Through the launch of the U.S. Business Visa Program, AmCham Tunisia members will be able to request visa appointments for business travel to the United States. The U.S. Business Visa Program aims to further expand commercial ties between the United States and Tunisia by assisting AmCham members in developing deeper connections with their American business counterparts.
Happy New Year to Members and Friends
With gratitude to all of you. Happy New Year from the AmCham Tunisia Board members and Staff.
Prosper Africa Webinar December 15th, 2020
AmCham Tunisia & Tunisian Investment Authority (TIA) organized a Webinar on Prosper Africa on December 15th. About 86 participants from Tunisia as well as other African countries, and from the USA attended the event.
Speakers of this Webinar :
* Mr.Naceur Hidoussi, President AmCham Tunisia
* Mr. Beligh Ben Soltane, Chairman, Tunisia Investment Authority
* Ambassadeur Riadh Essid, Directeur Général Amérique-Asie-Océanie (DGAA)
* Mr.John Hansen, Senior Advisor for Transactions, Prosper Africa Executive Secretariat, Washington DC, USA
* Mrs. Rym Bedoui Ayari, VP, AmCham Tunisia, Moderator
The webinar featured a presentation of TIA services to support extensions and or new US investments in Tunisia. Amcham highlighted the importance of the Prosper Africa initiative for the US investment and trade flow in the country and the region. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs discussed the opportunities provided to US private sector in the continent’s free trade areas such as AfCFTA and pursuing negotiations on FTA.
Prosper Africa coordinator, John Hansan shared a presentation on the initiative (click on link).
Bellow how to submit your project:
Prosper Africa POC — ProsperAfrica@usaid.gov. Interested companies can use this email to submit Prosper Africa candidate projects, which goes to our expert team in Washington. Companies can cc Luis and me for awareness, but the Washington-based team is best-suited to evaluate proposals and respond to project questions.
Guidelines and information needed for submissions are included here: https://prosperafrica.dfc.gov/prosper-africa-inquiries/ General information on Prosper Africa and its programs is here: https://prosperafrica.dfc.gov/
INVEST IF Platform EOI — The purpose of this form is for Tunisian SMEs (or Tunisia-based U.S. SMEs) to express interest in receiving investment facilitation support or for other ecosystem players (investors, accelerators, etc.) to recommend SMEs to receive support. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfFoe-V67n-dQ50dx65RcIFrAESjM082uv2aoIbDls7s1mANQ/viewform
Webinar on the impact of the US Post Election on the US / Tunisian relations
You are kindly invited to join us for a webinar on December 9th, 3pm to discuss about the impact of the US Post Election on the US / Tunisian relations:
Guest Speakers:
2020 U.S. Elections: Implications for U.S.-Africa policy Webinar
Virtual “Open Day” to learn more about the U.S. Exchange programs
Join us for a virtual “Open Day” to learn more about the U.S. Exchange programs available for Tunisians. We will be LIVE on Facebook (fb.com/usembassytunis) on Sunday, November 8, starting at 10:00 AM. More information on our programs → https://go.usa.gov/x7WTx
The U.S. Embassy Cultural attachée spoke about the exchange programs provided by the embassy in Tunisia on Radio IFM. (video)
MENA E-commerce Entrepreneur Knowledge Series
Looking to improve your e-commerce knowledge?
Join us for the “MENA E-commerce Entrepreneur Knowledge Series: E-commerce and COVID-19 Recovery for Small Businesses” from June 15 to July 2.
What is it?
Together with the World Bank and UPS, ITC is offering a series of webinars to support small business owners in the Middle East and North Africa to leverage e-commerce. We will offer:
- 6 master webinars to train on key e-commerce topics such as COVID-19 recovery recommendations, international marketplaces, shipping solutions and improving online visibility.
- 9 deep-dive clinic webinars to discuss topics ranging from online payment solutions to social media advertising and targeting local customers.
All master webinars will have simultaneous translation into English, French and Arabic. For the deep-dive clinic webinars, only the discussion and Q&A will be in any of the three languages.
Who can participate?
The webinar series is open to every entrepreneur although the focus will be on e-commerce in the following countries from the MENA region: Algeria, Djibouti, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia.
How can you register?
To join the webinars, you will need to:
1. Register on ecomConnect.org, the e-commerce community engagement platform with a special focus on developing and least developed countries.
2. Join the group “We Fi Project in the MENA region” & register for the preferred webinars.
More information?
Check the attached programme or click here.
AmCham COVID 19, Donations
Tunisia, May 5th , 2020, As part of its continued support of Tunisia and its people, and as a sign of the long standing friendship between the people of Tunisia and the people of the USA, AmCham Tunisia, through its Board Members and Members, has donated more than 15 Million TND to the 1818 National Fund to fight the Covid-19 Pandemic.
Many other donations in kind have been given to hospitals (such as medical equipment, video conferencing equipment for the Ministry of health and Drones) as well as food for poor families.
The following companies have contributed to this effort: Abdennadher Group, CISCO, EY Tunisia, Hexabyte, Honeywell, Integration Objects, TELNET, Jansen, Philp Morris, STB and Cellcom.
