Tunisia as a reliable IT partner

According to the Tunisian Institute of Statistics, more than 1,800 companies employ over 100,000 highly qualified specialists in Tunisia's IT sector. In addition, 10,000 Tunisian IT engineers graduate from university every year. 

Its geographical proximity to Europe and a competitive cost and salary structure in the IT sector also make Tunisia an attractive location for IT outsourcing and nearshoring. The government's prioritisation of digital development opportunities, a comprehensive support law for start-ups, infrastructure investments and technology centres are anchoring Tunisia's digital ambitions in society. According to Germany Trade and Invest, foreign direct investment in Tunisia's economy increased by 20 per cent in 2024.  

At the same time, it is becoming increasingly difficult for German and European companies to find IT specialists. However, it is precisely these specialists who are essential for driving forward the necessary digitalisation in companies. As the potential of Tunisian specialists is still little known in Europe, there are many opportunities for more intensive cooperation here.  

Tunisian companies such as InstaDeep, which uses artificial intelligence to advance logistics and transport systems as well as medical research, and start-ups such as Enova Robotics, which develops robots for use in crisis situations, demonstrate the calibre of companies based in Tunisia. The spectrum ranges from game development, risk assessment and artificial intelligence to data science and analytics, app development, cloud services and computing. 

Since autumn 2019, the Tech216 initiative has been promoting cooperation between German and international companies and Tunisian IT companies and talents at various levels. In the long term, the aim is to efficiently utilise the potential of the Tunisian digital economy and combat the high unemployment rate in the country, particularly among young people and university graduates, by creating sustainable jobs. 

As a central point of contact for co-operations, Tech216 offers companies support in the development of IT outsourcing and nearshoring projects in particular. While outsourcing refers to the outsourcing of IT services to external providers, nearshoring means opening your own branches in another country and setting up local teams. In the context of Tech216, nearshoring is the more widely used option for securing IT specialists in the long term. International companies are building up Tunisian IT teams, particularly for research and development. 

The Tech216 offer includes, for example, matching with reliable IT partners, legal advice, recruiting services and free workstations in the innovation hub The Dot in Tunis to build up local teams in the first six months. 

A BMW Group pilot project in Tunisia showed the positive results of the project right from the start. As part of a discovery tour of the local IT industry in 2019, initial contacts were made, networks established and ultimately two Tunisian IT companies were selected for collaboration. In the end, Tunisian-German teams co-developed new functions for the MyBMW app. Dr Andreas Bootz, Head of E-System Design and Integration at the BMW Group and member of the Tech216 Advisory Board, described the collaboration as a ‘successful and satisfying partnership for both sides.’  

Between 2019 and 2025, over 85 international partnerships have already been concluded with Tunisia's IT sector, including 20 with German companies. 

‘Tunisia has a lot of talent, especially in the IT sector,’ emphasises Riadh Basil from the Frankfurt-based IT company Infomotion, which linked Tech216 with the Tunisian IT company Focus. Together, the two companies set up an innovation hub in Tunisia to test new applications. 

The co-founder of the Berlin-based company Code Cooperation Taieb Ben Dai also confirms this. His company has opted for nearshoring in Tunis and has built up a local team of eight IT experts since 2020. 

Tech216 has created almost 450 jobs in Tunisia's IT sector since 2019 thanks to its nearshoring and outsourcing services.  

Tech216 is supported by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH as part of the special initiative ‘Decent work for a just transition’ of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).  

More information at www.tech216.de