eco – Association of the Internet Industry and Invest for Jobs – a special initiative for “Good Employment and Socially Just Change” of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) are cooperating together to make it easier for the Internet industry to access IT talent abroad. Today’s focus: Tunisia.
The shortage of MINT (mathematics, informatics, natural sciences, technology) professionals is expected to reach new highs in 2023. Already by the end of 2022, Germany lacked a record number of around 326,000 MINT professionals, as the MINT Autumn Report of the Institute of the German Economy in Cologne (IW) has determined. “The competition for the best brains is raging worldwide,” notes Lucia Falkenberg, CPO (Chief People Officer) and spokesperson for the New Work Competence Group at eco – Association of the Internet Industry. “The Internet industry, in particular, is paving the way for rethinking work and also the acquisition of skilled workers and using mobile work opportunities to promote freedom, values and diversity in the workplace. Looking abroad as an IT outsourcing location is often worthwhile, especially for SMEs,” Falkenberg added. Today, eco – Association of the Internet Industry is highlighting Tunisia as a location for the acquisition of skilled workers, in cooperation with Invest for Jobs – a special initiative for “Good Employment and Socially Just Change” of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
In Tunisia, around 7,000 young people complete higher education in IT and STEM every year, contributing to the large pool of IT talent in the North African country. For several years, a vibrant IT and startup ecosystem has been shaping; celebrating international success with companies such as the AI company Instadeep or wattnow, a provider of smart energy solutions. Tunisia, located just a two-hour flight away from many European capitals, offers a similar time zone, a robust infrastructure with 4G network and fibre optic cables, and access to a highly skilled talent pool with competitive wage levels. As a result, Tunisia is gradually shedding its status as an insider tip and gaining recognition as a favourable outsourcing or nearshoring IT destination.
The special initiative “Good Employment and Socially Just Change” of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), which also operates under the name “Invest for Jobs”, promotes these potentials of digitalisation in Tunisia under the Digital Transformation programme of the GIZ, the German agency for international cooperation.
eco – Association of the Internet Industry is an official partner of the programme and is thus responding to the increasing shortage of skilled workers in the IT sector in Germany. For this purpose, eco member companies receive exclusive access to special offers of the programme for companies in order to promote economic cooperation in the IT sector with Tunisia.
The Digital Transformation programme supports companies in the development of IT outsourcing projects in Tunisia within the framework of Tech216. The offer includes, for example, comprehensive analyses and information on the Tunisian IT sector as well as support in the search for suitable IT outsourcing partners and talents. Tech216 assists with tender processes as well as project management and monitoring.
As part of Soft Landing, German and European companies are assisted in entering the Tunisian labour market. In doing so, the companies receive temporary workspaces in The Dot digital innovation hub with access to a vibrant network of startups and innovators. Furthermore, they benefit from legal advice, recruiting support and further training, for example language courses. In return, companies commit to creating Tunisian jobs.
Since June 2022, 15 European companies have established themselves in Tunisia or entered into cooperations with Soft Landing. Among them is the food delivery service Glovo from Barcelona. The company has benefited from legal advice and workspaces.
“The soft landing programme has allowed us to better understand the Tunisian digital ecosystem and connect with like-minded businesses in our initial days in the country,” confirms Adnane Lachheb, Public Affairs & Relations Manager of Glovo in Francophone Africa.
Co-founder Taieb Ben Dai of Code Cooperation from Berlin, a company paving the way for startups, also testifies that “The Dot and Soft Landing provided us with the startup environment, networking events and everything we needed to arrive in Tunisia”.
Within the framework of Tech216, seven companies have been accompanied in outsourcing IT projects to Tunisian companies, including the BMW Group in further developing the MyBMW app. BMW were convinced by the excellent quality of the services, while high standards for data security were met in advance by the suppliers.
For more information on outsourcing and nearshoring offers to Tunisia, contact meryem.richter@giz.de.
