Tech in Africa
IFC just launched a new advisory program looking to assist start-ups operating in Libya, Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia scale across the North Africa region. This will be conducted through the Start Maghreb program that looks to bring together start-up innovators, accelerators, incubators, donors, investors, and other stakeholders to point out the bottlenecks, exchange expertise, build solutions through targeted stakeholder engagement, and conduct a series of public-private dialogues.
By startups being able to access bigger markets this, in turn, helps create more jobs and economic opportunities for the youth. Xavier Reille, IFC’s Maghreb Country Manager described the region’s young people as among the “most innovative in the world” while further describing IFC’s plan to “build pathways to help even more start-ups develop and expand” across the Maghreb.
The startup ecosystem in the North African region targeted by IFC shows lots of promise but is still at a nascent phase. The main challenges facing the sector’s development are introducing new products in the market, technology integration, and inadequate capital required for scaling.
IFC is part of the World Bank Group and stands out as the largest global development institution fixated on emerging markets.
