Why Rabat
We could have started this studio anywhere. We started it here. A note on a city at the crossroads of Morocco's past and future.
People ask why we chose Rabat. The polite answer is: it's a beautiful city, the cost of living is reasonable, and the timezone works for European clients.
The honest answer is longer.
The capital is underrated
Casablanca is Morocco's commercial capital and gets most of the attention. Marrakech is the tourist capital and gets the photos. Rabat is the actual capital and quietly gets on with running the country.
That means: the ministries are here. The embassies are here. The big foundations and the cultural institutions and the universities are here. The serious conversations about where Morocco is going happen in this city — and the people having them are, increasingly, our clients.
A generation that's choosing to stay
Ten years ago, the talented Moroccans we know were leaving for Paris, London, and Montréal. Many of them are now coming back, or not leaving in the first place.
The reason is straightforward: Morocco has, in the last decade, become a place where you can build a serious business. The infrastructure is there. The talent is there. The capital is starting to be there. The decision to stay is no longer a sacrifice.
Our clients are mostly people who made that decision. We made it too.
The Europe bridge
Rabat is two hours from Madrid by plane, three from Paris, four from London. We work with clients in all three cities, and travel for kick-offs when it matters.
But more interestingly: a lot of our work sits between the two regions. A Moroccan exporter selling to Europe. A French firm with operations in Rabat or Tangier. A Spanish founder building a product for the MENA market. We are not trying to be a "Moroccan studio" or a "European studio." We are a studio whose location lets us do the work that needs to bridge.
That is not a position we could have taken from anywhere else.
What we're not
We're not here for the cheap labour pitch. If "Morocco = save 60%" is your reason for working with a Moroccan studio, we're probably not the right studio.
We bill in USD. Our rates are in line with mid-tier European studios. We are not the discount option — we are the option that happens to be local to the bridge.
That distinction matters to us. It probably matters to the kind of client we want to work with.
If that's you, say hello.