AmCham Assistance with exceptional measures to resume activities for the Private Sector
Dear AmCham Member,
In the context of COVID 19 pandemia official measures, The Tunisian administration is allowing companies to seek on case by case basis an authorization to resume activities. Please find attached link below: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfn-LDmoVcugDApW_KHccJErZxs41xDlW4z2LwuNDG95gzilA/viewform
AmCham is currently speaking with authorities to monitor the situation and will be available to support our members with the procedure.
Please don’t hesitate to outreach to us if you need any assistance or have questions.
Best Regards,
AmCham Tunisia
AmCham Tunisia Commitment
As part of AmCham Tunisia commitment to safeguard our community while continuing to maintain an uninterrupted and high quality service to our members , we have implemented the following emergency measures:
1. Our teams have been placed on mandatory working from home operations and are equipped to provide their full services from home, to receive and process all your emails and all your calls on their mobile phones.
2. Face to face work related meetings have been replaced by videoconferencing and/or conference calls.
3. We have restricted all out of office visits unless evidenced as a necessity (to the extent feasible).
4. We continue to ensure to put in place best practice in business continuity measures while protecting our team members and our community as a priority.
In this delicate period, we invite you all to stay safe and take care of yourselves, your families and friends, and your communities, in the hope that the outcome of these difficult events will be a more interconnected and harmonious global society.
Please do not hesitate to share with us any concerns you have throughout this period and we will, as always, take all measures to ensure we accommodate to your concerns.
With best wishes,
Naceur Hidoussi
President, AmCham Tunisia
THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE STRONGLY CONDEMNS THIS TERRORIST ACTION
It is a shabby, miserable, pitiful and coward gesture that attacks the essential foundations of US-Tunisia cooperation.
This is not just an attack to American Embassy, but to all shared values of Freedom and Democracy . It is an attack to every Tunisian .
Together and united we do stand up , and remain strong against such cowardness.
We want to share all our grand sympathy and deepest support, to all embassy staff and tunisian police and guards .
NETWORKING ACROSS BORDERS-ENERGY
1 The Roundtable entitled “Investing for positive impact on Women in Africa”, organized by the American Chamber of Commerce of Tunisia with The ‘Chambre Nationale des Femmes Chefs d’Entreprises’ (CNFCE), was held on February 5th, 2020, in Tunis.
2 The session coincided with the Prosper Africa Opening Conference taking place on the 6th that gathered actors from the U.S. & African public and private sector to facilitate bi-lateral trade between the U.S. and the countries of Africa.
3 The objective of the round table was to bring together American & African Public and Private sector female leaders to discuss good practices and experiences in promoting gender parity through gender lens investing
4 Considering the global gender gap in access to the labor market, the MENA region is still quite behind for women at 17% female compared to males at 65% in 2018, regional specific awareness can shine a light on how to target issues accordingly.
5 The 2015 McKinsey Global Institute Report reveals that if the gender gap were closed, the MENA region would have $2.7 trillion of additional GDP in 2025 with Sub Saharan Africa looking to gain $0.3 to $0.7 trillion.
6 The types of organizations that investors should consider to positively impact gender parity:
- Companies that support workplace gender equality
- Businesses led by women
- Companies that promote equality through their products or services
7 Equal opportunity rightly finds its role as Sustainable Development Goal number 5 of 17 put forth by the United Nations in a 2030 Agenda for Sustainable development
SDG 5 – To achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
8 IRIS Gender Investment Lens Metrics:
By the Global Impact Investing Network
1 Anti Discrimination Policies
2 Gender Wage Equity
3 Board Diversity
4 Number of Female Employees Promoted
5 Number of Female Founders
6 Number of Female Full-time Employees
7 Number of Full-time Female Managers
8 Gender Ratio of Promotions
9 Products Targeted to Women
9 Summary of Recommendations made during Round table discussions:
- Conducive legal environment
Continually working towards legislative changes across the continent that support gender equality is one of the first steps that should be taken in the journey to achieving equality.
- Skills and Competencies Development
Survival and growth depend on access and education to utilize a full range of entrepreneurial training necessary to thrive in their environment.
- Access to financing
Knowledge of where to find investment, access to funders by their distance, societal approachability, linguistic communication barriers, and assistance through the process.
- Supporting women working in male dominated sectors
Women currently working in or entering into a traditionally male dominated sector flourish when awareness and social support systems are in place.
- Long term supportive lending
Utilizing a different, long term, mentorship like approach to investing encourages women to keep them on a path to grow into their fullest potential.
- Foster Female Communities of Entrepreneurs
Communities build, fail, and rebuild together. When social norms have not yet changed in many areas in regard to women in business, finding like minded support is crucial.
- Micro-financing models
The model sees continued success on the continent because of its holistic consideration of the borrowers. They often allow for the first stages of a business to become a reality.
- Change the language
Instead of being seen as a women’s issue, gender parity should be viewed as a business issue because of the proven gains to attained with adapting equality.