The economic landscape in Kasserine raises critical questions about both the promises and the limitations of entrepreneurship as a driver of economic growth.
Entrepreneurship has long been promoted as a solution to unemployment and regional marginalization. Yet, despite sustained efforts to create jobs through entrepreneurial programs, structural obstacles to growth persist. The frustrations that fueled the 2011 uprising remain visible today, even after changes in government and the launch of multiple cooperation and development initiatives. This reality invites a necessary question: is entrepreneurship truly the panacea it is often portrayed to be?
The challenge lies neither in entrepreneurship itself nor in the numerous efforts to promote it through training and support programs, but rather in the environment in which it is practiced. Celebrating entrepreneurship in isolation is insufficient if the surrounding ecosystem fails to support it. Without an enabling environment, entrepreneurial initiatives struggle to scale, sustain themselves, or generate meaningful impact.
General reviews and evaluations of local programs led by cooperatives, NGOs, and government organizations have repeatedly highlighted several barriers to the development of a strong entrepreneurial ecosystem. These include risk-averse administrative cultures, closed institutional systems that favor fragmented and single-issue interventions, and a lack of coordination, communication, networking, and trust among stakeholders. In addition, limited and scattered resources, weak infrastructure, insufficient intermediaries, and gaps in skills such as training design, monitoring, validation, and evaluation continue to prevent the emergence of a dynamic and innovation-friendly ecosystem.
At the same time, many programs and initiatives in Kasserine fail to fully acknowledge the increasingly social nature of today’s challenges. Unemployment, poverty, and climate change are no longer purely economic issues; they are deeply interconnected social problems. Rising unemployment is often associated with higher levels of crime, extremism, and social exclusion, with long-term consequences not only for individuals but also for their families and communities. Poverty has expanded beyond monetary deprivation to encompass broader forms of vulnerability and unequal access to opportunities. Climate change, meanwhile, is placing additional pressure on already fragile social and economic systems.
Yet these challenges can, and should, also be understood as opportunities for innovation and inclusive growth. Advances in information and communication technologies, for example, offer new possibilities to address social needs, from e-health solutions in healthcare to virtual and blended learning models in education.
To truly nurture an entrepreneurship-friendly ecosystem in Kasserine, youth must be placed at the center of new, technology-enabled and socially driven entrepreneurial models. The rising generation is not only demanding meaningful roles in shaping their own futures, but also bringing new tools, ideas, and energy that can drive sustainable and inclusive development when adequately supported.
