Responsible & Inclusive Business Hub MENA
I N C LU S I V E B U S I N E S S FAC T S H E E T – T U N I S I A TA R G E T I N G T H E P R I VAT E S E C TO R O V E R V I E W: In line with the Responsible and Inclusive Business Hub –MENA’s (RIBH MENA) objectives, this factsheet aims to summarise RIBH MENA’s research findings to enable private sector companies to support inclusive and responsible business models in Tunisia. Through providing information on the Tunisian inclusive business (IB) ecosystem, it gives background information on IB parameters including types of actors, their sectors, and some practical examples for implementation. Furthermore, respective needs and relevant support given by main companies and other players in that field are listed. IB models are business models that either include the poor on the demand side as clients and/or on the supply side as distributers, suppliers of goods and services, or employees at various points in the value chain. These business models build bridges between business and the poor for mutual benefit. 1 1. (Karin Vohla, Lena Lütjens-Schilling (October 2013). Inclusive Business Policies – How Governments Can Engage Companies in Achieving Developing Goals)
GIZ Responsible and Inclusive Business Hub MENA, October 2015
ABOUT RIBH MENA: The GIZ Responsible and Inclusive Business Hub in the Middle East and North Africa (RIBH MENA) aims to power a paradigm shift towards sustainable development in the region. As its sister hubs in Jakarta and Pretoria, RIBH MENA cooperates with private sector companies operating in the region to provide information on - and raise awareness about – Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Inclusive Business (IB). Beyond this, we assist the private sector with skills and business model development as well as networking support around CSR and IB. T H E VA LU E O F I N C LU S I V E B U S I N E S S F O R T H E P R I VAT E S E C TO R : The private sector, and especially businesses that address a social need, could play a key role in developing social and inclusive entrepreneurship practices – especially through raising awareness and through the provision of a wide range of support mechanisms. Integrating the BoP in the value chain opens new markets for businesses and hence, inclusive business creates a strong foundation for profit and long term growth by bringing in typically excluded segments to the value chain. CO U N T R Y O V E R V I E W: Tunisia has a population of 10.9 million of which more than half are under 30 years old. With a life expectancy of 75 years (2012, WB), Tunisia is defined as an upper middle-income country by the World Bank. Tunisia is famous for the concept of forming “industrial groups”. Industrial groups are very common and can be described as the concen-
FAC T S A N D F I G U R E S Economic system: Market oriented economy Unemployment rate: 15.3% (2014 est.) Inflation rate (CPIX): 5,7% ( 2014 est.) GDP: 46,9 billion USD (2013 est.) GDP/Head: 10,610 USD (purchasing power, 2013 est.) HDI ranking: 90 of 188 CPI ranking: 77 of 177 World Bank, worldbank.org
GIZ Responsible and Inclusive Business Hub MENA, October 2015
tration of several SMEs around a parent company. These groups resemble holdings operating under the same economic interest.2 Many of them are family owned. The manufacturing industry is of high importance to the Tunisian economy in terms of contribution to total exports of goods and services. Big corporations are mostly subcontractors to the European textile, electronic and mechanical and agro-food industries. Foreigners, in majority French and Italians, own fully or partly 1,775 Tunisian companies. Only 3 % of all Tunisian companies belong to the formal economy. Poverty, social issues and the BOP More than two thirds of the population live at the BoP3, meaning that they live on less than $3000 per year. The diagram demonstrates the division of the population into various BoP sub-segments.
BOP SEGMENTS IN TUNISIA BOP 1000: people with an income between USD 501 and 1000 per year. Data from 2010 and taken from World Bank Povcalnet.
