The European Union (EU), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Tatweer Research, today jointly announced a 400,000 LYD grant to support six Libyan startups two of them run by women.

The grants are part of the Impact Fund programme, an initiative led by Tatweer Research and framed within the EU funded “Strengthening Local Capacities for Resilience and Recovery” project implemented by UNDP.

A total of 109 entrepreneurs applied to the programme. The grantees, who come from different parts of the country, were selected based on the feasibility of their ideas.

Their business ideas range from an App to order take away food prepared by Libyan housewives to a communication platform that connects parents and school administration.

The Grant Ceremony was opened by Head of Delegation of the European Union to Libya, H.E. Mr. Alan BUGEJA, Deputy Special Representative of the UN Secretary General, UN Resident Coordinator, Humanitarian Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Libya, Ms. Maria Ribeiro, UNDP Country Director, Mr. Sultan Hajiyev and CEO of Tatweer Research, Mr. Khaled Elmufti.

Ambassador BUGEJA stated: “While the EU seeks to contribute towards returning stability to Libya, we cannot delay addressing the needs of young Libyans, the next generation of: students, graduates, and professionals. We want to help them realise their aspirations and contribute to building a stronger, more prosperous and stable country. The young generation has enormous potential and vitality and we feel a responsibility to help young people in Libya to express their vision for the country and generate new ideas that will be indispensable for a successful transition.”

On her part, Ms. Ribeiro declared: “Glad to be part of this event. In the middle of all the challenges Libya is facing, I see it as a very important message to see youth working hard to improve the situation of their country. UN and UNDP will step up its work to empower young people to realize their full potential and stand up for their rights. Young people are the torchbearers of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and only with your energy, new ideas, voices and innovation we will make a difference.”

Dr. Khaled El Mufti - Tatweer Research CEO said: “Economic empowerment is critical to the future stability of Libya, in particular the role of the private sector. Libya has many challenges but our work over the last year has proven that there are many ambitious young Libyan men and women who are very entrepreneurial and very creative to work around the challenges in Libya, and to create new businesses. The Impact Fund program has two key objectives: one is to give financial support to some of the most promising startups and second is to start celebrating success stories of potential Libyan entrepreneurs. We are very grateful for all of the support and works that the EU and UNDP are doing in Libya.”

With the aim of supporting local economy recovering, UNDP partnered with Tatweer Research, which with EU funds and through Impact Fund initiative is identifying and supporting plans that will create sustainable jobs outside of the public sector.

For more information please contact: media.ly@undp.org

Visit:  http://bit.ly/Resilience4Libya

Twitter: #Resilience4Libya

This project is implemented in the framework of the €90 million programme "Managing mixed migration flows in Libya through expanding protection space and supporting local socioeconomic development" financed by the North of Africa Window of the EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa (https://ec.europa.eu/trustfundforafrica/region/north-africa_en). The main objective of this programme is to comprehensively reinforce protection and resilience of migrants, refugees and host communities in Libya while supporting an improved migration management along the migration routes in the country.