Libya: the rage to undertake despite the chaos

Audio 02:18

Expertise France enabled the creation of an incubator in Tripoli to support Libyan entrepreneurs.

© Expertise France

By: Aabla Jounaïdi Follow

9 min

Libya.

Its wars, its financial crisis… and its young people who are trying despite everything to undertake.

To help them develop their business in a hostile business environment, the public agency "Expertise France" organizes support programs.

One of them is financed by the United Kingdom and is deployed in particular in Tunis where RFI was able to meet some of these young Libyan entrepreneurs with unfailing tenacity.

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Explosion of laughter.

In a seaside hotel, north-east of Tunis, a dozen young people from all over Libya discuss in good spirits after a day of discussions on their projects.

They are like family, because for two years they were supported together by the “Stream” program funded by the United Kingdom and implemented by

the public agency Expertise France

.

Completed last September, this program has helped to support around fifty entrepreneurs in the commercial, technical and financial development of their project.

That of Salahuddin Abu Ajila is innovative in a country dominated by the informal.

“Hanout” (Maghrebian word for “shop”) is an e-commerce site launched in Tripoli last April, while the war and the health crisis were raging.

Before that, the 42-year-old Tripolitan sold his services as an “independent worker” in the field of new technologies.

Now, he is the boss and employs about fifteen people.

"

 Thank goodness our site is working well, we serve

3,000 customers who are delivered to their homes and who mostly use online payment cards 

,

" said

Mr. Abu Ajila.

Overcome the trials

For the majority of Libyans, the fighting and the Covid-19 epidemic have added to the ordeal of the long queues, whether for money in the bank, or for fuel, or even bread .

By allowing them to buy by alternative means of payment and by delivering them directly to their homes, Salahuddin Abu Ajila and his teams are convinced that they have rendered a great service.

“

 Thanks to that, we relieve them of the problem of lack of liquidity.

But suddenly, the problem is transferred to us.

It is extremely difficult to find enough to pay our traders who mainly operate in cash 

”

,

laments the engineer.

► See also: Libya, the finance ministers of the two governments meet in Brega

Money.

Libya is full of it thanks to oil.

But the potential of the private sector in the country remains under-exploited, despite the employment prospects it would represent for young people.

In the race for local investments for young companies, Expertise France is pleased to have recently obtained the commitment of two large Libyan groups.

A first step that was by no means obvious.

“

 Whether it's entrepreneurs or banks, potential private investors tend to look at these start-ups as traditional assets like real estate, asking them if they have 10% or 20% returns when they don't. There is no return at the start,

explains Pierre Tachot, responsible for entrepreneurial activities for Libya

.

Our role is to create dialogue between them through investor networks and to make it work. 

"

Developing the business environment in Libya

For years, Libya has been in the very bottom of the World Bank's “Doing Business” ranking, the benchmark for gauging the business environment.

This is both the legacy of decades of economic intervention under Muammar Gaddafi, and a decade of continuing security and political instability.

The prospect of a political transition gives some hope to the business community, but it is precarious.

"

 The authorities have an old-fashioned approach with us, 

" laments Mohamed Hammouda, whose start-up Arkam offers simple cloud-based accounting software, but which is still struggling to make itself known on a large scale.

A challenge common to many startups in Libya.

“

 We would like this culture to develop in our country.

But the companies that we try to approach are monopolized by more immediate problems such as the lack of electricity, the fall of the dinar which directly threaten the survival of their business 

”

,

continues the young man.

This culture is taking root very slowly.

The Stream project opened a startup incubator and accelerator in Tripoli in November 2019 in partnership with the telecom operator Libyana.

Initiatives such as the Sleidse program (Support to Libya for economic integration, diversification and sustainable development) set up by France and the European Union help to advance the cause of innovative entrepreneurs.

In addition, the creation of coding schools in several Libyan cities is also on the program of “Raqam-e”, a project launched last year.

Sadus Al Jahmi founded a publishing house for children's books in Benghazi, a first in Libya.

© RFI / Aabla Jounaïdi

Determination, a driving force

For French experts, the determination of these young entrepreneurs is a real driving force.

Because earning a living while fighting step by step against the ambient conservatism and the obstacles of an economy in transition is a challenge that they face day after day.

Sadus Al Jahmi is a publisher of children's horror books in Benghazi, unprecedented in the country.

The young woman with the long blond locks would have liked to show them to us,

but

"

 they confiscated them at Benghazi airport, supposedly for security reasons 

," explains the young woman with a thousand caps with a smile.

Amateur journalist during the Libyan revolution (she was then 16 years old!), She has since passed a school while collaborating with many international organizations in the field of the media and the humanitarian.

"

 For the moment, we have published three books with a hundred copies of each, because our means are limited

," explains the young Benghaziote.

But participating in this program, I hope, will allow us to increase our income and grow 

,

”

she continues.

Taking part in this mentoring during a Tunisian getaway is for the young passionate woman Coming from a conservative family a breath of saving air.

That same evening, she will return to Benghazi, the birthplace of the Libyan Revolution ten years ago, and where insecurity now reigns.

But Sadus Al Jahmi has promised to remain free and to continue to grow his community of book lovers, which is growing every day on social networks.

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