Abir Mourabet – inspiring female entrepreneurs in Morocco

Recorded on the terrace of the El Reducto Riad in Tetouan, Morocco.

Abir Mourabet on Trip Advisor

Book Recommendation: The Alchemist: A Fable About Following Your Dream by Paulo Coelho

This episode features Abir Mourabet, the founder and owner of Abi Tours, a tour company based in Morocco. Abir is the only certified female tour guide in Tetouan, Morocco, and one of the few female tour guides in the country. She specializes in city tours, multi-day tours, cultural tours, private tours, and day trips, and customizes tours for groups of all sizes.

Abir’s journey into the tourism industry was inspired by her late father, who also worked in tourism. Despite her challenges as a female tour guide in a male-dominated society, Abir has built a successful business, starting with city tours and gradually expanding her network and services.

One of the challenges she faces is being interrupted by men during her tours, something she believes wouldn’t happen to a male guide. However, she handles these situations well, asserting her knowledge and expertise as a certified tour guide. Her certification, which includes a badge number, first name, last name, and the languages she’s certified in, can be scanned and validates her authority to work all over Morocco.

Abir did not receive any government support as a female business owner. She built her business from scratch, starting with city tours and gradually expanding her network and services. She collaborates with various vendors, including riads (traditional Moroccan houses with an interior garden or courtyard), transportation agencies, and restaurants. She personally vets these services to ensure they meet her standards.

Abir encourages people to visit Morocco because of its rich cultural diversity. The country blends Berber, Arab, Andalusian, and African cultures. She invites anyone interested in visiting Morocco to contact her, promising to customize a tour for them.

Abir’s story is inspiring to all entrepreneurs, especially women entrepreneurs. Despite her challenges, she has built a successful business and continues to provide high-quality, personalized tours to visitors worldwide.

Kyle Knowles:
Hello there, welcome to Episode 11 of the Maker Manager Money Podcast. A podcast which celebrates entrepreneurs, solopreneurs, founders, business owners, and business partnerships, from startups to stay ups, to inspire entrepreneurs to keep going and future entrepreneurs to just start.
Today’s episode is being recorded on a beautiful Saturday evening on the terrace of the El Reducto Riad in Tetouan, Morocco. A riad is like a house built around a courtyard, and also for those of you in the United States, it’s like a bed and breakfast. Today’s guest is Abir Mourabet, founder and owner of Abi Tours, which specializes in city tours, multi-day tours, cultural tours, private tours, and day trips. Abir customizes tours for groups of all sizes, including the one I’m on with my wife and son. We were going to be in Spain and decided to spend a few days in Morocco and my wife found Abir on TripAdvisor and Abir customized a four-night, three full-day tour for us based on TripAdvisor reviews. We paid a one third via PayPal and will pay the remainder tomorrow at the conclusion of our tour.
Really one of the reasons my wife booked with Abir was because she was so responsive, cheerful, accommodating, and the biggest reason was because Abir only has five star reviews on TripAdvisor. I’d like to read just one of Abir’s reviews. “Abir was amazing. Her English is perfect, and she knew so much about the city. Tetouan was beautiful and she took us to all the best places. She was able to answer every question we asked and was great. The best part was that she seemed to have as much fun on the tour as we did. There were 40 of us and I don’t think one person left dissatisfied. I would highly recommend her. She is just amazing.”
Abir is the only certified female tour guide in Tetouan, Morocco and one of only a few female tour guides in Morocco. Before starting her own company, Abir studied English literature at Abdelmalek Essaâdi University in Tetouan, Morocco. She lived in Amsterdam where she added Dutch to her list of the five languages she speaks, which also includes Arabic, French, Spanish, and English. She spent time in an Acre Hotels call center as a Dutch translator before starting her own company, Abi Travel. Welcome, Abir, to the show.

