A Tunisian flour producer expands
its product range

Bread and cereal products are among the staple foods in Tunisia. On average, Tunisians consume 200 grams of bread per person every day. This makes Tunisia one of the countries with the highest per capita consumption of bread worldwide. The country’s high demand is almost exclusively covered by local producers. To keep the price low, the staple food is subsidised by the state.

Tunisie Farine is one of the local producers and manufactures flours, flour blends and cereal products. The company also offers packaged food products based on flour and vegetables. The products are sold under two brands that are already well established in Tunisia: Conventional products are offered under the brand Randa, and the brand Vitafibre is used by Tunisie Farine to appeal to customers that are particularly health conscious.

Tunisie Farine aims to expand production, develop new market segments and increase cooperation with its B2B customers. With the support of Invest for Jobs, the following three projects will be implemented:

• The company will acquire modern machinery and other equipment to double its production capacity to 45,000 tonnes within five years.

• In addition, a training centre for bakery and confectionery is to be created, where prospective founders will be trained in the processing of Tunisie Farine products and receive support in setting up their own small businesses.

• The company also wants to expand its product range and plans to set up local production facilities for traditionally made baked goods and pasta, which will be marketed under the new brand name Randa Artisanale. The production will happen in partnership with local organisations and will be predominantly done by women.

The expansion of production capacities will create 89 new jobs at Tunisie Farine - for example in the production, quality control and packaging departments. The training centre for the bakery trade will provide further training and advice to 50 prospective founders per year. With their newly acquired knowledge, they will be able to further develop their small businesses and in turn hire additional workers. This should promote the sale of Tunisie Farine products, and at the same time strengthen the entire sector.

The artisanal production of pasta under the Randa Artisanale brand will take place in rural areas. To reach the planned production volume of 30 tonnes per year, the small local supplier companies will also have to hire new employees. This will strengthen the value chains and extend them into rural areas. Tunisie Farine will create an additional 15 jobs for the distribution of the new products.

A significant proportion of the jobs created by these measures are to be taken over by low-skilled young people – at the company location, but also in rural regions.

To implement the three projects, Tunisie Farine plans to invest a total of 3.96 million euros. The Facility Investing for Employment GmbH grants a subsidy of 1.23 million euros (31%).

The Facility Investing for Employment (IFE) of KfW Development Bank is part of the Special Initiative on Training and Job Creation of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). With its support, the facility wants to remove barriers that prevent the creation of new and better jobs in the private sector.