Tunisia’s digital transformation has reached a crucial stage with the execution of E-Houwiya, a state-recognized digital identity system.
E-Houwiya, a key pillar of the country’s 2025 digital strategy, aims to improve financial inclusion by providing secure access to banking and FinTech services while facilitating authentication for digital government platforms.
However, Tunisia’s broader push for digitization, including biometric ID efforts and digital service platforms, has raised significant concerns about privacy and data security, according to the site Biometric.
Tunisia is evolving its digital ID and AI plans to modernize public services and foster its digital economy, according to the Communications Technology Minister.
Recently, We Are Tech Africa reported that Tunisia’s plan focuses on digitizing government services, improving digital infrastructure, and boosting AI usage in crucial sectors such as health and education. The AI strategy, which is scheduled for 2025, will support open data and technology industries. Tunisia is ranked 8th in Africa for ICT development as per the ITU and leads North Africa in e-government by the UN. These projects are intended to maintain Tunisia’s mechanism in digital transformation.
Digital strategy and key global partnerships
A recent report by Stats and Market Insights highlights that Tunisia’s startup landscape strengthened global partnerships in 2024, particularly in digital transformation, payments, and digital identity. Collaborations with the EU, the AfDB, and accelerators such as Flat6Labs and Seedstars assisted FinTech, agritech, and healthtech innovation.
The Central Bank and the National Financial Inclusion Strategy sponsored FinTech, which raised US$150 million to address financial inclusion through digital wallets and payment systems.
Over 40 firms have expanded throughout Europe, MENA, and Sub-Saharan Africa, recognizing international programs like the Startup Tunisia Global Program.
Tunisia’s digital transformation is promoted by programs such as Smart Tunisia 2025, as well as partnerships that advance smart cities, identity solutions, and digital services.
In another move, Tunisia and China discussed strengthening their digital transformation cooperation, with a focus on telecom infrastructure and AI. The collaboration aims to accelerate Tunisia’s digital development, expand its ICT sector, and close cybersecurity gaps, all while supporting Tunisia’s broader socioeconomic and e-government goals.
Guaranteed correct onboarding
Furthermore, Uqudo has collaborated with Tunisia to provide secure digital identity verification for passports and national IDs, hence improving KYC and AML compliance.
Uqudo uses AI, biometrics, and cognitive document analysis to extract and verify identity data against the MRZ field, such as name, date of birth, and passport number. This provides correct onboarding and regulatory compliance for Tunisian and international businesses.
The partnership improves identity verification security and efficiency while supporting global AML and CDD standards.
The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH founded the Digital Transformation Centre Tunisia on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.
It collaborated closely with the Tunisian government, particularly the Ministries of Communications Technologies and Industry, Mines, and Energy, to implement the national digital strategy and promote Tunisia’s digital transformation sector-wise.
The center also collaborates with multinational companies, such as Siemens and the AI company InstaDeep, to help Tunisia’s digital economy succeed.
