INJAZ Tunisia is an organization that aims to educate youth in the field of entrepreneurship. The Tunisian partner of RESET has the advantage of having direct and widespread access to aspiring entrepreneurs and, thus, it can integrate the findings of the capitalization phase of RESET in its programs to reach a large number of young people in Tunisia.

Through their programs, they are able to teach young people about green and circular economies and sustainable business model canvas. INJAZ Tunisia delivers its programs through the help of export volunteers that come from the corporate world who guide or beneficiaries and share with them their experiences and expertise. Many of these experts come from the world of the green economy.

1. How is your organisation going to contribute to the success of RESET’s project?

Through our position in civil society, we are able to collect relevant information regarding green and circular economy for the capitalization lab and clinic as well as for the knowledge map. Our programs have a major impact on Tunisian youth, and by including training surrounding green business creation and circular economy we hope to inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs of choosing the path of sustainability. We also aspire to share our experience on a regional scale with our network INJAZ Al-Arab hoping to spread green business models and circular economy throughout the region.

2. What are the achievements you expect to reach along with the implementation of the project?

INJAZ Tunisia is mainly an educational organization so the main achievement we expect to reach along with the implementation of RESET is including the findings we can gather in our entrepreneurship programs in order to equip the business leaders of tomorrow with the essential and necessary knowledge they need to create green and sustainable businesses.

The capitalization project will guide us to identify key challenges in Tunisia that we will be able to work on and integrate into our programs and build upon with our beneficiaries. Most importantly, we aim to make circular and green entrepreneurship a key feature in INJAZ Tunisia’s programs and help our beneficiaries consider sustainability throughout every step of business creation.

Furthermore, we hope that the success of our experience with RESET can be duplicated, down the line, by INJAZ on a regional scale in order to spread circular and green economic practices throughout the MENA region.

3. Explain the main impacts that RESET is going to provide in your country and how local and regional targets can benefit.

Although Tunisia is a relatively small country, it does have a considerably varied geographic make-up which translates into very area-specific needs and issues. Through RESET, we expect to identify the key challenges and repeating themes in every region and work on them on both a local level and a national level. This will help SMEs and NGOs in Tunisia to navigate those issues more strategically in the future.

Furthermore, we aim to create a socio-economic environment that facilitates and encourages the creation of green businesses in Tunisia. We also hope to see improved regional cooperation, especially between countries in the Southern Mediterranean, which share the same overarching challenges and can adopt similar solutions. 

4. Identify the main challenges green business projects face. What are the factors that limit them from participating in the green ecosystem?

Green businesses face a multitude of problems. It starts with the lack of a good business plan that takes sustainability into account as sustainable development tends to not be properly integrated into the conception of most businesses. When a business is created on a sustainable business model it can be faced with the issue of not being able to source the necessary materials in a sustainable way.

A lot of businesses, in Tunisia specifically, are not able to find locally sourced and sustainable source material for production, or they can be faced with legislation that favours traditional approaches and limits green businesses. The means of production can also favour traditional unsustainable practises; as sustainable practices are less accessible to most MSMEs.

5. Why do you think it is important to pay extra attention to green business projects in your local communities?

Tunisia, alongside all our neighbouring nations in the MENA region, is at the forefront of climate change the effects threaten our water and food security increasingly with every passing year. However, also like our neighbours, Tunisia is a developing country with a growing economy, and despite the hardships that faced the Tunisian economy in late years, it has witnessed a growing number of MSMEs.

This new trend is a direct response to the employability crisis that faced our society. As these two pressing issues are the main challenges facing Tunisia currently and for the foreseeable future, it is of utmost response that we pay attention to green business as they are the solution to the employability issue and can help us navigate the issue of climate change more efficiently as they are built on the notion of sustainability.

6. What are some practical ways and tools to be used to empower women and youth in the green business sector?

We see that inclusive green entrepreneurship programs that specifically target youth and focus on female participation, they aim to provide these targets with the necessary knowledge needed to start and manage a green business. This is a practical method of empowering future business creators to take the green path.

Workshops and classes that take place in remote in underprivileged regions are proven methods of touching marginalized groups and empowering them. These workshops will be done in collaboration with expert volunteers from the world of green entrepreneurship, which will also help the beneficiaries get the necessary connections to guide them on their green enterprises.

As women play an important role in the creation of green business, especially in rural regions of Tunisia, we would introduce them to local and regional incubators to ensure a prolonged impact.