Actions between Italy and Tunisia to create and strengthen innovative enterprises, cross-border business groups, value chains, and business incubators and accelerators.
Context
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) are the backbone of the economies of Tunisia and Italy: they represent over 90% of businesses in both countries and generate more than 80% of job opportunities. This makes them key drivers of economic development and labour-market inclusion. In both the Tunisian and Italian contexts, it is therefore essential to promote a dynamic private sector that supports enterprises. This requires the establishment of an ecosystem that ensures a favourable business environment, access to services and skills-development opportunities, as well as the strengthening of essential competencies for entrepreneurship and for addressing the challenges of the green and digital transitions.
Business Support Organisations (BSOs) can play a decisive role in promoting sustainable growth and enterprise competitiveness. They act as catalysts for change, promoting sustainable practices and technologies and helping companies seize economic and social opportunities linked to the ecological transition. B4IT supports both organisations and enterprises in strengthening and promoting an ecosystem favourable to business development. By adapting to the local economic context, the programme aims to actively contribute to regional initiatives by reinforcing the knowledge and skills of support organisations, improving enterprise capacities and competencies, and encouraging exchanges and regional partnerships between the economic communities of Tunisia and Italy, particularly in the blue, green and circular economy sectors.
Objectives
- Strengthen the capacity of business support organisations to promote green and circular economy practices among micro, small and medium-sized enterprises.
- Develop and implement specific training and coaching programmes for enterprises delivered by support organisations, taking into account the specific needs of each country.
- Contribute to measurable change in business practices and awareness of the green and circular economy in the region.
- Raise awareness among business support organisations about the benefits and importance of transitioning towards sustainable and environmentally friendly practices, encouraging their adoption.
- Promote the integration of sustainable practices into the strategies and daily activities of business support organisations.
Activities
- Assess the needs of support organisations and enterprises through surveys, interviews and targeted analyses to identify challenges, gaps and support priorities, in order to design customised training, coaching and networking programmes.
- Develop comprehensive and structured training programmes for support organisations and enterprises, with defined objectives, content, methods, materials and learning sequences based on identified needs, including modules on organisational management, strategic planning, sustainability and innovation.
- Design and deliver a Training of Trainers (ToT) programme to equip the staff of support organisations with the skills required to design and deliver participatory and interactive training programmes.
- Organise workshops, webinars and interactive sessions, both in person and online, to foster idea-sharing, dialogue and collaborative learning between organisations and enterprises, strengthening entrepreneurial skills and cross-border networks.
- Deliver strategic planning workshops to help support organisations define vision, mission, concrete objectives and action plans, with follow-up activities and progress monitoring.
- Organise periodic, personalised coaching and mentoring sessions for support organisations and enterprises to address specific challenges, monitor results and define corrective actions with the support of qualified experts.
- Create tailored coaching programmes for enterprises, focusing on financial management, strategic planning, innovation and sustainability, integrating thematic workshops and specialised consultancy.
- Promote study visits and exchanges between support organisations and enterprises to observe best practices, strengthen skills and encourage cooperation between similar and complementary organisations.
- Organise knowledge-sharing events, round tables and networking sessions to stimulate collaboration, dialogue and the creation of a community of practice involving experts, academics and institutional stakeholders.
- Plan matchmaking and collaboration activities among enterprises from different sectors and geographical areas to promote diversified partnerships and knowledge exchange through dedicated platforms and local or regional meetings.
- Organise workshops with key stakeholders – institutional representatives, NGOs and local communities – to gather insights useful for defining advocacy strategies and shared recommendations.
Resources
- Training programme – Structured modules to strengthen the competencies of business support organisations in sustainability and sustainable development.
- Training manual for trainers (ToT) – Reference document for support organisations staff trained as trainers.
- Training programme and modules for enterprises – A complete training pathway to strengthen business skills.
- Information brochure for enterprises on market access, CBAM and trade-policy updates – Informative document for enterprises.
- Guide to alternative financing options – Practical document providing information on crowdfunding, venture capital and other solutions.
- Matchmaking platform (Business Country Desk) – Digital tool to facilitate collaboration and networking among enterprises in different sectors.
- Advocacy best-practice brochure – Collection of examples and recommendations from workshops with public and private stakeholders.
Impact
- 100 enterprises participate in the Regional Business Support Forum, facilitating the exchange of knowledge and experiences between support organisations and companies.
- 30 enterprises take part in the Business Support Programme to strengthen the capacities of small and medium-sized enterprises through personalised consultancy, management training, strategy development and innovation, with particular emphasis on environmental and social sustainability in production processes.
- 10 enterprises participate in the “Finance and Market Access for Enterprises” programme, increasing their understanding of market opportunities and regulatory changes, and receiving support in accessing alternative financing sources – crowdfunding, venture capital – to improve competitiveness and growth.
Partners
- Businessmed – Union of Mediterranean Confederations of Enterprises (Coordinator, Tunisia)
- CESIE ETS (Italy)
- AVSI (Tunisia)
- Confindustria Sicilia (Italy)
