ENLIEN – ENtrepreneurship and social LINK in Tunisia

Under this project, the Tunisian Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations (CDC) is focusing on strengthening public and private stakeholders in the Tunisian ecosystem nationwide by:

1. Financing five entrepreneurial initiatives,
2. Providing technical assistance to the pilot public incubators of the Agency for the Promotion of Industry and Innovation (APII).

To assist the Tunisian CDC with the development of its activities to support entrepreneurship, Expertise France is helping the institution update its strategy in relation to the recent national strategies and build the skills of the teams responsible for supporting entrepreneurship.

The ENLIEN project funded five Tunisian entrepreneurial initiatives – two innovative programs focused on social and female entrepreneurship, as well as three structures supporting entrepreneurial initiatives.

Afkar – Incubator of innovative ideas

The Afkar programme aimed to support entrepreneurs, civil society stakeholders and media content creators by assisting them throughout the process to implement their project ideas.

El Kahina Citizen Souk – Project for a social and fair trade label in Tunisia

The El Kahina project launched by the NGO Enda Inter Arabe aimed to structure a direct chain network for the production and sale of vegetables and food products via three collection platforms and a trading platform especially for women entrepreneurs in the sector. It is the first project for a social and fair trade label in Tunisia.

Start'Act – Acceleration programme for innovative start-ups

This programme consisted of three editions jointly led by Wiki Start-up and Carthage Business Angels (CBA). It aimed to help innovative start-ups develop their projects.

Tunisia Initiative – Supporting job creation in 5 governorates

The project aimed to strengthen the five platforms of the Tunisia Initiative network (Médenine, Gafsa, Sidi Bouzid, Kasserine and Jendouba) to increase their capacity to support entrepreneurs by granting unsecured loans.*

Entreprendre Tunisie network – Supporting and financing start-ups in regions

This project supported the creation of SMEs through financing by unsecured loans* and assistance for incubated companies from business leaders. 

The ENLIEN project supported the Tunisian Agency for the Promotion of Industry and Innovation (APII) by building the capacities of pilot public incubators. In 2016, APII launched works to upgrade the national network of 28 public incubators. The objective is to provide project initiators with high-quality assistance and improved services.

Expertise France supported APII and the Tunisian CDC to:

• Contribute to the development of the medium-term strategy and an action plan,
• Implement a pilot project to support incubators.

*Unsecured loans are interest-free personal loans with no real guarantee other than honour.