Abir Mourabet:
Hi. Thank you so much for giving me this chance to share my experience here and thank you very much for the beautiful introduction. I got, of course, emotional a little bit, but it’s a great opportunity. I would like to welcome you, first of all, here in my hometown and your second homeland, Morocco, you and your beautiful wife and your amazing son. I really love it and I’m loving it so far. And as I said, it’s a great opportunity for me to be sharing my experience as a Moroccan business owner, or small business owner, as I call it. Thank you very much.

Kyle Knowles:
Thanks for being here. And we estimated there are maybe 400 certified tour guides in Morocco. What’s a rough estimate of how many are female tour guides?

Abir Mourabet:
Very few. Very few, unfortunately. I am the only certified female tour guide here in my hometown, Tetouan. If you go to Tangier, then you’d find only five female tour guides. In Chefchaouen, there is only one. So each city, like big cities such as Tangier or Casablanca, you’d find around five, six, female tour guides.

Kyle Knowles:
What were the obstacles you faced when starting your own business in this very male-dominated country of Morocco?

Abir Mourabet:
Wow. From where can I start? In the beginning, many people did not expect, because I graduated in 2018, and many people didn’t really think that I will be able to hold it this far. Many people thought that this is only for men because men are supposed to be working on the streets. Meanwhile, women, if they would like to work, they would be working in administration such as teachers, lawyers, doctors, but it’s really in an office, not out in the streets. And one of the things that was a little bit uncomfortable in the beginning, but I got used to it, is while I was explaining and giving my presentation about the city, about the historical places that we have, because this city is so amazing. It is divided into three section. There is the Spanish neighborhood, the Jewish neighborhood, the Old Medina, which is surrounded by the walls of protections and half gates. While I’m standing with my guests, for example, showing them around, explaining, I would be interrupted with men saying, “Hey, what are you doing?” Or just getting into the conversation, for example, or just standing there staring at me.
My male colleagues on the other hand, most of them to be honest, were supporting me and they didn’t really make it that difficult. But of course they always wanted to make attention and to be a little bit cautious about me because they think, “Okay, a female tour guide? She’s probably going to be taking all our customers.” But that’s not truly my goal. I just want to be representing my country and my hometown in the best way that I can.

Kyle Knowles:
Talk about the gentleman who wondered why you’re being a tour guide and then asked you a question and you responded in a certain way.

Abir Mourabet:
Yeah, so I still remember, there was a funny incident, I considered it funny. So there was this beautiful Jewish couple who were coming from Tangier, and the riad booked a taxi driver for them, a private taxi cab, which is one hour drive from there. And when they were coming, all the way that she was talking, the lady who booked me, and she booked via TripAdvisor as well, she was like, “We have a tour guide in Tetouan. And we’re going to be meeting the tour guide in Tetouan.” And all the time the driver was thinking it’s a male tour guide. Once she said, “No, it’s a female. It’s not he, it’s a she,” he was like, “A female tour guide?” Really surprised.
And she told him, “Yes, she’s a female tour guide.” He told her, “No, no, no. Women are supposed to be taking care of kids, staying at home, and we will be providing everything for them.” And she was like, “No, not really. She’s different.” And when he came he told me, “I didn’t know that you’re a woman. All the time I thought instead of Abir,” because my name is Abir, there is another name, male’s name, which is Adil, he thought she was saying Adil. I was like, “No, that’s me. It’s all me.” “All right. So now are you going to buy me some breakfast?” I was like, no, “I’m only a female tour guide. I’m not buying you breakfast.”

Kyle Knowles:
I love that story. So what are some of the obstacles you face daily now after you’ve started your business?

