Contributors

Ali Zerouali

Cooperation and International Development Director,
Masen, Moroccan Agency for Sustainable Energy

Short Bio

Mohamed Ali ZEROUALI is a Moroccan-born sustainable energy advocate with a special focus on Africa. Head of the Cooperation & International Development division at Masen since September 2015, he is in charge of designing and implementing a strategy for the international projection of Masen through three major lines of work: bilateral cooperation, multilateral cooperation and international business development in the renewable energy sector. (Masen stands for Moroccan Agency for Sustainable Energy and is the group responsible for managing renewable energy projects in Morocco and for carrying its renewable energy strategy since 2010).

Zerouali is supervising the projection of Masen in some twenty countries on the African continent and working to strengthen its positioning with international institutions, in particular through the initiative Desert to Power along with the African Development Bank (AfDB) for the benefit of the Sahel countries, the Coalition for Sustainable Energy Access (CSEA) announced at the UN’s Climate Action Summit of September 2019, an initiative based on the principle of South-South cooperation, or even the strategic partnership with the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) which aims to support the African IsDB member countries in exploiting their renewable potential. He also intends to develop South-North cooperation, by mobilizing foreign funding for technical cooperation and by coordinating the SET Roadmap, a project which aims to integrate electricity markets of renewable origin between Germany, France, Spain, Portugal and Morocco. Ali has also been appointed by the UN Energy as an expert for energy transition and strives to promote the access to clean energy as a new lever for social and economic growth in developing countries.

Zerouali brings extensive leadership experience to this role. Through his previous positions (BNP Paribas, Accenture) in France, he was involved in the management of corporate restructuring projects and international business development. Upon his return to Morocco, he founded Next Management, a company that specializes in restructuring and transformation missions, before assuming the general management of MCS, a subsidiary of UTC.

A graduate in engineering with a degree in management from the Ecole des Mines de Paris and HEC Paris in France, Ali Zerouali is a militant of Afro-optimism, convinced that a bright future lies ahead for the African continent, particularly through energy, a fundamental factor to sustainable development and growth. As such, he is working towards a green revolution dynamic on a regional and continental scale.

As Vice-President of the Africa Commission at the CGEM (General Confederation of Moroccan Enterprises), he also strives to promote the development of the Moroccan private sector in Africa.

Ali is married and the father of a child.