Tunisia - Souk At-Tanmia II

The present project concerns the second edition of the Souk At-tanmia Initiative, which aims to fight against the pressing problem of unemployment in Tunisia. Souk At-tanmia is the largest known mobilisation of partners in Tunisia, bringing together 20 national and international entities selected according to their field of expertise and because of their leadership role in their respective sectors. This initiative was launched after the 2011 revolution by the African Development Bank, in collaboration with several partners (donors, public and private sector entities, civil society organizations (CSOs) and academic institutions, among others). Souk At-tanmia occupies a special place in the Tunisian business environment because of its two particular characteristics. Firstly, the initiative offers its beneficiaries both non-financial support (training, coaching, mentoring and market access) and financial support (in the form of partnership grants and possible additional loan financing from two local partner banks). This differentiates Souk At-tanmia from most programmes in Tunisia that offer either coaching, mentoring or only financial support. Secondly, Souk At-tanmia is a partnership that takes advantage of the comparative advantages and network of different national and international public and private entities. This second edition follows the first, pilot edition that was launched in July 2012, successfully implemented and closed in December 2013. Innovations in the second edition of the partnership include the use of specific programmes to support business start-ups and business extensions in the partnership, as the pilot edition showed that a one-size-fits-all approach is not appropriate for these two types of beneficiaries.