The need to accelerate the evolution of the startup ecosystem by bringing startups closer to investment funds and addressing regional disparities hindering startup development in various regions was highlighted during the closing of a regional roadshow of the “Innovative Startups and SMEs Project.”
The event, organized on Tuesday in Tunis by the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations (CDC), brought together key stakeholders to discuss the challenges and opportunities facing Tunisia’s entrepreneurial landscape.
From Bizerte to Gabes, including stops in Kairouan and Sfax, this roadshow, organized by the CDC in partnership with Smart Capital—the entity responsible for implementing the national program “Startup Tunisia”—and with support from the World Bank (WB), gathered startups, investors, and key players in Tunisia’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.
During the event, CDC Director General Nejia Gharbi emphasized that the “CDC-led Innovative Startups and SMEs Project” aims to catalyze the development of young Tunisian companies.
The project includes equity and quasi-equity financing, as well as support for key players in the entrepreneurial ecosystem, such as incubators and accelerators.
Thanks to the “Flywheel” program, launched in March 2021 by Smart Capital to support the startup ecosystem, the project has so far succeeded in mobilizing funding for 150 startups through the “AIR” instrument, designed to help early-stage startups develop their Minimum Viable Products (MVPs), and the “AIR²” instrument (a relay tool for investment readiness).
Additionally, over 20 support programs have been implemented, she noted.
The regional tour, conducted midway through the project’s implementation, revealed a lack of startup support programs in the regions and a growing need to prepare startups for fundraising.
“In this regard, the CDC, in collaboration with the World Bank under the ‘Flywheel’ program, is currently working on establishing a dedicated support mechanism to prepare startups for fundraising (investment readiness),” Gharbi stated.
“This tour also highlighted the need to develop pre-seed or pre-funding financing mechanisms, hybrid financing tools, and to further disseminate information while implementing mentorship and training programs for startups in the regions,” she added.
Labeling reflects regional disparities
Speaking at the event, Smart Capital Director General Tarek Triki noted that 1,146 startups have been labeled so far under the national “Startup Tunisia” program, with significant disparities between regions in terms of the number of labeled startups.
He added that the regional roadshow of the “Innovative Startups and SMEs Project” revealed two major findings. “The first is the reality of regional disparities in the emergence and development of startups. These disparities must be urgently addressed.
The second is related to the issue of managing timing. What has changed today is that the challenges are no longer the same as they were a few years ago when the ‘Startup Tunisia’ project was launched.
Today, the main challenge is to enable startups to access financing by developing dedicated mechanisms, preparing startups for investment, and bridging the gap between the startup world and the funding world,” Triki explained.
