When two entrepreneurial brothers, Khalid and Amine Bennani, started a business to export Moroccan products, they quickly realised they needed to adopt more processing steps to increase sales and profit.
For example, rather than just selling plants and seeds like rosemary and thyme, the brothers invested in technologies to extract essential oils and active plant ingredients, and then sell the extracts globally at a higher price. They developed state-of-the-art processing facilities at their company, Santis, and created hundreds of jobs in rural areas, initially focusing on natural ingredients for the cosmetics and nutraceutical industries.
In 2021, Santis received a loan worth about €4.7 million from CIH Bank in Morocco to expand its business, especially the production of carob, whose gum is used in cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and food products. The European Investment Bank signed a €60 million loan with CIH Bank in 2021 to help businesses hurt by the global health crisis.
“We had neither the expertise nor the resources initially to carry out our plans for the carob market, but we had an idea to create more value from this product and this matched the company’s philosophy perfectly,” says Othman Bennani, Santis’s business development manager. “These EIB funds were pivotal to the success of our entire venture around the carob.”
High-value carob processing
The Bennani brothers created Santis in Casablanca in 1990 to export products such as herbal infusions, coffee, tea, and cosmetic ingredients. The company’s plan for the carob business got rolling in 2019, when the brothers bought three factories in Fes and Essaouira from the American food company Cargill to carry out high-value carob manufacturing.
The team rehabilitated the factories within six months and invested in new technologies. They received important international certifications, including the Sedex Members Ethical Trade Audit (SMETA), the Food Safety System Certification (FSSC) 22000, and kosher and organic labels.
These changes allowed Santis to sell carob gum to multinational food giants such as Kraft Heinz, Nestlé and Unilever. These companies use carob gum in ice cream, cream cheese and other dairy products. The new facilities created many jobs for engineers, technicians, machine operators, subcontractors and local collectors of carob pods.
The Rolls-Royce of thickening agents
The carob tree produces seed pods used to make locust bean gum, also called carob gum. Morocco produces nearly half of the world’s carob supply, but the tree and its fruit remain underutilised. About 90% of Morocco’s carob harvest comes from wild trees, and most of the raw pods are exported and not processed in the country. This is a lost opportunity, particularly when global demand for carob gum is rising.
Carob is sometimes called black gold or the Rolls-Royce of thickening agents because it has so many uses in food, from baby formula to plant-based meat and pet food. This versatility creates real opportunities, not just for exporters like Santis, but also for Moroccan farmers and cooperatives — especially if more of the processing is done locally rather than exporting raw pods. In 2023, Santis distributed 8 000 to 9 000 carob saplings to cooperatives and small farmers to help them grow their businesses. This especially helped rural families in drought-prone regions of the Atlas Mountains, where carob trees are well suited to the arid climate. Carob requires little irrigation in its first years and can thrive without pesticides or intensive care.
The European Investment Bank is currently working to allocate the remaining portion of the 2021 loan that CIH signed with Santis, including €10 million targeted for gender initiatives. CIH is preparing loan products for small businesses that comply with the 2X Challenge criteria in Morocco. This lending includes technical assistance from the European Investment Bank’s advisory staff. The 2X Challenge is a global initiative to improve women’s employment and business leadership.
A bigger global reach
The loan to Santis helped the company build a stockpile of raw materials and stabilise supplies during periods of rapid growth. The investment in production lines made the company more efficient and increased export capacity — key factors in meeting stringent demands of multinational clients.
To strengthen its global reach, Santis created hubs in countries such as the United States and the Netherlands. These locations have warehouses and distribution offices that enable Santis to respond rapidly to client needs in key markets and reduce supply bottlenecks. The Rotterdam office serves as a gateway to Europe, while the Chicago hub taps into the extensive dairy and food processing industries of the American Midwest.
The company is also investing in green technology such as solar panels. Plans include a big solar installation near Fes, which is expected to cut electricity costs by 50% and help Santis meet the environmental standards of global clients.
“Santis is a good example of how our lending creates jobs and helps local companies improve their exports,” says Jonathon Tabet, a loan officer at the European Investment Bank who worked on the deal. “The reason we can do this type of work is because we find good local banks like CIH, who know the lay of the land and help us find high-impact investments.”
PUBLIC SECTOR RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
The project concerns a series of investments aimed at revitalising public R&D in Serbia.