Abir Mourabet:
Sometimes the looks on the face of the people on the streets. For example, being interrupted by men because, I know, 200%, and I’m sure that they cannot interrupt the male’s guide. I mean I have my colleagues and I talk to them all the time. I’ve never heard someone complain of being interrupted. And we just had that situation yesterday, for example, while having our tour in Tetouan. But thankfully I can handle those situations very well. I just answer them, especially if someone is telling me, “Oh, they don’t understand the language,” but they would be interrupting you in the [foreign language 00:08:17], our dialect and commenting, “Oh, this was built in this time or this time.” I’m like, “I give them specific dates. No, it was built in this year and in this year. Did you know about it?” And the look on their face, because they’re furious, they’re like, “Huh? We didn’t know that.” And besides the that they would tell me, “Oh no, we didn’t know.” I’m like, “This is my job. I’m a certified tour guide.”

Kyle Knowles:
And you can tell that you’re a certified tour guide and you can tell the other certified tour guides because of the lanyard and the certification that you-

Abir Mourabet:
Exactly. Exactly. So this means that I’m certified from the Ministry of Tourism and Arts and Handicrafts and everything. And also there is a badge number. It can be scanned. There is a first name, last name, the languages that I’m certified in, and also of course my picture so people can know that this is a really an authentic badge. And this allows us to be working all over Morocco, not only in one city, for example. But you’re kind of like under one association, which is in one region. For example, I’m from the North of Morocco, which is the region of Tangier, Tetouan, Al Hoceima, and many other cities, Northern cities of Morocco. So by this people know that I am certified. And also this goes the same for other tour guides.

Kyle Knowles:
Did you receive any government support as a female business owner?

Abir Mourabet:
As a female business owner, I didn’t receive any support from the government. It doesn’t happen that way here. It’s really you need to start and build yourself, as we say, a proverb in the [foreign language 00:10:03], brick by brick, which means step by step. You need to build up yourself. I first started by giving only city tours, like two hours, three hours, city tours. By that, little by little, my network got bigger. I was trying to get in touch with other travel agencies that would give me only city tours. And then afterwards I started going on trips. And by that it gave me a chance to have a bigger network and also to get to know not only colleague, tour guides, for example, but also other business owners, owners of travel agencies, of transportation agencies, of hotels and riads, restaurants. It gives you more chance to meet other people, especially going on trips.

Kyle Knowles:
So why did you start your own business?

Abir Mourabet:
It’s been my dream since I was a teenager, a really young teenager, around the age of 13. And it’s been going in the family. All my family are in tourism. It’s just different sectors, and I’ve been dreaming about it. Especially it’s gives you a chance to meet other people from other culture, from other background. It’s opens a chance for you to understand people more and more. That’s also the purpose of traveling, one of the main reasons. And I used to talk about that with my grandpa who passed away in 2016 and who was, it’s a long story, but he’s like my idol in my life. And we used to talk about it and say, “Oh, I’m going to be a tour guide. Are you going to help me out? Are you going to teach me some other languages?” Because he’s never been to school before but he spoke seven fluent languages, including Arabic, which is great for someone who’s never been to school before. But he passed away in 2016 and I got graduated in 2018, but I made the dream come true.

Kyle Knowles:
Was your mom or a dad an entrepreneur?

Abir Mourabet:
No, not really. My mom is a stay at home mom and my dad, he works in police. He’s a commissioner police working here in Tetouan. And he’s also working for the Department of Tourism because here, once you come to Morocco, it is like one of the safest countries here in Africa. You have a department which is responsible only about tourists, first of all, counting how many tourists they got in the country, how they entered. Besides to that, if any incidents would happen, they taking charge of everything and they make sure that everyone is staying good and nothing is happening.

Kyle Knowles:
Sounds like your grandfather was the one who inspired you to be a business owner.

Abir Mourabet:
Yes.

Kyle Knowles:
Okay. Can you talk a little bit more about your grandpa and how he inspired you to be a business owner?

