Qatar-based Silatech, a social initiative that engages private, public and civil society sectors to promote large-scale job creation, entrepreneurship, and access to skills development services for young people across the MENA region, has partnered with TunInvest as an investor into two new fund initiatives in Tunisia and Morocco.
The agreement supports the mutual objectives of both Silatech and TunInvest to provide improved access to capital and business support services for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Tunisia and Morocco.
TunInvest-AfricInvest Group is one of the leading private equity firms in North and sub-Saharan Africa specialising in managing SMEs, with over $700mn of assets under management across three generations of funds.
Specifically, Silatech plans to co-sponsor the Tunisian Fund and to provide seed capital into two TunInvest Funds as well as complementary technical assistance, capacity building and an associated business support network to provide targeted coaching, mentoring and technical assistance to
funded SMEs.
In turn, TunInvest will enable Silatech to actively participate in the governance structure of the funds, including a first rights option to co-sponsor and promote similar initiatives to be undertaken in Libya and Algeria by TunInvest and/or MarocInvest in the future.
Tarik Yousef, chief executive, Silatech, said at the event: “Today, our two organisations are coming together with the intent of making a real and tangible contribution to alleviating some of the key challenges faced by SMEs in the Maghreb region while actively supporting the entrepreneurial aspirations of Arab youth. Silatech and TunInvest strongly believe in the potential of those aspiring entrepreneurs and through our partnership, are prepared to create new business and financial opportunities that can both stimulate self-employment and boost the SME sector as an engine for job creation.”
Aziz Mebarek, founding partner of TunInvest said in a statement: “We are pleased that Silatech will be joining us in this very important initiative which aims to promote a new generation of Arab entrepreneurs who are focused on fostering innovation. We believe that this initiative will not only create sustainable employment opportunities for the educated youth of the region, but also help to reverse the brain drain which has been plaguing the economies in the Maghreb for some time.”
