On the 30th November and 1st December 2023, CREACT4MED participated as a partner in the RedStart Tunisie’s Inno’Preneur Days, an event bringing together stakeholders, beneficiaries, and experts in the business world in Tunisia.
CREACT4MED Project Coordinator, Maria Ruiz, participated in the panel event The Cultural and Creative Industries: a key partner for sustainable economies in the Southern Mediterranean along with 4 representatives of the CREACT4MED incubators:
- Leila Hizaoui, Project Manager at Minassa INCO-Tunisie,
- Dr. Heba Labib, Director of NilePreneurs Initiative in Egypt,
- Fouad Assaf, Managing Partner at Nucleus Ventures, in Lebanon,
- Marwa Chekib, Project Manager at LaStartUpStation in Morocco,
Maria highlighted the potential of the cultural and creative industries as a sector for economic growth as it implicates a huge number of stakeholders and allows for effective community building to ensure the sustainability of initiatives. CREACT4MED is an excellent example of this as we have created a community of almost 600 stakeholders over the life of the project. She also gave attention to the crucial theme of regional cooperation within the region, highlighting that this is an effective approach to share experiences and recognise shared heritage, leading to a shared identity between members of the Mediterranean.
The event also allowed for networking among the ecosystem in Tunisia, to which the CREACT4MED entrepreneurs attended on the 30th: Klink.tn, Digital Cultural eXperience, Maft Studios, and LaGalerieVR.
In a restricted session on the 1st, the CREACT4MED team, Maria Ruiz, Kirsty Fairhurst (EMEA) and Douja Gharbi, Waad Bousserwel (RedStart Tunisie), and the CREACT4MED Incubators brainstormed ways to build on the work done in the project, discussing challenges experienced and ways forward to boost cultural and creative entrepreneurship in the future, including the identification of key stakeholders to engage in order to progress and advance in the mandate of CREACT4MED.
CREACT4MED is a project funded by the EU through the EuropeAid Programme, which aims to strengthen businesses with the Cultural and Creative Industries (CCIs). It seeks to support entrepreneurs, start-ups and SMEs, create jobs, and foster sustainable economic growth in the Southern Mediterranean, with a particular focus on young people and women.
It is led by Euro-Mediterranean Economists Association (EMEA) (Coordinator), with the partners Institute of Entrepreneurship Development (iED), European Institute of the Mediterranean (IEMed), Union of Mediterranean Confederations of Enterprises (BUSINESSMED), Redstart Tunisia, Confédération méditerranéenne pour le développement (MED Confederation), Beyond Group, Libera Università Maria SS. Assunta (LUMSA Università), Association of Organisations of Mediterranean Businesswomen (AFAEMME), Positive Agenda Advisory, and Womenpreneur.
