Why Tunisia is a great place to build your AI development team

With AI grabbing the attention of technologists and business leaders across the world, demand for developers familiar with AI models and frameworks has skyrocketed. While some organisations focus on domestic markets for AI talent, many are venturing further afield to build their AI teams.

AI development in Tunisia

Among the countries of Africa and the MENA region, Tunisia is one of the most appealing destinations for AI development. Many tech giants have already recognised the Tunisian AI potential and started operating there, but there’s still a lot of potential left untapped.

One good example is BMW. In 2020, BMW decided to work with Tunisian tech companies to create their Digital Tyre Diagnosis tool, an app that informs users about the tyre condition of their cars. One of the reasons stated for choosing the country, according to GIZ, (a German Investment agency), was that “Tunisia has the AI and IT professionals that Germany is lacking”.  Dr Bootz, the project lead at BMW, said “The growing number of IT companies in Tunisia including AI show how much the market is thriving.”

The best offshore developers

Why is Tunisia so far ahead of its competitors in terms of its tech and specifically AI resources?

Tunisia has been investing heavily in the tech and AI sectors since 2012. Over the years, the tech community in Tunisia and the Tunisian government have initiated several programs and strategies to boost the tech and software sector by improving the infrastructure, reforming the educational system, and enacting encouraging laws for investors.

And it's paying off.

AI development for government use

As well as being a development hub, Tunisia was also one of the first countries to embrace AI technologies on a governmental level. In 2019, the government launched the National AI Strategy, which envisioned the future of AI in Tunisia and aimed at preparing the country’s infrastructure to take advantage of the new opportunities.

AI is also being pushed in the private sector. A notable Tunisian AI unicorn, Instadeep, was founded in 2014 and provides a range of AI-powered business tools. It was recently sold to Swedish company BioNTech. There are many more tech businesses on similar trajectories.

What can AI do for your company?

For many companies simply using off-the-shelf AI tools (Chat GPT, Gemini, Midjourney etc) can improve their workflows and productivity. I firmly believe AI will help us do our jobs better rather than replace us.

But there is also a huge opportunity to go beyond the off-shelf to create and customise AI tools for your products and business. It's not a technology just for the big boys of tech — there are many ways to build custom solutions depending on your use case.

The open-source nature of many AI tools and frameworks allows small companies to compete with tech giants with no frustrating upfront investment, meaning that if you’ve got the skills, you can build it.

If you run an SME, you also might have the flexibility and freedom that tech giants lack due to their complex organisational structure, which gives you more room to experiment and innovate quickly. Many predict that as we move into the AI age a lot of the traditional tech giants are going to be disrupted.

What makes Tunisia special in terms of AI development?

There are multiple reasons why Tunisia can be a great choice if you seek a partnership or team extension to improve your AI development capabilities.

Tunisia has used their strategic governance to lay a foundation for a thriving AI ecosystem.

After the National AI Strategy workshop in 2018, the government introduced their AI Strategy the following year, developing talent within the country being one of the main pillars. In addition, the Government is actively using AI to add benefits and improvements to its public services, improving public services and accessibility. It was recognised by Oxford Insights in their 2022 AI readiness index.

This, alongside the country’s startup legislation, has made Tunisia a great environment for entrepreneurs, especially in the Tech and AI space.

These initiatives have also helped AI companies like Instadeep, Biware and Coachess achieve real success both domestically and internationally.

Within the Academic fields, the Tunisian AI Society is actively working with universities to collaborate on cutting-edge research projects as well as organising events domestically and internationally. The interest in the field is generating more training programs for young people to enter the workforce, through companies like Go My Mode and NeuroData.

The country is making great strides to develop its AI infrastructure and create an environment that supports AI innovation and growth. The government has already built several technoparks and cyber-parks throughout the country to boost the ICT sector, as outlined in our recent blog post “Tunisia: the new big player in nearshore software development?”.

Offshore Team Augmentation for AI capabilities

Whilst many multinationals are setting up their own offices in Tunisia, many software companies are opting to partner with a development studio or agency to extend their AI capabilities with an augmented team. These agencies recruit, train and hire developers to meet the requirements of their clients, and the new recruits then work full time, or the agreed hours, for the software company.

This model allows software companies to rapidly scale their team, access local talent in Tunisia, and avoid the admin of hiring and employing individuals based in a different locale.

To wrap up, If you’re looking to use AI to help your business and want to hire from a Hub of expertise, Tunisia is currently one of the best places to do so. If you’d like to learn more, feel free to contact us here and we would be happy to talk through the options available to you.