Last week, GEW Algeria was nominated for four GEW Awards including the prestigious Country of the Year and Compass awards.
Run by official host organization the North Africa Partnership for Economics Opportunities (NAPEO) since 2011, GEW Algeria continues to grow each year, becoming an entrepreneurship leader in the region. Before she joins us in Milan later this month for the Global Entrepreneurship Congress, we spoke with Fatiha Rachedi, cofounder of NAPEO, about GEW Algeria and the future of the country’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.
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How did you first get involved in Global Entrepreneurship Week?
I met Jonathan Ortmans, president of Global Entrepreneurship Week, in December 2010 at the "US Maghreb” Conference which was held in Algiers. He was there to promote GEW and find a host organization for Algeria. When NAPEO was created in 2011, I suggested the company become the host organization for GEW; which was accepted by both NAPEO members and GEW. The agreement came together very quickly and we celebrated GEW for the first time in November 2011.
Why is Global Entrepreneurship Week important—overall and to Algeria, specifically?
Because it is a yearly event, Global Entrepreneurship Week is an opportunity to stop and assess the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Algeria. It is also an opportunity for entrepreneurship efforts to obtain good media coverage. This year, media mentions included more than 1,000 newspaper articles and over 300 radio and television programs, in addition to remarkable traffic on social networks.
GEW Algeria’s campaign is powerful and inclusive. It covers the entire country and is followed in even the most remote corners of Algeria. Led by entrepreneurs, academics, researchers, public institutions, NGOs, students, and accompanied by local and national media, GEW enables all creative players in the country to meet, exchange ideas and communicate, which contributes to building a strong entrepreneurial ecosystem. A national entrepreneurship network has been created and must be strengthened.
In short, what makes GEW Algeria unique is the will and the availability of its partners to meet the challenge of the development of entrepreneurship.
How has GEW grown in Algeria? What are you doing to build on its momentum?
In 2011, the campaign included 20 events organized by 10 partners in five wilayas, or provinces. This past year, the campaign grew to be over 2,200 activities organized by 467 partners in 48 wilayas.
In the past, the Algerian economy has depended on oil exports. A few years ago, the federal government became aware that the creation of private businesses was very important to creating wealth and jobs. Since then, great efforts have been made to develop training and scientific research. Additionally, new government agencies have been created to offer facilities and funds to promote the creation of new companies.
To support this approach, NAPEO promotes entrepreneurial values, produces training content, brings partners together and guides debates on the fundamentals of entrepreneurship to support a healthy entrepreneurial ecosystem.
How would you characterize the entrepreneurial environment in Algeria? If you could change one thing to make it better, what would it be?
The entrepreneurial environment in Algeria has both positive and negative aspects. Algeria has funding mechanisms for small and medium-sized enterprises, an availability of industrial land in the form of concessions, fiscal exemptions and more that facilitate entrepreneurship. At the same time, it has an administered economy with heavy bureaucracy, an inefficient banking system, a total absence of venture capital, a lack of entrepreneurial culture based on risk and a lack of startup champions.
The entrepreneurial environment can only be improved by a change in the mentality of the people. This shows the amount of work to be done in the context of education and training on the one hand, and the support of project leaders on the other hand. In addition, an upgraded program of public institutions should be initiated to facilitate the creation of new businesses.
How can you create and support more entrepreneurs in Algeria?
Entrepreneurial activities organized during GEW including panel discussions, workshops, exhibitions and competitions to promote the development of entrepreneurship. These events help entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial values to spread.
To create more entrepreneurs, we encourage participants of GEW to turn their ideas into businesses. Workshops as well as national and international competitions allow them to reveal their talents. Thanks to a program of training and mentoring, we support the best ones in creating their own businesses. Knowing that the power of example has an important impact, we also invite successful entrepreneurs to meet and interact with them.
With the National Agency for the Evaluation of Search Results and Technological Development, we examine ways to create companies with high-potential and we also involve the private sector in the creation of accelerators, incubators and venture capital companies which can help support successful businesses.
What tools are available in Algeria for a person with no experience in business whatsoever? Is there a role for government to play in the process?
The Algerian people have an oral tradition. Bearing in mind the tools and modern techniques of knowledge acquisition, we must think about encouraging direct contact, by organizing as many meetings as possible. Furthermore, we have to rely more on tutorials and audiovisual media. The Algerian government should encourage the use of these tools and offer trainings to consultants, advisors and facilitators. People who have no experience in business must benefit from training in order to reveal their entrepreneurial potential and develop it.
What kind of impact has GEW had in Algeria?
GEW has created a real entrepreneurial movement and has revealed the entrepreneurial potential in our country. During Startup Weekends and other events, it has also given the opportunity to young people to use business model tools, realize their business plans and for the best of them, to start their own businesses.
GEW stimulates an entrepreneurial momentum which promotes an entrepreneurial spirit. It also creates a network of actors of entrepreneurship composed of business leaders, institutions, researchers, the media, students, business associations and more. Through our activities, we have involved public institutions who help strengthen GEW.
Thus far, GEW’s impact has been highly positive and the efforts of public institutions are commendable. Moving forward, we will work to strengthen this partnership. Our role is to create, a strong entrepreneurial ecosystem, from the bottom up.