Innov’i – EU4Innovation: a project to boost innovative entrepreneurship in Tunisia

In Tunisia, since the revolution in 2011, many people who have been faced with unemployment have been developing initiatives in the field of innovative entrepreneurship. However, these fledgling start-ups are faced with the structural weaknesses of the system in which they operate, for example, the difficulty to access appropriate financing, the territorial divide in access to assistance (with a lack of assistance for project initiators in interior regions) or administrative complexity.  

Based on the idea that entrepreneurship and innovation can be a vehicle for sustainable growth, the Innov’i – EU4Innovation project combines technical and financial assistance to help strengthen entrepreneurship in Tunisia via three components:

 • Assist support structures for entrepreneurs;

 • Work jointly with the authorities to reform the regulatory and financing framework for innovative start-ups and companies;

 • Promote Tunisia as a hub for innovation at the crossroads of the Mediterranean, Africa and Europe. 

Improving the range of services for start-ups and entrepreneurs

The objective of assisting support structures for innovative entrepreneurship is to allow them to improve the services they offer to start-ups and entrepreneurs.

Among the nine initiatives supported following the first call for projects launched by Innov’i, the PIR.TN project led by the association Initiative Médenine is focusing on supporting innovation in the interior regions of Tunisia, by allocating interest-free loans in order to contribute to local development. Other projects, such as Tunisie Pulse led by Lab’Ess or Start Up Studio Solidaire led by the association Shanti, are focusing on social and inclusive entrepreneurship, while the Betacube and Stati’4 projects target the tech sectors. Innov’i is also supporting the ELIFE programme, led by the Tunisia Foundation for Development, which aims to build ten technological centres for young Tunisians in ten of the most marginalised and disadvantaged interior regions in Tunisia.

Expertise France is supporting these facilities and helping them structure their activity. “It’s an initiative that reflects Expertise France’s commitment alongside Tunisian institutions and civil society for the most innovative projects, adapted to issues related to modernising institutions, the inclusion of people and territories and boosting the economy with a view to sustainable growth”, says Clara Guilhem, Innov’i project manager for Expertise France. The results of the second call for projects, which focuses on tech stakeholders, will be announced shortly.

The Innov’i project has also taken action during the Covid-19 crisis, in order to provide financial support to innovative initiatives to help manage the health crisis. For example, this has been the case with initiatives such as the Health Tech Challenge and support for students from the National Engineering School of Monastir for the design and production of scientific equipment. The project has also contributed to the launch of the SAVE initiative, a post-Covid rescue fund for start-ups.
 

Establishing a conducive framework for entrepreneurship

At the same time as strengthening support structures for entrepreneurship, the Innov’I team is working with the authorities to establish an enabling environment for innovative entrepreneurship and start-ups. This long-term work is part of the momentum generated by the Government through the 2018 Start-up Act. It more specifically involves helping to establish a legal framework for innovative entrepreneurship. To date, it has both certified over 400 start-ups and facilitated access to financing for these young companies.

In this field, the Innov’I project is supporting the deployment of the Startup Tunisia programme through technical assistance for the creation of the ANAVA fund. Its objective is to develop an effective ecosystem of successful venture capitalists in Tunisia by making over a dozen investments in seed, early and late stage funds.

The project is also supporting the public-private dialogue and assisting with the operationalisation of the new crowdfunding law in Tunisia through the preparation of a national action plan on the subject.

Promoting Tunisian entrepreneurship beyond borders

Finally, Innov’i plays a role in promoting the ecosystem of Tunisian entrepreneurship and innovation at the national and international levels. The project contributes to the visibility of start-ups through hackathons or by participating in international trade fairs, such as the Web Summit or AfricArena. The project is also working to accelerate fundraising and financing for Tunisian start-ups with strong potential for internationalisation and growth via the Tunisian Invest’I community on the international EuroQuity platform led by Bpifrance.

This is also the objective of the web series “The Tunisian Way”. It is produced by the project and takes a look at the successful career paths of several entrepreneurs, such as Hidayet Ayadi, CEO of the start-up SgharToon, which promotes a tech solution to address learning disabilities.

Innov’I is one of the many projects implemented by Expertise France to support entrepreneurship. For example, Expertise France is also working with the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations of Tunisia (CDC-T) under the ENLIEN project. In Libya, the agency has implemented a number of projects with financing from the European Union or French State, such as SLEIDSE, EU4PSL, STREAM and Raqam-E, which aims to develop coding schools and training centres for young people and women in Libya.