Category: Tunisia

Tunisia: Number Of Internet Users Reaches 2.8 Million

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TunisiaThe number of internet users has reached nearly 2,8 Million and the ADSL networking rate stands at 11,1 Gigabits per second, said Mrs Lamia Chaffai Sghaier, the Secretary of State in charge of computers and free software at the opening of the first edition of “2009 Technology Days on information systems” (JTSI 2009), which began at the El Ghazala technological park a couple of days ago.

The aim of the event is to offer a space of exchange and reflection to the many economic stakeholders involved in ICT. JTSI 2009 presents a number of case studies, discussion panels and workshops.

The Secretary of State talked about the government’s push to boost ICT among industrial units with a view of increasing their competitiveness and creating employment opportunities; as well as the development of the ADSL basic infrastructure services, through the use of optic fibres, to cover 300 industrial areas.

She also said that the government has launched a program aimed at generalizing the use of the internet within the administration through the creation of specialized computer centres.
The setup of an integrated administrative network is currently underway, she said.

[Source: Tunisia Online News]

Tools4Com Launches Facebook Application For Their Online Invoicing System

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Tools4ComTunis-based Tools4Com just released a new Facebook application for their online invoicing system Tools4Com OIS; that was previously reviewed here.

The Facebook application enables all Facebook users to generate invoices, quotations, pro forma invoices, and delivery notes in PDF format easily and directly from inside Facebook.

Users already registered with Tools4Com OIS can also access their list of documents and download them from the application as well.

Tools4Com OIS Facebook App

The Tools4Com OIS facebook application is available in French only for the time being. The full service through the Tools4Com website is currently available in French and German, with English on the way, and Arabic planned for the future.

# Tools4Com OIS Facebook Application

ReKrute.com Expands Into Tunisian Employment Market

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ReKrute.comReKrute.com, one of the leading online career portals in Morocco, that was launched from Casablanca in 2006, just expanded into the Tunisian market, recently opening an office in Tunis and launching a dedicated version of their portal.

Like other online job portals, ReKrute.com aims to continuously connect companies looking to recruit in Tunisia with the best candidates out there.

The portal is totally free for candidates searching for a job, hoping to become their main access point to the job market, providing them with fresh job offers, information on the Tunisian job market, career advice and tips, online language tests and more.
Of course, the possibility to just post their CVs to the portals database so that they can be found by employers is also possible. 

For companies, ReKrute.com provides a global and flexible e-recruitment solution, that enables them to search through a database of CVs that match their exact needs, post their job vacancies and get in touch with the right potential employees for them.

All Job offers through the portal will also be reachable through the MSN Maghreb‘s job section which is powered by ReKrute.com.

ReKrute.com

In order to promote ReKrute.com in Tunisia and increase its visibility, partnership agreements are being finalised with big media entities, as well as a number of important Tunisian and European universities.

Ramla Jamel, who previously was a channel manager at Intel Corp., is the general manager of ReKrute.com in Tunisia.

Mezed Expands Into Italian Market With BidBloom

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BidBloomMezed, the online auctions site that was launched by Tunisian startup La Référence in mid-2007, and that seems to be doing pretty well, is expanding into the Italian market through its recent launch of an Italian version of the site called ‘BidBloom‘.

BidBloom, applies the same auctions system and logic used in the Tunisian site, as well as the new design that was recently introduced.

Mezed was previously reviewed here, with details about their system, and how their auctions system works, but in short the system used by it and BidBloom is as follows: Users get to buy a number of “bids”, that they then place on an item, raising its price by a certain predefined amount and adding time to the life of the auction. The winner then pays the final amount that was reached for the item.

BidBloom

Something I found weird about the Tunisian version is that the site is only open for auctions during working hours, meaning from 9AM to 6PM. The Italian version stays open a bit longer, from 8AM to 11PM.
But I still don’t get why an online service has to go on pause, and not enable people to bid whenever they feel like it. 

# BidBloom

Up To August, 1.2 Million Dinars Invested In Online Advertising In Tunisia In 2008

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TunisiaAccording to estimative numbers released by Tunisian market research firm Sigma Conseil, that cover the first eight months of 2008, a total investment of 1.2 Million Dinars  (US$ 930,000) has been made in online advertising, a third of which is by the Telecom sector, followed by the Financial and Automotive sectors.