Abir Mourabet:
I still remember I used to have those conversations with him. He was like a friend to me, not only grandpa, which is something cannot be found a lot here in Morocco because you always keep that respect between the elders, between the parents, the grandparents. But he was a different person. We used to hang out together, go on trips together. We’ve been to many trips here in Morocco and it’s all started when discussing about future plans, what I’m going to do, what I’m going to work. And little by little we started talking about tourism because he also works for tourism and in tourism for many, many years since he was very, very young gentleman. And it’s really inspired me. And by becoming a tour guide, I made my dream and his dream come true. I know it was couple of years later than when he passed away, but I made it true. I know he’s up there in the heaven watching for me.

Kyle Knowles:
Thank you. So you arrange tours using many vendors. Who are some of your business partners and how did you decide to use their services, retain their services?

Abir Mourabet:
So let’s start off for example, by the riads, or the hotels. For me, I always suggest riads on customers and guests who are coming to Morocco because a hotel can be found in any other country. However, the riad is one experience that you feel how the people from the Old Medina, from the ancient parts of the city used to live in many, many centuries ago. So it gives you an idea, especially with the architecture, with the furniture, everything. So I always propose staying at riads. It’s all started when I used to give only city tours and I would be picking up my guests from the riads and I would be asking them their feedback and ask like politely, “How was your stay? How did you find the riad?” So by that I decided which riads are the best here in Tetouan, which is one of them, El Reducto. The owner of it is also a female, which means female supporting each other. And all the feedback, all the reviews have been always positive about it. Very good. And I’m so grateful.
And when it comes to transportation agencies, I have one who I’m dealing with and the driver you’ve met, his name is Sufyan. He’s very humble, very nice, professional. He drives well. Only that’s the way between Tetouan and Chefchaouen, there are some curves and reconstructions, but he drives well. So I’ve tried that and I decided, “All right, I’m going with him from now on.”
And when it comes to restaurants, that was a totally different idea. So I started going by myself and trying out food, making sure that they have a good food, good service. Emphasized that they had clean kitchens. That’s the first thing that I noticed when I came in into restaurants. I don’t like to take my customers to a place that I wouldn’t go. No, I’m taking my guests to the same place where I would go with my family or with my friends.

Kyle Knowles:
Thank you. So why should people visit Morocco?

Abir Mourabet:
Because it is a mixture between many cultures. Let’s start off with the Berber culture, which is the culture of our ancestors and also the indigenous people of all North Africa. Secondly, we have the Arab culture that came from Middle East during the Islamic conquest. We have also the Andalusian culture because after the fall of Granada, which is in South of Spain, in Reconquista that happened, the Moorish Muslims and the Sephardic Jews, they’ve came and settled down here. And that’s mingled with the existing, preexisting cultures, that we had before. We have the African culture. So it’s all a mixture of culture. In each city you can notice that. And by that you are enjoying the culture, the food, you are enjoying the architecture, and of course the experience with people.

Kyle Knowles:
What kind of tour guide services do you offer?

Abir Mourabet:
For me, I offer city tours. I offer one day trip from, for example, one city to another, especially if it is here in the North of Morocco to Chefchaouen to Tangier to Tangier-Asilah. I also offer multi-day tours, which are the one that we are having. So we are staying in Tetouan. Meanwhile, we are traveling to other cities which are very close from here, around one hour, one hour and a half a drive from here. I also organize, for example, I call them tailor-made trips, depending on your interest. If you are interested in having a full day, a full program, then I can do it. If you are interested about having just half a day a tour and then later some activity that you can enjoy your time with your family or your friends, or even if you are alone, then I take care of it too.

Kyle Knowles:
What’s the book that you recommend the most?

Abir Mourabet:
I would recommend Paulo Coelho. That’s something that I read during my time when I was still at university, at college, and I just fell in love with that book. It’s called The Alchemist. And the reason behind it is that how the Andalusian shepherd, when he dreamt about the pyramids, and having the treasure in the pyramids of Egypt and he traveled all the way there so he can find the treasure. However, the treasure is truly in our hearts. Everyone has a treasure in their hearts.

