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Start-ups & Entrepreneurs

Tunisia, still a crucial moment for women to define their futures

In this article, the current situation of women’s empowerment and entrepreneurship in Tunisia is analysed. Discover actual barriers to women’s full advancement and suggestions to achieve economic empowerment.

In the framework of SwitchMed’s green entrepreneurship training programme, 2700 entrepreneurs will be selected and benefit from one of the first free and highly innovative training workshops in the southern Mediterranean.

 

Green Entrepreneurship Support Strategy

So far 1575 entrepreneurs have been trained in 8 SwitchMed beneficiary countries. The highest rate of entrepreneurs trained was recorded in Tunisia (322) and we received over 1,000 applicants. Among the total number of trainees, SwitchMed trained the highest proportion of women in Tunisia (40%), and nearly 50% of those that received micro-coaching to get their green business canvases improved in Tunisia were women Among the 5 Tunisian green entrepreneurs selected by a high level international jury to benefit from an incubation phase, 28 year old Leila Horchani from Sidi Bouzid is completing her Green Business Plan to launch her product on the market soon.

For decades Tunisia has been considered one of the best performing countries in the Arab and Muslim world in terms of women’s rights.

Still, Tunisian female entrepreneurs still lack the resources needed to move out of the informal market, and need a wide range of support from access to marketing tools, support to procedures for acquiring licenses and patents as well as access to finance.

As for empowering women as decision makers, only 0,5% of women are in a decision making position; and although about 60% of university graduates are female, over the last five years women obtained only 17,11% of the jobs available on the employment market.

But what’s the story behind some of the recent advancements made for Tunisian women in terms of their capacity to act as economic drivers and decision makers? And what is still hindering their economic empowerment?

 

Stella Mally addresses these issues in her analysis. Read her full article here.

 

Stella Mally is member of the SwitchMed International High Level Jury. She is a lawyer with Master’s degree in International Relations. As Gender Expert with seven years of experience in the management of international projects in the field of gender and business, she is specialized in Europe and the MEDA region. Social entrepreneur herself, she is trainer for women entrepreneurs’ mentors and mentor for young entrepreneurs. She currently works as a consultant for CSR, fundraising, research/analysis, project development - monitoring - and evaluation. She is also a committed volunteer. Check out her profile in Linkedin .

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