Page 23 - U4SSC Factsheet, Bizerte, Tunisia, June 2020

Bizerte is also like other Tunisian cities in that the majority of all businesses in the city identify as small
and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Facilitation of further ICT proliferation and tech enablement
across all its sectors is, therefore, all the more important for a city like Bizerte, as research has shown
technology to be key in ensuring economic growth in an SME-dominated landscape.

In its detailed comparison of cities with less knowledge-intensive industries to the ‘new work’ SMEs
(creative, digital and professional services), the Centre for Cities found that the former are less
economically productive than new work SMEs (which are more tech based and focused). It also follows
that since new work SMEs generate more wealth per worker (as the data show), having a higher
proportion of these firms is likely to increase the city's overall economic prosperity. New work SMEs
also boost demand in other sectors such as administration, retail and leisure (including tourism, in
which 1.21% of Bizerte's labour force is currently employed).

Moreover, new work SMEs anywhere, including in Tunisia, are more likely to be started by, or attract,
young entrepreneurs. The Atlantic Council concluded that this trend is part of the Tunisian (and broader
MENA) region's 'Participation Revolution' in which an engaged young demographic is willing and capable
of organically leveraging the vast knowledge and educational tools accessible via the internet, as well
as its platform to share ideas and work together digitally to create economic opportunities through
entrepreneurship. Fostering youth entrepreneurship can, therefore, also help Bizerte in addressing its
rates of high youth unemployment and labour force exclusion.

Another facet vital to the continuation and growth of SMEs is access to sources of finance and funding.
Bizerte has the good fortune of being situated in the coastal zone of Tunisia where inclusive financial
services are more developed than in rural regions. In recent years, Tunisian policymakers have prioritized
the development of micro-credit that SMEs can more easily access. In the Bizerte Governorate, for
example, micro-credit associations (AMCs) have, in recent years, taken steps to merge in order to
achieve vital efficiencies in scale.

Supporting a culture of accessible financing, youth-centred innovation and technological advancement
across its SMEs landscape will be important for Bizerte’s future.

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