InCom Group: Spanish business success story in Tangier

The new edition of the meeting "Doing Business Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima" in Valencia brought together important personalities, representatives of public administrations and entrepreneurs who shared their knowledge and experiences in order to promote investment in the aforementioned Moroccan region. 

The panel dedicated to success stories included InCom Group, a Valencian multinational dedicated to the engineering, design and manufacture of composite material kits that has been established in Morocco for several years, and with whose managing director, Juan Antonio Vidal, Atalayar was able to talk.

Mr. Vidal, are these types of meetings such as "Doing Business" important, interesting, necessary and essential for Spain to better understand the reality of Morocco, and in this case the northern region? 

I think it is reciprocal, that is, it is important both for Spain to know perfectly well the business opportunities that Morocco offers and, at the same time, for Morocco to have the possibility of valuing Spain as a partner to be able to develop business in Spain as well, that is, to create guarantees, create contacts, create negotiations for possible associations or partnerships. 

I think it is important that it is reciprocal, not just a one-way street.

Yes, it is true because in recent years, in addition to the fact that trade exchange has already exceeded 20,000 million euros, it is a two-way street: not only Spanish businessmen there, but also Moroccan businessmen here?

That's right. There is very attractive Moroccan capital for Spanish companies that we can perfectly attract, offering what we know how to do, our know-how, our talent, and also being able to sell ourselves in Morocco. Not only that Morocco takes advantage of this opportunity to sell, which is why I have taken part in this meeting, because we are part of an activity that has extended its business activity in renewable energies in the north of Morocco.

I think it is very important for Morocco to make itself known in the Valencian Community and in Spain. 

Above all, in order to overcome certain political interests that are taking place at the moment...

That's right. At the end of the day, we businessmen are aimed at generating the economy. We are there to generate employment, to produce profits for the companies we represent and everything that surrounds us. The truth is that it is decoration, sounds, something superfluous that cannot distract us from our objective.

So let's get down to business, what is InCom Group, what do you do in Tangier? Tell us about it. 

InCom Group is a multinational company with 100% Valencian capital since 1995. The parent company is located in Elda, Alicante, and currently has subsidiaries in India, the United Kingdom, Poland and, of course, in Spain, both in Alicante and Albacete. 

The subsidiary I represent is the one in Morocco. Our objective is to produce ‘kits’ to facilitate the manufacture of wind blades in the renewable energy sector. We are all over the world and what we do is to facilitate the work of our customers, the large multinationals in the wind turbine sector.

Because right now in technology, Spanish know-how is very present in a cutting-edge sector, in renewable energies that are increasingly necessary. 

That's right. We would be very surprised to know the degree of involvement of talent and technology applied from Spain and by Spaniards in the large multinationals in the sector. We would probably be very surprised to know that when we are talking about wind turbines in Asia, Europe or the Americas, there is probably or certainly Spanish talent involved in this technological development.

Tell us about day-to-day life in Tangiers. What would you say to an entrepreneur or someone who has an idea and is thinking of crossing the Strait and starting or carrying out their project or business in Tangiers?

In this case, we are located in an industrial acceleration zone in Tangier and the first thing to do is to put your backpacks aside. That is to say, those fears, those vices that we think we are going to find there, we may be surprised by what we can find in Morocco. 

The second thing is involvement. Apart from the passion that you have to put into any business activity, involvement. You have to be constantly present in this project. We cannot manage a subsidiary in Morocco from a head office in Spain or in Europe. You have to be present. From there, with passion, dedication and professionalism, any project can succeed.

What about local employment, training, the level of training that Moroccans have? Is this sector gradually improving notably?

Yes, we are an example of this. Our permanent agreements with both universities and vocational training centres, some of them, such as the Juan de la Cierva Institute in Tetouan, which is Spanish, allow us to have highly qualified middle management and executives that truly allow us to develop a professional task that is competitive with any European or North American area. 

Finally, at a given moment, what are your medium- or long-term objectives? The paddle issue has little to do with the World Cup, but you have heard at the event how the organisation of the Portugal-Spain-Morocco 2030 World Cup is greatly boosting cooperation between the two countries. 

Well, there are two parts. One part is the consolidation of this business in Morocco, of wind blade kits. On the other hand, it is to expand our possibilities in the area of composites for the railway sector, which is clearly expanding with a view to the 2030 World Cup and to provide communication services within Morocco. We must seize the opportunities.