The study shows that Tunisiana, the private mobile operator that is a subsidiary of Orascom Telecom, is on the top of the list of online advertisers, followed by the Arab Tunisian Bank (ATB), TopNet (an Internet service provider), Hannibal Lease, ANG Consulting and Tunisie Télécom (Public mobile and fixed line operator).

In a previous study released in the beginning of 2008, Sigma Conseil estimated the total investment in online advertising in 2007 at only 2% of the total advertising budget in Tunisia which was estimated at 100 Million Dinars (US$ 77 Million).

So mainly, even though there was a 1% growth in online advertising in Tunisia from 2005/2006 to 2007, according to Sigma Conseil’s numbers 2008 isn’t showing that much growth so far in comparison to last year.

Forum Nokia North Africa Road Show (October 13 – 19)

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Forum NokiaForum Nokia, Nokia’s global developer program, which has built a mobile development community with more than 3.5 Million registrants, making it one of the biggest in the world, will kick off its first ever Road show in North Africa, passing through Casablanca, Algiers and Tunis from the 13th to the 19th of October.

The event will be conducted by the Forum Nokia business development management team, who will be meeting startups, SMEs, established firms, operators and developers from the three countries.

Forum Nokia will also be participating in the Mobile Monday Morocco event at the Casablanca TechnoPark on Monday, October 13th.

The Road show’s main purpose is to reach out to the local mobile application developer community in the region and stimulate innovation on top of the advanced Nokia mobile platform. The road show will be a unique opportunity for the local developers and universities to see the best technology and business platforms that Forum Nokia provides. They will also get a better understanding of the potential market and the great business opportunities for their innovative mobile applications thanks to Nokia’s large consumer base locally and globally.

Through Forum Nokia, local developers and universities have access to Nokia’s large developer community’s knowledge and expertise; they are connected to tools, technical information, support and distribution channels they can use to build and market applications around the globe.

From offices in the U.S., Europe, Japan, China, India and Singapore, Forum Nokia provides technical and business development support to developers and operators to assist them in achieving their goal of successfully launching applications and services to consumers and enterprises.

Microsoft Innovation Center To Support Another Ten Tunisian Startups Through IMPRESS Initiative

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Microsoft Innovation CenterThe Microsoft Innovation Center (MIC) in Tunisia has launched the second edition of their IMPRESS initiative to finance the 10 best startups in the country. The initiative is aimed at helping young businessmen develop their business by providing technological support and substantial added value.

MIC is the first centre of its kind in North Africa and was established as part of a strategic partnership agreement signed between Tunisia’s government and US software giant Microsoft in 2006; it seeks to support development of Tunisia ’s software industry through innovation and entrepreneurship by developing intellectual capital and strengthening industrial partnership.

MIC also seeks to boost the competitiveness of IT companies while also helping to build a knowledge-based economy and enhance Tunisia ’s role as a leader in new ICT in the region.  HP is an exclusive partner for MIC in Tunisia. 

The IMPRESS initiative offers the top 10 submitted startups some high level technical support, in the form of:

  • Free 1 year subscription to Empower 
  • 5 software products for internal usage
  • 1 software licence and 5 client access licences
  • MSDN Premium subscription kit + User licences
  • MSDN online services 

These startups also get managerial and technical training:

  • Software Business Management course: A two day course on analysis of the business environment, innovation, the value chain, and preparing business plans.
  • Microsoft Solution Framework: A technical training by Microsoft consultants.
  • Best practices: A technical workshop on the best practices for optimizing the development cycle and enhancing the quality of developed solutions.
  • Skills Accelerators: Technical workshops revolving around Microsoft products and technologies (Web Expression, Visual Studio, Sharepoint and SQL Server).
  • Microsoft will certify 2 persons per company, and will enroll them in MSPP (Microsoft Partner Program) to help them fully benefit from their skills building program and extend their market coverage.

The winners also get access to advanced labs to work on specfic developments, proofs of concept, demo and test their solutions in a high performance environment.

To promote the 10 winning startups and give them more visibility, Microsoft will associate them to their marketing events, and support their development locally and internationally.

Financial partners like BFPME (Small & Medium Enterprises Financing Bank), Tuninvest Finance Group and Alternative Capital Partners will complement the support, not only by eventually financing these startups, but also by coaching them and helping them develop their business plans.

