Tunisian entrepreneurs roll up sleeves after encouraging startup law
Less bureaucracy and more subsidies get Tunisia’s young businessmen to reach out to unorthodox fields such as exporting edible flowers or mushrooms for pharmaceutical use.
Tunisia's Startup Act, enacted this spring to encourage the young entrepreneurs in the country, has got the ball rolling for projects that range from agriculture biotechnology to software development.
One of those entrepreneurs, Suniya Elabyadi, left her job in the public sector last year to set up an agriculture technology company, which now exports edible flowers to France. “Previously it was impossible for us to deal with customers abroad, because small companies were banned from opening foreign currency accounts,” Elabyadi told Al-Monitor. “The Startup Act has given us the right to do so, and I signed a contract with a French exporter last May. I believe this is a good law overall.”
The act, which the parliament passed April 4, aims to make Tunisia into a hub for startup companies in Africa, Minister of Communications and Digital Economy Anwar Maarouf said.
The act allows the founders of a startup company to benefit from a startup grant for a period of one year. Under Article 10, a maximum of three founding shareholders can benefit from the grant provided that they work on a full-time basis for the startup company. The law also provides exemptions from corporate tax up to eight years.
