IRI Tunisia Study: Entrepreneurship and Economic Growth

One of the key principles for any market that seeks to incentivize investment and entrepreneurship is feasibility. Markets with confusing, obstacle-ridden regulatory systems are their own greatest enemy. Not only do they confuse potential investors and business owners, but these complex mazes of regulation also limit upward mobility, and corrupt regimes can take advantage of their complexity to pick economic winners and losers. This repressive brand of economics was one of the primary reasons for Tunisia’s revolution in 2011. Four years later, there is still a need for legislation to simplify the regulatory system and clear the way for entrepreneurship, investment and growth in Tunisia.

The International Republican Institute (IRI) brought five key reform-minded members of Tunisia’s parliament, to the United States for a two week study mission.  The delegation visited Washington, DC and Denver, Colorado to explore how best to cut through the regulatory tangle preventing entrepreneurship and innovation and stymieing economic growth.   

Meeting partners included experts and representatives from the US Department of State, US Agency for International Development, Small Business Administration, World Bank, the State of Colorado, Members of Congress, numerous rising entrepreneurs and captains of industry, and leading experts from a diverse group of think-tanks.

Photos from this trip are available on our Flickr page.