Kyle Knowles:
Okay, I just have a lightning round of questions. These are kind of crazy and some of them may or may not apply, but what’s your favorite candy bar?

Abir Mourabet:
My favorite candy bar?

Kyle Knowles:
Do you have a candy that’s your favorite?

Abir Mourabet:
Candy? I would say the candy of Haribo. I don’t know whether you have it there. And this Haribo, whether you have it there? And this is the ones that come like blueberries, a black one, and a red one. Those are my favorites.

Kyle Knowles:
Who’s your favorite musical artist?

Abir Mourabet:
Queen B. Beyonce.

Kyle Knowles:
Do you eat cereal here?

Abir Mourabet:
Yes.

Kyle Knowles:
Okay. What’s your favorite cereal?

Abir Mourabet:
My favorite is the chocolate ones. They’re Nesquik.

Kyle Knowles:
Nesquik.

Abir Mourabet:
Yeah.

Kyle Knowles:
You should give her some of these Kit Kats to try then because I think they’re better than-

Abir Mourabet:
Well, maybe I’m going to change my mind after this.

Kyle Knowles:
Do you use a Apple Macintosh or a PC?

Abir Mourabet:
For me, neither. I have an HP.

Kyle Knowles:
An HP.

Abir Mourabet:
HP laptop. Yeah, I don’t know whether.

Kyle Knowles:
So it’s a Windows machine.

Abir Mourabet:
Yeah.

Kyle Knowles:
Do you use Google Gmail or do you use Microsoft Outlook?

Abir Mourabet:
No, I use Google Gmail.

Kyle Knowles:
Do you prefer dogs or cats?

Abir Mourabet:
Oh, that’s a hard question. For me, I have a cat as a pet. His name is Andy. He’s so cute. We’ve been together since 2013. He’s been with me around Morocco and to the Netherlands as well. But, dogs, I really love dogs too, so I cannot decide, sorry. Both.

Kyle Knowles:
Have you seen Phantom or Les Mis the musical? The musicals Phantom of the Opera? Les Miserables?

Abir Mourabet:
No, no.

Kyle Knowles:
Okay. What is your wish for Moroccan women?

Abir Mourabet:
My wish for Moroccan women is most, how they’re doing it right now, is to be strong, to have a strong character, to say that we are finishing our studies, we are getting our career before thinking about taking any other step into marriage or to have the ability to take their own decisions and to do it how they want to do it, not what the society wants to do it.

Kyle Knowles:
Where can people find you and Abi Travel?

Abir Mourabet:
Abi Travel can be found either through TripAdvisor. If you Google Tetouan tours with Abi, you can find my profile there. And also people can contact me through my Gmail or my WhatsApp number.

Kyle Knowles:
Okay, and we’ll include those links on the show notes for this. Okay, so I just wanted to wrap this up by saying if you’re ever thinking about visiting Morocco, contact Abir and she can customize a tour for you. Abi, I’m so glad that my wife found you and booked our tour of three Moroccan cities, Tangier, Chefchaouen, and especially your hometown of Tetouan. Your story is inspiring to all entrepreneurs, but especially to women entrepreneurs, everywhere. I hope this podcast enables you to book more business and hundreds of more tours in the future. Thank you for being our tour guide and thank you for being on a very special episode of the Maker Manager Money Podcast. Good luck and best wishes, [foreign language 00:22:57], and thank you.

Abir Mourabet:
It’s me who should be thanking you for giving me this opportunity to be representing my hometown while having this amazing time with you and with your beautiful family, and also for giving me a chance to share my humble experience. And I just want to say that if anyone is interested in visiting Morocco, whether through me or through any other parts, please do. This is your second homeland and there is so much beauty to see here in this kingdom, in this country. So visit us. [foreign language 00:23:41], which means welcome. Thank you very, very much. [foreign language 00:23:45], and see you soon, [foreign language 00:23:47] which means, [foreign language 00:23:48] means, if God willing.