Tag Archives: Kauffman Foundation

Ethics, Innovation among Tunisia’s Entrepreneurial Ambitions

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For months, the world has followed the unrest and protest in North Africa stemming from unemployment throughout Tunisia and Egypt. America.gov asked several Tunisian entrepreneurs to share their stories of business development amid the strife in their region.

Mr. Nazeh Ben Ammar is President of the Tunisian American Chamber of Commerce and multimedia company, Excellencia. He recently spoke on entrepreneurial challenges in the Arab world with Jonathan Ortmans, President of the Public Forum Institute and senior fellow at the Kauffman Foundation. Read about their conversation on the Policy Forum Blog.

A man kissing the Tunisian flag

A man kisses the Tunisian flag during a demonstration in Tunis against high prices and unemployment.

Two major events took place in my mother country, Tunisia, while I was in the US. The first was in 1987, when I was completing my bachelor degree at Purdue University. The second was less than a month ago, and I was in California spending four days heading a delegation of major Tunisian entrepreneurs in the IT sector who were taking inspiration from the Silicon Valley spirit to help Tunisians back home.

I am quite accustomed to this environment as I spent nearly two years at Stanford University. My trip back to Silicon Valley was like a pilgrimage for me, 20 years after graduation. Having written my masters thesis on innovation and entrepreneurship, I felt I had returned to my roots. I have applied my studies during my career by focusing on bringing technology, innovative approaches and the entrepreneurship culture back to Tunisia.

For more than a year and a half now I have presided over the Tunisian American Chamber of Commerce (TACC). The chamber has a major role to play in today’s world in developing the entrepreneurial spirit, increasing investment from within Tunisia and the United States, and increasing trade between the two nations.

As a leader of an NGO, a trade company in electronics, an air conditioning company and a real estate company, I felt a lot of institutional pressure coming from a bureaucratic, police-like administration with the stick on our head coming either from customs or the Tunisian IRS. Our doctrine has been to remain ethical and environmentally friendly, which creates quite a challenge when surrounded by unethical practices.

I am proud to be part of the first revolution of the 21st century. The most challenging part is yet to come, and we Tunisians need to bring back our Phoenician, Carthaginian and Mediterranean character and strength of mind. The world is watching us.

The Tunisian American Chamber of Commerce will delegate in Washington, DC March 6-10, 2011.

White House Launches Startup America Partnership

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Last week in his State of the Union address, President Obama emphasized the need for investment and innovation to drive America’s continued economic recovery.  Today, the White House and several senior cabinet members are joining some of the country’s leading entrepreneurs to launch the Startup America Partnership to help achieve Obama’s goal.

Bringing together partners from the public and private sectors, Startup America will help spur entrepreneurial development and increase both the number and success of high-growth startup ventures in the United States.  The Partnership is cofounded by the Kauffman Foundation, an organization dedicated to entrepreneurship, and the Case Foundation, a group founded to encourage civic engagement and philanthropy. 

So far, several American corporations have also pledged their support to the partnership and made commitments including:

  • $200 million of new investment in U.S. companies from Intel and advice on best practices from Intel’s senior leadership.
  • $150 million in investment in 2011 from IBM to fund programs that promote entrepreneurs and new business opportunities in the United States.
  • More than $4 million in 2011 from HP for their Learning Initiative for Entrepreneurs, a program to help small business owners build commercial opportunities.
  • A new Facebook initiative called Startup Days to help entrepreneurs connect with business expertise, resources and engineers to accelerate their businesses. 

At the launch event, Obama highlighted the connection between entrepreneurship in America and a thriving economy.  “Entrepreneurs embody the promise of America: the idea that if you have a good idea and are willing to work hard and see it through, you can succeed in this country. And in fulfilling this promise, entrepreneurs also play a critical role in expanding our economy and creating jobs.”

Learn more about Startup America.

Back to Basics for Entrepreneurs in Bahrain

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Raman Jaggi is one of many delegates coming to the Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship April 26-27, from countries with sizeable Muslim populations. As head of business development for Bahrain Development Bank, Jaggi promotes entrepreneurship in the Kingdom of Bahrain. His program has grown from helping 50 entrepreneurs per year a decade ago to nearly 1,400 in 2009.

Dane Stangler is a senior analyst at the Kauffman Foundation, one of the largest charitable foundations in the United States. One of the foundation’s primary missions is to promote entrepreneurship.

Raman Jaggi

Raman Jaggi

Raman Jaggi:
We at the bank created a unique package of support services to promote entrepreneurship and SME development in Bahrain. The package approach entails nurturing the potential of entrepreneurs; helping them select viable business opportunities, develop business plans and link with appropriate finance schemes; and facilitating business implementation through incubation support.

We’ve seen tremendous upsurge in entrepreneurial activity in the recent years that resulted in bigger demand for bank’s services.

It needed a pool of resources to handle the demand from society. We built up human capacity in the bank so that we have more hands and more counselors. Together the bank expanded its outreach through a network of branches established at different locations in the country and introduced more products and services in line with the felt needs of entrepreneurs.

Bahrain maintains high standards in human resource development and education. The issue was bringing up the awareness of entrepreneurship, encouraging and hand holding the budding entrepreneurs. We successfully did that working in close cooperation with other development entities.

We guide new entrepreneurs in matching their ideas to what they are capable of doing. Entrepreneurs sometimes get into something that doesn’t fit their capabilities. Also, small business entrepreneurs at times lack particular attention toward the basic management of finance, accounting. They’re overly engaged in marketing and producing more to increase their sales. This leads to imbalance in overall management of the business enterprise and creates hurdles to growth.

As an entrepreneur counselor, I am committed to the cause of entrepreneurship development and supporting the entrepreneurial efforts of Bahraini entrepreneurs thereby contributing meaningfully to the development of Bahrain.

Dane Strangler

Dane Stangler

Dane Stangler:
While so much discussion around entrepreneurship gets lost in a narrow focus on high technology, you bring us back to two elements, seemingly mundane, that are absolutely essential to business formation.

The first is basic awareness: We often find that talented and driven individuals with promising ideas have not considered entrepreneurship as an option for them. This may be due to a lack of exposure, whether in the educational system or in broader discussions of economic activity. Or, in some cases, it may be due to institutional biases (for example, at some universities) against starting a business. Whatever the reason, progress can be made by promoting the importance (and accessibility) of entrepreneurship.

The second element you highlight is the importance of basic financial literacy — it is amazing that in high-flying discussions about heroic entrepreneurs and cutting-edge innovation, we lose sight of how crucial basic finance is for running and growing a business. A new firm can possess the best idea in the world, but if it cannot manage to remain cash-flow positive, it might not matter. The actual operation of the company is just as important as the ideas that inspire it.

But Bahrain’s success reflects what the Kauffman Foundation’s research and experience have told us for years: The essentials for any nation seeking to spur and sustain entrepreneurship must include an entire ecosystem of networks, education, policies and innovations that support rather than hinder the operation of firms at the startup stage as well as those seeking to grow and expand.