How to jumpstart the Tunisian economy ?

Is there a practical solution to help the Tunisian economy get back up and running ? Is there a practical solution that enables Tunisians to live a decent life in the digital era ?

Spoiler alert: the answer lies within the Industry of Human Intelligence. 

However, the key here is practicality. You see, almost anyone can come up with esoteric solutions. Not all solutions are created equal though. And it is when you try to apply such solutions to the real world that practicality makes its case. 

So what does it mean for a solution for the issue at hand to be practical ?

In my opinion, we need to consider both Tunisia's economic and political contexts.

Economically, well, the North African country is living its worst crisis, ever. With debt levels surpassing 80% of Tunisia's GDP, one could say that the entire country is living paycheck to paycheck, unfortunately. So, for our solution to be practical, it needs to require the least amount of money possible whilst having, at the same time, a substantial Return On Investment (ROI).

Politically speaking, although we made progress towards establishing a democracy, we are still in a transition period. In fact, democratic institutions that would solidify and protect our political system, such as the Constitutional Court, have not fully come to life, yet. Consequently, as long as Tunisia is still in this political transition period, no major economic reforms are to be expected. Any reform would, evidently, be most welcome, but none should be expected. Therefore, for our solution to be practical, we should work with whatever laws we currently have. In other words, our solution should not involve any state-induced reforms.

Let's get to our solution then, shall we ?
The master plan, if you will, has two aspects. 

First, we need a way to provide Tunisians with the skills necessary to enter the digital workforce and add value to the digital economy. Why digital economy ? Simply put, because everything is going digital. In addition to that, digital economy arguably has the highest ROI of any industry. All you need is a laptop and an Internet connection and you can effectively start adding value to the world, provided you have the adequate skills for it. So, how to get the skills that you need be a valuable contributor to the digital economy ?

In my opinion, the most effective and practical way to acquire such skills is through coding bootcamps. These intensive training programs, usually four to six months long, provide you with the skills you need to be a software developer, one of the most in demand profiles on the planet today. And the demand for people who can produce software will keep increasing, at least for the foreseeable future. And these bootcamps actually deliver on their promises. In fact, thousands of people around the world have already changed the course of their lives through these software development programs. Some of them have even gotten jobs at top tech companies like Google, Apple and Facebook. It is no surprise, then, that these technology bootcamps are already a $500+ US Million industry. Yes, you read that right, bootcamps from around the world have, together, made more than half a BILLION US Dollars, last year alone (Read the market research on coding bootcamps by Career Karma here).

In Tunisia, we are starting to wake up to this solution for upscaling the workforce. We already have such bootcamps like GoMyCode and ReBootKamp Tunisia. The average cost for a Tunisian to become a software developer through such bootcamps is around $2000 US, roughly approximated.

So, to sum up the first aspect of our solution, we need to invest $2000 US and 6 months per person in order to provide Tunisians with the skills they need to enter the digital workforce.

Nevertheless, becoming a software developer confined to a crippled Tunisian economy, that has not gone sufficiently digital yet, does not cut it on its own. It is like becoming Superman but your own house is filled with Kryptonite; there is not much you can do there. Making matters more difficult, no one can clean that Kryptonite, for now, so that you can put your newly gained superpowers to good use.

Back to reality. In the Tunisian context, the Kryptonite I just mentioned refers mainly to the outdated laws, fixed mindsets and crippling bureaucracy that too many Tunisians have already felt it's limiting effect on their dreams and ambitions.

Okey then, as Joey Tribbiani once said, "What's an elf to do ?". Well, if the System is going Zig, we need to go Zag. And this is where the beauty of our master plan really shines ! We live in the digital age, where borders that separate countries are getting more and more blurred, figuratively speaking. You see, Estonia, home to one of the most digital economies and societies in the world, has the perfect solution for the issue at hand. 

It's called the e-Residency program. It's a program that allows Tunisians, and people from around the world, for that matter, to become electronic residents of Estonia. In a nutshell, this program allows Tunisians to create and manage companies that are registered in the European Union, fully online ! Yes, that's right, we live in a time where you can create a company that legally belongs to the EU from the comfort of your Kryptonite-filled home, pun intended. You can visit the e-Residency's website to understand the full picture behind this program. But to keep the story short, if Tunisians want access to the global market, they need a passport, about $1000 US and a clear background. 

You don't have access to PayPal in Tunisia? No problem, you can create a European PayPal account through e-Residency!

You have a killer application but the Tunisian market is not ready for it yet ? No problem, register your company in the European Union through e-Residency and now you have access to the entire EU market, and most of the world for that matter!

Finally, let's put the pieces of our master plan together, shall we ?

A practical solution to jumpstart the Tunisian economy, as I see it, is as follows : On one hand, we should provide Tunisian youths with the skills they need to add value to the digital economy through coding bootcamps. On the other hand, we should promote the Estonian e-Residency program to help Tunisian youths get access to the global economy.

The beauty of this solution is that it costs about $3000 US per person, which is about the same as too many Tunisian youths have already paid for clandestine immigration. It is also less than what the Tunisian government puts into its students to get them to get a university degree that they can hang on the wall while they contemplate the time they wasted acquiring skills and knowledge that is simply outdated. So economically speaking, this solution is quite viable. Politically speaking, this solution does not require any major intervention from the state, as the e-Residency program allows us to circumvent the outdated laws and crippling bureaucracy for the time being.

That's it! That's how we can jumpstart the Tunisian economy, based on the knowledge I have about Tunisia and the world.