COUNTRY FOCUS: TUNISIA
“
THERE HAS ALSO BEEN
A WAVE OF START-UPS THAT ARE
DISCOVERING AI AND BLOCKCHAIN
POSSIBILITIES, THROUGH
DIFFERENT MEANS.
industrial and commercial sectors. The
Tunisian parliament has already approved
an agreement with African Development
Bank (AfDB) on a US$83 million loan
to fund the project, while it also has the
backing of telecommunications giant
Huawei, who will help promote Digital
Transformation, create employment
opportunities and strengthen education
and training for Tunisian ICT talent.
“The plan is quite optimistic but can be
done,” said Ghriss.
“I do believe that the potential is massively
present in Tunisia. We just need to arm
ourselves with the right mindset and
the willingness to change. I believe that
the biggest challenge is to work on the
change management especially if we're
talking about change in the governmental
processes.
“I am very hopeful that change can be
made, but we need the necessary mindset
and the right amount of community
involvement in the decision making.
“What I love in the Tunisian ecosystem, is
that we are a very curious and open
people who are always thriving to know
about the latest technologies. I admit that
many companies, including the government,
are still using outdated technologies because
they're comfortable and you can easily find
developers who master those technologies.
“However, in the past few years, there has
been a wave of developers learning by
themselves and not relying on the education
to form themselves. There has also been a
wave of start-ups that are discovering AI and
Blockchain possibilities, through different
means. That's also what we, as developers
and community leaders, try to do through
initiatives like Facebook Developer Circle and
at InstaDeep.
“We believe that, as Tunisians and Africans,
we have all the talent and intelligence
needed to thrive in this field. We just need
to be aware of our capabilities, and more
importantly to explore them.” n
From left: Mohammad Al Abdallah, Faten
Ghriss, Aferdita Saracini Kelmendi and Alice
Sayo during IREX›s 50th anniversary in
Washington DC
50
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