In our previous article update, we discussed the insights that the ICT Ministry of Tunisian shared with the Ugandan delegation regarding the state of growth of their Startup Ecosystem. The delegation was made up of the Technical Working Group on the startup policy interventions with representatives from the Ministry of Trade, Industry & cooperatives, Ministry of ICT & National Guidance, Ministry of Finance, JICA Uganda, and Startup Uganda as the private sector and startup ecosystem represented by Keneth Twesigye, Policy Lead at Startup Uganda, and CEO of TechBuzz Hub.
In this article (part 2), I discuss the insights that were made by GIZ, the development partner that has tremendously supported the startup ecosystem of Tunisia. I will also share insights from The DOT, which is an accelerator that provides startups with support including incubation, coworking space, and other great programs.
The GIZ—Digital Transformation Centre works in collaboration with the ICT and Industrialisation Ministry to establish a center for startup and innovation support which today is called “The DOT”. The DOT was created after the visit of French President H.E Emmanuel Macron to Tunisia where he launched the digital transformation center which goes by the name The DOT.
Three Components that GIZ focuses on include;
- Industry 4.0: Match-make startups that provide solutions for industries like the pharmaceutical sector.
- Competences and Skills Centre: It was also to ensure coaching and mentorship of potential startups, starting up activities, and outsourcing HR and IT services through assisting with hiring.
- Ecosystem in-take where they support startups on entrepreneurship through working with Smart Capital under the FLYWHEEL program.
One of the biggest projects is; The Digital Transformational Center program is a country-level project. However, there is a women’s angle as part of it that works with an American organization (Open Minds Projects) run by Tunisian women living in America creating a no-minds community open to everyone.
The Managing Director of The DOT, Ms. Zeineb Messaoud acknowledged that they work on activities like the Cowork-up project which targets support structures for startups targeting different regions.
“One of the phenomenal supports that the project provides to startups is small amounts as funding of £10,000 (approx. UGX48 million, TND40,200) through the FYWHEEL program managed by Smart Capital,” said Messaoud. The phenomenality is because, such grants help startups in many things such as; experience of utilization of external investment/money, proof of concept, assistance to purchase/access basic infrastructure/ equipment/ resources/ materials needed at the pre-seed level.”
From experience of building and running a startup, the former is one thing I would emphasize to institutions that want to build the capacity of entrepreneurs in a country. Whereas we know that the success rate will be low, say, 10% or more if the program is well managed, and Tunisia manages to get very good results is because they provide a strict criterion for selection, this is why I say, when well.
Therefore, every potential startup needs this kind of grant assistance except for a few who might have started with enough of their saving or with prior reliable and relatable experience of building a startup, thus having the ease to get the trust of financing from investors.
GIZ has a keen interest in supporting women’s entrepreneurship through the ELEVATE Program — which they just finished the call for the fourth edition. The program provides training in positioning its participants.
The DOT is an innovation hub established by three partners (EU, Founder of Tunisie) with GIZ as a co-founder to provide facilities for coworking, develop and implement capacity-building programs such as accelerator programs, host events relating to the ecosystem, support startups with coaching and mentorship among others. Relative to The DOT, 19 government cyber parks provide facilities to Tunisian startups for a limited number of years. There are also what they call Techno Poles.
The DOT started in 2021 and since then, it has been able to host more than 1,500 conferences, had more than 400 startup beneficiaries, and more than 40,000 participants.
Some of the programs run by the dot include;
- The DOT camp: A full year in residence program that takes on startup entrepreneurs. This program has so far hosted 100 of them and provided technical support to them.
- A two (2) week mentorship Program. This program challenges participants against their ideas and bridges connections for prospective collaborations and partnerships. The program has engaged 82 executives in about 300 sessions with entrepreneurs.
- The diaspora program: This is a touch point program for Tunisians in the diaspora wishing to invest back in Tunisian startups. It also serves as a recruitment center for talent returning to work in Tunisian startups or rather the diaspora persons wishing to launch startups themselves.
- DOT community services: This program is an exchange for others or give back. After receiving support from the DOT, you are obligated to give back. We had a case of a startup called “Sinoya” that had to build a platform for The DOT that tracks the community of staff, startups and their teams, startup accelerators, associations, student clubs, etc., and fab-skills that created the digital signature.
- Bridge-up for Startup Support Organisation (SSO). This is a program that supports the needs of SSO like huge conferences. They said this with an example where they hosted 20 countries for a two-day exchange workshop with countries like Palestine, Jordan, Senegal, etc.
- DOT camp-plus: This is a pre-seed and seed program for startups—providing small grants to startups to build their prototypes, test their value proposition, or establish product market fit.
- Soft landing program: This is one of the other great programs that The DOT has, this program assists startups with moving into new markets for a smooth transition.
While concluding the discussion, the delegation asked some critical questions to GIZ and The DOT with major two that I can highlight below;
(1) When asked about the success rate of The DOT, the Director of GIZ denoted that it is not easy to measure but they have so far hosted 75 startup events, startups doubled their employees, and been able to raise about £25 million (approx. UGX120.04 billion, TND100.5 million) and already have another batch of 24 startups.
(2) When asked about the shortfalls of the current startup act of Tunisia, it was interesting to learn that internationalization, fundraising from external investors, and Tunisian startups to establish their businesses abroad yet we have a very small market in Tunisia.
Editor’s Note: The article is written by Keneth Twesigye; Policy Lead at Startup Uganda, and CEO of TechBuzz Hub
