Seeding Social Entrepreneurship. Growing Africa’s Impact.
Come for a degree. Leave with a project.
Every year, young people from Sub-Saharan Africa come to Tunisia to study. They arrive from Guinea, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, Mali, Cameroon and elsewhere across the continent carrying more than academic ambitions.
They bring knowledge, lived experience, connections to their communities—and ideas waiting for the right environment to grow.
IFRIKIYA-can began with a simple question: what if their time in Tunisia could become the beginning of something bigger?
What if education were not only about acquiring knowledge, but also about turning that knowledge into action? What if students could use these years to develop an idea, test a solution and begin building their own enterprise?
Tunisia: African by geography, history and identity
Tunisia is a natural place for this entrepreneurial journey. Long before it took its modern name, the land at the heart of present-day Tunisia was known as Africa, and later as Ifriqiya—names closely connected to the one eventually carried by the entire continent.
Africa is not simply a continent to which Tunisia belongs geographically. It is woven into Tunisia’s name, history and identity.
IFRIKIYA-can brings that connection into the present. It reconnects Tunisia with its African roots while creating a space where Sub-Saharan African talent can take root, grow and generate new opportunities across the continent.
Turning time in Tunisia into an entrepreneurial journey
Participants use their time in Tunisia—and its rich ecosystem of universities, incubators, entrepreneurs, mentors and innovation spaces—to:
- Identify a social or environmental challenge
- Transform that challenge into an entrepreneurial opportunity
- Develop and test a practical solution
- Understand customers and strengthen their business model
- Build practical, digital and financial skills
- Connect with mentors, peers and Tunisia’s entrepreneurship ecosystem
Through monthly gatherings in Tunis, online learning, mentoring and peer collaboration, MENA-can accompanies participants throughout the journey—from identifying a problem to testing a solution and building a solid project.
So when the time comes to leave Tunisia, they leave with more than memories and a diploma.
Not only with a degree, but with a project.
Not only as graduates, but as entrepreneurs.
Not only looking for jobs, but ready to create them.
Their ideas take root in Tunisia—and grow across Africa.