

Saturday, February 25.   We started the day by walking to the IBM office in Casablanca which was across the street from our hotel. We were greeted by several of the IBM executives in the Morocco office including the GM, Abdallah Alaoui. They gave us a tour of the IBM Casablanca office and Innovation Center and their office is very impressive. Ali Aqallal, who is the Business Development Manager of the Casablanca office, gave us a fascinating presentation about Morocco. Here's a brief bit of history and facts that he gave us.

Morocco is a kingdom that is bordered by Algeria, Western Sahara, and Spain. Its capital is Rabat which is where our Corporate Service Corp projects will take place. Morocco has a population of over 31 million people and of this population, about 56% is urbanized. Their GDP is comprised of 50% services, 19% agriculture, and 31% industrial. About 45% of the workforce works in the agricultural area. They have natural resources such as phosphates, iron ore,lead, zinc, fish, and salt. They export approximately $1.5B a year in clothing, textiles, electronic components, petroleum products, and citrus fruits. We also learned interesting facts about IBM in Morocco. There are currently over 100 IBMers in Morocco and this number is rapidly expanding. Ginni Rometty, IBM's new CIO, visited the IBM Morocco office just a few weeks ago and they were very excited to have this level of executive focus on their office.

After our IBM meeting ended, we ate lunch at a nearby restaurant where I ordered chicken and vegetables. As you will see later in the day, this meal had a subsequent consequence. We then drove to our hotel in Rabat which will be our home base for the next four weeks. After checking into my room, I wasn't feeling very well and shortly after was sick with food poisoning. One other person also got sick and we suspect it was from the chicken since we both ate the same thing. One of my team members gave me a charcoal pill to absorb the toxins and I felt much better in a couple of hours. I now believe that this is a wonder drug that I plan to always carry with me on future travels. :-)