Mustapha Bakkoury

Mustapha Bakkoury was born on 20 December 1964 in Mohammedia, Morocco (his family originates from the Taounate region). He trained as an engineer, graduating from the École des Ponts ParisTech in Paris in 1990, and holds a DESS (postgraduate diploma) in banking and finance. He began his career in French banking, working from 1989 to 1991 on major international projects at BNP Paribas, then as a senior project manager in financial engineering at BNP Intercontinentale, before moving into corporate and business banking at BMCI (BNP Paribas's Moroccan subsidiary) between 1993 and 2001. From 1995 to 1998 he directed the development and financing of SONADAC, the national body overseeing large Casablanca metropolitan-development projects.

In 2001, King Mohammed VI appointed Bakkoury Director General of the Caisse de Dépôt et de Gestion (CDG), Morocco's sovereign long-term investment institution, a post he held until June 2009. During his tenure he expanded CDG into one of the kingdom's principal financial groups, active in real estate, infrastructure, and investment. On 30 December 2009 the King named him head of the newly created Moroccan Agency for Sustainable Energy (MASEN), where he served as chairman/president of the executive board.

At MASEN, Bakkoury became the public face of Morocco's landmark renewable-energy program. He steered the Noor Ouarzazate solar complex — including the 582 MW concentrated-solar-power (CSP) station, at the time one of the world's largest — and was a prominent voice at COP22 (Marrakech, 2016), the Africa CEO Forum, and other international climate and energy platforms. In parallel he built a political career: he joined Fouad Ali El Himma's Movement of All Democrats, which became the Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM); was elected the party's Secretary General in February 2012; and was elected president of the Casablanca-Settat regional council in September 2015.

From 2021 onward Bakkoury's standing eroded amid a government-linked inquiry into his management of MASEN and delays/technology choices (CSP vs. cheaper photovoltaics) in the solar program. He was reportedly barred from leaving the country in 2021 and kept a low profile thereafter. His MASEN mandate was formally ended and, on 1 June 2024, King Mohammed VI appointed Tarik Moufaddal as the new chairman and CEO of MASEN, closing Bakkoury's roughly 15-year tenure.

• Primary vehicle was institutional, not personal: His "investments" were public-mandate infrastructure programs financed by MASEN through blended finance (concessional loans, DFI/multilateral funding, IPP structures) — not equity checks into startups.
• Sector conviction: Deep focus on utility-scale renewable energy — especially concentrated solar power (CSP with thermal storage) alongside PV and wind — as a lever for Moroccan energy independence and industrial development.
• Africa / South-South ambition: Positioned MASEN as an exporter of solar know-how across Africa, framing Morocco as a continental renewables hub.
• Structuring orientation: His earlier CDG and banking background shaped a project-finance and public-private-partnership mindset (large-ticket, long-horizon, sovereign-backed) rather than early-stage venture risk.
• No publicly stated angel-investing thesis, check size, or startup target profile could be verified.