To apply to the IMPRESS program, send your project details to the Microsoft Innovation Center before October 25th 2008, by email to mictn@microsoft.com, or by Fax to + 216 71 858 420.

Berberus, The Semantic Maghreb Blog Aggregator

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BerberusBerberus is a new blog aggregator that was recently launched to cover blogs from the Maghreb region. The name is an obvious reference to the region and its roots. The site also says it references the existence of a form of berberism (free man) in every blogger who aspires to express themselves freely.

Over the past years, a number of blog aggregators have sprung up in the Maghreb region, mainly covering each country on its own, and there even was a blog called Maghreblog which grouped authors from all Maghreb states who blogged and re-blogged stories from the region, but none of the previous efforts have grouped as many Maghreb blogs in one place.

Berberus currently indexes 1255 blogs from the five Arab Maghreb states (Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco and Mauritania), and aggregates posts and comments from all these blogs. It also provides an analysis of the activity going through these blogs, giving information about the posts and comments activity throughout the region, which the most active blogs and most commented blogs are, and even which posts are the ones getting the most commenting action.

Berberus screenshot

An advanced search engine is provided to search for blogs, posts or comments on certain topics, or by certain people, throughout the region or in a specific country, and in a certain period of time.

Another plus for Berberus is the semantic side of it all, as the tags in the aggregated posts are extracted, and their content analyzed to provide users an easy way to find posts that talk about topics of interest to them; by surfing through the latest tags and checking out the hottest and most talked about issues and topics.

A podcast directory is also included, indexing podcasts from around the region, and offering a central interface to watch or listen to them.

The interface tries to pack all the mentioned functionalities in a way that keeps it pretty easy to use and uncluttered, and it’s rather successful at it. The site is in English only for the time being.

# Berberus

Tools4Com OIS, A Simple Online Invoicing System

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Tools4ComBy now it’s basically no secret to anyone that the future of software is through the browser and ever more specialized web applications, and this is confirmed by the different new web applications that are popping up everywhere to fulfill individuals’ and companies’ needs, competing in spaces that were previously reserved for desktop applications.

Tunis based Tools4Com‘s new online invoicing system Tools4Com OIS is yet another example of such web applications; reproducing all the essential features of an invoicing desktop application, and creating a viable alternative for smaller companies and independent workers who prefer the use of online applications, that give them the flexibility of accessing their data and functionalities from anywhere.

Tools4Com OIS enables users to manage their invoices, quotations, pro forma invoices, delivery notes, clients and products online, along with other related functionalities like exporting all the different documents in HTML or PDF, viewing detailed reports, auto calculation of the sales tax, setting up reminders at chosen frequencies, and more.

Users can also enable online payment of their invoices through the system using PayPal or AlertPay, witth more client payment options on the way.

Tools4Com OIS

Tools4Com OIS provides a number of plans, ranging from the free basic version which covers most of the main functionalities limiting the number of documents that can be created, to the paid plans that range from 20 to 150 Euros per month depending on how many documents the user needs to create and manage.

Tools4Com OIS is available in French only for the time being; a German version is currently under way, and an English version should follow closely. An Arabic version is also planned for the future.

Tools4Com was launched from Tunisia by Mohamed Aymen Ben Abdallah, opened for public use in August 2008, and has been rolling out new features and enhancements frequently ever since.
With the launch behind their back, the founder seems to have some pretty big plans for his new startup that he’s already setting in motion, and in a little talk we had recently, he told me that he’s considering pursuing investment possibilities to accelerate the implementation of his plans.

# Tools4Com

Growth In Tunisian Mobile And Internet Users

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TunisiaFigures recently released by the Ministry of Communication Technologies reveal a significant growth of mobile phone and internet users in Tunisia. In June 2008 the two mobile phone operators (Tunisie Telecom and Tunisiana) had a combined 8.12 million mobile phone subscribers up from 7 million twelve months earlier.

At the same point, there were 2.68 million internet users compared to 1.68 million in June 2007. The number of ADSL connections has doubled from 76,000 in 2007 to 153,000 in 2008. 27% of users have 512KB connections, and 22,000 users have a connection equal or superior to 1Mbps.

The number of companies benefiting from WiMAX connections reached 700 at the end of June 2008, and the number of subscribers to data sending through VSAT had also increased to reach 420, notably among enterprises producing software and computer systems and call centres.

# Source: TeleGeography
# Via: Wireless Tunisia