Tec.ly aims to build the foundations of a successful entrepreneurial ecosystem in Libya. Successful entrepreneurs/startups around the world do not succeed because they are necessarily smarter than Libyan entrepreneurs but because in successful cities/countries there is an ecosystem around the entrepreneurs which provides education, knowledge, facilities, funding and supportive legislation.

We should help develop that in Libya. We started doing that at Tatweer by initially having a focus on Benghazi – but while carrying out nationwide programs such as Enjazi.ly and tec.ly/impact. The issue now is how we continue to develop this.

To steer Libya to a diversified economy away from oil and gas… we have to make some decisions.

By creating entrepreneurship programs throughout Libya it may be best to focus on smaller geographical areas. The smaller geographical areas will have people and a community of entrepreneurs/interested people working on solving problems and creating new opportunities.

These small communities should have the best training and education programs. The education and training programs will be around the most high tech of technology. This will inspire people to consider current problems through technology. The advantage of technology based commercial solutions are that it can reach a lot of people very quickly….. growing the business quickly.

We have focused by having a community in Benghazi, which will continue to be developed; But what is needed now is to have super focused communities in Tripoli and then move on to Sebha.

There is a risk by spreading our efforts that we may not be able to reach our goals of a diversified knowledge based economy. Such an economy is currently not possible; but certainly not impossible. We can spread entrepreneurship based programs in Libya, but have to be careful not to have programs that are not interconnected and focused to a small geographical size of entrepreneurs.

Smaller geographical communities means more heads and ideas bashing together and also potential investor identification as entrepreneurs are easier to find and investors start to naturally become attracted to these communities of investment opportunities.

We must be able to focus on spreading entrepreneurship throughout Libya, while also making sure that our efforts are meaningful and can make impact. This impact can come through a focused effort of multiple activities in smaller areas which become noticeable. More people are attracted to these communities and higher chance of successful startup ideas are formed….