1% BOP 500 11% BOP 1000 16% BOP 1500 16% BOP 2000 14% BOP 2500 11% BOP 3000 31% > 3000
Challenges Faced by Inclusive Businesses in Tunisia: • Access to financial products and services • Lack of appropriate legal framework and special status for social businesses • Lack of understanding of the concept and potentials of Inclusive Business among the general public • Insufficient infrastructure in the region 2. UNIDO/UNDP (2001) „Support to SMEs in the Arab Region – The Case of Tunisia“, p. 50/51 3. The Base of the Pyramid (BoP) theory suggests that new business opportunities lie in designing and distributing goods and services for poor communities. GIZ Responsible and Inclusive Business Hub MENA, October 2015
INCLUSIVE BUSINESS LANDSCAPE IN TUNISIA FOR PRIVATE SECTOR Selected programmes offering support to Inclusive Business Entrepreneurs (based on the Tunisian Industry Portal)4: Pépinières d’Entreprises (“nursery for companies”) • At least one in each governorate of Tunisia (27), i.e. a kind of onestop shop for people that want to start their first company Centres d’affaires d’intérêt public (CAIPE)5 • Public business centres • One per gouvernorat • Support of approximately 500 projects per year Espaces Entreprendre6 • Targets any experienced or qualified person who wishes to be self-employed, offers trainings in entrepreneurship Financial Institutions BTS (Microfinance) and BFPME • Targets SMEs and seed capital Foprodi - Fonds de Promotion et de Décentralisation Industrielle • Helps new entrepreneurs to set up a firm by providing support in capital Tunisian Center for Social Entrepreneurship • Help social entrepreneurs to co-build sustainable models and services to co-create innovative social enterprises • Incubate and launch transformative ideas and social enterprises focused on social impact • Mobilize a local network in 15 regions in Tunisia
4. http://www.tunisieindustrie.nat.tn/fr/home.asp and http://www.tunisieindustrie.gov.tn/ 5. http://caipe.tunisieindustrie.nat.tn/-Actualites-.html 6. http://www.emploi.nat.tn/ GIZ Responsible and Inclusive Business Hub MENA, October 2015
Some Promising Sectors for Inclusive Businesses in Tunisia:
AG R I C U LT U R E
TO U R I S M
CRAFTS
CO N S T R U C T I O N
EXPLORE OPPORTUNITIES Examples of Inclusive Businesses in Tunisia: Acacias For All / Inclusive Agri-business “Acacias for All” is a movement of change through which farmers adopt new and sustainable farming techniques and organize themselves into cooperatives founded by Sarah Mag Toumi in 2012. The movement addressed the challenge of traditional agriculture in Southern Tunisia, which is the largest consumer of water in the region. The technique, with today’s dwindling water resources and climate consideration indirectly contributes to increased rural poverty levels, and is expected to lead to severe drought in the future. Through a new holistic farming approach to fight desertification, Sarah introduced Acacia trees for revitalizing the land; creating a green belt to prevent desertification and consuming much less water than traditionally cultivated crops of olives and almonds. The project is creating a movement throughout the Arab Maghreb sub-region in which farmers are taking ownership over sustaining their practices and thinking long-term about the land. Farmers are empowered through several mechanisms to become economically self-sufficient, these include facilitating market access as well as their organization into agricultural cooperatives which then work on extracting Arabic gum from the Acacia tree and selling it on the international market. In addition to Arabic gum, Acacia trees produce Moringa oil, which is also demanded internationally. GIZ Responsible and Inclusive Business Hub MENA, October 2015
Dar El Ain / Inclusive Tourism and Local Development Started with a community project funded and accompanied by Fikra, a touristic circuit had been installed in Ain Drahem (in the poor Northen-Western Tunisia), now building a guesthouse on the principles of ecotourism is in the process. A tourist circuit is defined as a route on which at least three majortourist destinations are located such that none of these are in the same town, village or city. T’illi Tanit / Inclusive Crafts Businesses T’illi Tanit aims to upgrade traditional artisans’ skills and to provide decent working conditions for craftswomen. The model works on establishing a space for co-working and co-creation for craftswomen in embroidery and young designers, historians and artists which strengthen the value added of a product, contribute to the development of the local craft industry in Tunisia and improve the commercialization of the crafts products. Knauf / Inclusive Construction Business The German company is one of the world’s leaders in dry walling. Knauf operates a production facility in Meknassy. Through a Public Private Partnership (PPP), Knauf addresses the challenge that Meknassy is a community located in one of the structurally weakest regions of Tunisia in the governorate of Sidi Bouzid. The region is rich in gypsum deposits but the environment-friendly construction technique of dry walling is not yet common in Tunisia. Through the establishment of a modern training center for dry walling, young Tunisian people have the opportunity to either be employed at Knauf or to start their own business and a become a business partner of the company which uses a mobile exhibition to kindle enthusiasm for this profession. "This factsheet is based on a stakeholder giz.de/Wirtschaft/de/html/2020.html GIZ Responsible and mapping of Inclusive Business in Tunisia issuu.com/ribhmena Inclusive Business Hub facebook.com/ribhmena carried out by Anita Demuth." MENA, October 2015