SMEs: The Capital Market Seeks to Move Up a Gear

The paradox is striking. On the one hand, the Moroccan capital market continues to gain momentum.

In 2025, capital raised reached 143.6 billion dirhams, up 30.6% year-on-year. Corporate bond issuances alone amounted to nearly 51 billion dirhams, more than double their 2024 level.

On the other hand, SMEs’ access to these resources remains limited. This is precisely the gap that the Moroccan Capital Market Authority (AMMC) and the General Confederation of Moroccan Enterprises (CGEM) seek to help reduce.

Meeting in Casablanca at the end of September under the theme “Capital Market and SME Financing”, the two institutions expressed a shared ambition: to bring the capital market closer to the real economy and better channel savings towards financing businesses that generate growth and jobs.

The challenge goes beyond raising awareness. The aim is now to build a genuine pool of companies capable of accessing the market by engaging with them earlier in their development and supporting them in their preparation.

This approach is part of an ongoing momentum. A roadmap bringing together, among others, the CGEM, the Casablanca Stock Exchange and the AMMC had identified SME support as one of its priorities.

For 2026, the AMMC has also planned a training and support programme for high-potential industrial companies to prepare them to raise financing on the market.

The instruments are also available. The Casablanca Stock Exchange notably has an alternative market designed for SMEs, with tailored access requirements, including a minimum capital raise of 5 million dirhams and only one certified financial year.

The challenge is therefore gradually shifting: it is no longer just about creating financial instruments, but about developing more companies capable of using them.

The Cultural Barrier

The structure of the business landscape helps illustrate the scale of the task. According to the Moroccan Observatory of Very Small, Small and Medium Enterprises (TPME), nearly 380,000 companies with legal entity status filed a tax return in 2024.

However, new business creations remain heavily concentrated among the smallest structures: 98.5% of the new companies with legal entity status established that year were microenterprises.

Financing structures also vary with company size. For very small enterprises (VSEs), debt owed to shareholders still accounts for 41% of resources, compared with 20% for equity. For larger companies, equity represents 35% of resources, while financial debt accounts for nearly 25%.

Moving from traditional or internal financing to the capital market therefore also requires a change in the scale of the business.

“Bank financing naturally remains the first option for Moroccan SMEs. The relationship with the bank is longstanding, familiar and relatively straightforward for the business owner”, explains Mohamed Idboufous, a capital markets expert, adviser and trainer.

Turning to the market involves a different approach. A banking relationship remains essentially bilateral. Opening up to investors requires more structured financial information, more formalised governance, and the ability to report on strategy and performance.

“The main obstacle is therefore not solely financial. It is also cultural and organisational”, Idboufous points out.

A company may therefore need financing without yet being ready to meet market requirements. Nevertheless, banks and capital markets should not be viewed as opposing alternatives. They can play a role at different stages in a company’s life. The challenge is rather to enable SMEs to gradually diversify their resources as they grow.

The Right Financing for Each Stage of Maturity

Not all SMEs have the same needs or the same level of maturity. Accessing the market does not necessarily mean going public.

For a growing company, private equity can help strengthen its equity base and support its organisational development. In return, the founder accepts the arrival of a new shareholder and, potentially, a sharing of decision-making power.

As the company matures and its financial flows become more predictable, private debt or certain bond instruments may become more suitable.

The stock exchange represents a different stage. It allows companies to raise capital, but can also increase their visibility, profile and credibility. In return, it entails more stringent requirements regarding transparency, governance and financial communication.

The idea is therefore not to push all SMEs towards listing, but to direct each one towards the financing option that corresponds to its stage of development. This is precisely the rationale behind a “financing pathway”, according to Idboufous.

The challenge is becoming less about choosing between banks, investment funds, debt or the stock exchange and more about a company’s ability to determine when and why to use each of these levers.

Prepare Before Financing

This is probably where the main challenge lies. At the AMMC-CGEM meeting, preparing companies was precisely one of the main topics of discussion.

CGEM President Mehdi Tazi stressed the need to build a pool of companies capable of accessing the market, recalling that an initial public offering must be prepared several years in advance through the structuring of the company, its governance, management and the reliability of its financial information.

For his part, AMMC President Tarik Senhaji called on market participants to engage with companies earlier and focus more on their financing needs rather than solely on the instruments available.

This approach directly aligns with Idboufous’s assessment: “Successful financing does not begin when a company looks for money. It begins much earlier, with the preparation of the company itself”.

The quality of financial information, governance, internal processes, clarity of strategy and management’s ability to engage in dialogue with investors then become decisive factors.

Transparency is no longer merely an obligation imposed by the market. Reliable accounts, clearly defined responsibilities and a clear strategy strengthen the confidence of investors, but also that of banks and business partners.

Supporting SMEs therefore cannot be limited to presenting the available products. It is necessary to identify companies with growth potential sufficiently early, diagnose their weaknesses, strengthen their governance and financial organisation, and gradually familiarise them with market requirements.

This may be where the next stage in the development of the Moroccan capital market will be decided. The market now has a broader range of financing options and is gaining depth. What remains is to expand the pool of companies capable of benefiting from them.

The target set out in the stock market roadmap illustrates the scale of the ambition: to help increase the number of listed companies to 300 by 2035 and raise stock market capitalisation to 70% of GDP.

Achieving such a scale will require a substantial expansion of the pool of companies capable of joining the market.

Access to the capital market can therefore no longer be viewed as a one-off decision made when a financing need arises, but rather as the culmination of a gradual transformation of the company.

Idboufous sums it up in one sentence: “We should not wait until an SME needs financing to start preparing it. We must prepare the company before it needs the market”.