Salwa Idrissi Akhannouch () is a

businesswoman A businessperson, also referred to as a businessman or businesswoman, is an individual who has founded, owns, or holds shares in (including as an angel investor) a private-sector company. A businessperson undertakes activities (commercial ...

and

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entreprene ...

. She is the founder and current

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

of Aksal Holding, a Moroccan company specializing in

retail Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is the sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholes ...

cosmetics Cosmetics are substances that are intended for application to the body for cleansing, beautifying, promoting attractiveness, or altering appearance. They are mixtures of chemical compounds derived from either Natural product, natural source ...

luxury goods In economics, a luxury good (or upmarket good) is a good (economics), good for which demand (economics), demand increases more than what is proportional as income rises, so that expenditures on the good become a more significant proportion of ove ...

and malls. In 2017, she was named as the "Morocco's Leading Lady of Luxury Goods" by OZY. Akhannouch is married to

Aziz Akhannouch Aziz Akhannouch (, ; born 16 August 1961) is a Moroccan politician, businessman, and billionaire who is serving as the 17th Prime Minister of Morocco since 7 October 2021. He is the CEO of Akwa Group and also served as Minister of Agriculture fro ...

, who took office as

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

on 7 October 2021.

Career

In 2001, Akhannouch sealed an agreement with the Spanish group

Inditex Industria de Diseño Textil, S.A. (Inditex; , ; ) is a Spanish multinational clothing company headquartered in Arteixo, Galicia, Spain. The largest fast fashion group in the world, it operates over 7,200 stores in 93 markets worldwide. The compa ...

. In 2004, she inaugurated the first

Zara Zara may refer to: Businesses * Zara (retailer), a fashion retail company based in Spain * Zara Investment Holding, a Jordanian holding company * Continental Hotel Zara, Budapest, Hungary People and fictional characters * Zara (name), primari ...

flagship in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

. Her company, Aksal Holding, owns the sole franchise rights for several leading brands in

, including Zara,

Banana Republic In political science, the term ''banana republic'' describes a politically and economically unstable country with an economy dependent upon the export of natural resource.A banana republic is a country with an economy of state capitalism, where th ...

, Pull & Bear and Gap. In 2011, Akhannouch inaugurated the

Morocco Mall Morocco Mall () is the largest shopping mall in Africa with 590000m² of floor space in Casablanca, Morocco. Morocco Mall, which opened on December 1, 2011, was designed by architect Davide Padoa of Design International, a global architecture bout ...

, the second largest shopping center in Africa, spread over 10 hectares on the Corniche de

Casablanca Casablanca (, ) is the largest city in Morocco and the country's economic and business centre. Located on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of the Chaouia (Morocco), Chaouia plain in the central-western part of Morocco, the city has a populatio ...

and based on an investment of 175 million euros (250 million dollars). Aksal Holding owns 50% of the Morocco Mall. That same year, she created a Training Academy for careers in retail, the AKSAL Academy. In 2017, Akhannouch launched beauty brand ''Yan&One''. She opened her new smart beauty and cosmetics store for the brand in Morocco Mall.

Personal life

Salwa Idrissi Akhannouch, is the maternal granddaughter of Haj Ahmed Benlafkih, a wealthy Berber businessman who dominated trade notably tea trade in the 1960s. Salwa Akhannouch is married to

, who took office as

on 7 October 2021. They have three children.

Honors and awards

* 2020: Top 10 "Women Behind Middle Eastern Brands" as the creator of Yan&One brand by ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

'' * 2018: Ranked among "Fashion Industry's 500 Most Influential Women" by ''Business of Fashion Magazine'' * 2017: Named as one of the "Most Influential Women in Business in Africa" by

The Africa Report ''The Africa Report'' is a Paris-based English-language quarterly magazine that focuses on African politics and economics. History and profile Created in 2005 by Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in Franc ...

* 2016:

Arab Woman of the Year Award The Arab Women of the Year Awards were created in 2015 and are organized by the ''London Arabia Organisation'' with support from the Mayor of London and Regent's University London. They are now an annual event, hosted by London Arabia Organisation ...

for "Achievement in Business" * 2015: 8th rank among the 100 most powerful Arab businesswomen by

Arabian Business ''Arabian Business'' (''AB'') is a weekly business magazine published in Dubai and focusing on global and regional news analysis. The brand is aimed at the English and Arabic-speaking communities and is published in both languages. Its circula ...

References

Living people Moroccan businesspeople Chief executives in retail Retail company founders Women chief executives 21st-century businesswomen Shilha people Year of birth missing (living people) Moroccan women company founders Moroccan women in business Moroccan Berber women 21st-century Moroccan people 21st-century Moroccan women 21st-century businesspeople {{Morocco-bio-stub