Green Startups Led by Young Entrepreneurs in Tunisia: Transforming the Future With Sustainable Innovation

Abstract

The Arab Spring resulted in an expansion of social and individual freedoms in Tunisian society, but it also brought political instability, negatively impacting what had long been the country's primary source of employment—tourism. This economic crisis forced many to improvise their own sources of income, and it was in this context that a new ecosystem of green startups emerged in the Tunisian economy. Green startups are innovative and fast-growing companies created by teams of young people, focused on developing innovative, often tech-based solutions to environmental and energy transition problems. Through the implementation of a qualitative methodology based on semi-structured interviews with relevant actors of this ecosystem, this exploratory research has pursued the objectives of analyzing the context of emergence of the green startup ecosystem in Tunisia and studying the profiles and trajectories of the young startup founders at its heart. This article focuses on three cases in particular: an architect who created a bike-based package delivery system; a software engineer who develops software and electronics for agricultural management; and a renewable energies engineer who implemented a high-quality green waste management plan.