The Tripoli based Libyan Prime Minister, Abdel Hamid Aldabaiba, was briefed on the “Intilaqa” (Take Off) initiative to support and finance small and micro enterprises, the Tripoli government reported yesterday.
The briefing took place in the presence of the Minister of Economy and Trade, the Acting Oil and Gas Minister, the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Economy for Commercial Affairs, the head of the Executive Team for the Prime Minister’s Initiatives and Strategic Projects, and the Director General of the National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB).
Focus on supporting the innovation and knowledge economy
The initiative aims to provide the necessary funding for Libyan youth, craftspeople and entrepreneurs to finance their projects, with a focus on innovation and the knowledge economy.
The initiative is working to develop a new system to support startups and ensure their funding, through the establishment of a special guarantee fund for targeted projects.
Support must reach the largest number of qualified youth
During the meeting, Aldabaiba was briefed on a detailed presentation explaining the general conditions for applying and the mechanisms for benefiting from the initiative, where he stressed the importance of facilitating procedures to ensure that support reaches the largest possible number of qualified youth.
Youth are an investment in the future
The Prime Minister stressed that this initiative comes within the framework of the government’s orientation towards supporting Libyan youth and enabling them to lead the wheel of the national economy. He pointed out that investing in young people and their innovative ideas is an investment in the future of Libya and its economic renaissance.
Strategic partnership with university business incubators
The first step of the initiative targets 1,000 young entrepreneurs, craftspeople and innovators, as it relies on strategic partnerships with business incubators in Libyan universities to ensure effective implementation and support.
Achieving a qualitative leap in the national economy
Aldabaiba stressed that the government is committed to achieving a qualitative leap in the national economy by supporting small projects, which are the nucleus of economic growth, and contributing to job creation and promoting sustainable development.
Comment and analysis
Is the Aldabaiba government serious about this sector?
Although this is only the first phase of the ‘‘Intilaqa’’ initiative, targeting just 1,000 young entrepreneurs, craftspeople and innovators suggests that the Aldabaiba government is equally unserious about supporting entrepreneurs, innovators, and youth. One thousand people are a drop in the ocean if the government is serious about attracting hundreds of thousands of state-sector workers from their unproductive jobs, the unemployed, militiamen and university leavers.
A Qaddafi-era idea that never took off
It must be pointed out here that successive Libyan governments, including during the outgoing Qaddafi regime, have been attempting to launch a serious and major national SME initiative – without success.
Saif Qaddafi, Mahmoud Jibril and the creation of the EDB
Indeed, towards the end of the Qaddafi regime, his so-called ‘‘reformer’’ son, Saif Al-Islam Qaddafi, created the National Economic Development Board (EDB) under the leadership of Mahmoud Jibril, aiming to launch a nationwide training programme for SMEs with a view of granting business loans for successful entrepreneurial projects.
The SME Loans Guarantee Fund
However, the lack of serious political will, the corruption and inefficiency of the Qaddafi regime meant that despite setting up a government Loan Guarantee Fund to guarantee banks’ their money, the project never took off.
The credit guarantee fund exists on paper
Today, the credit/loan guarantee fund still exists on paper, but no Libyan government has succeeded in training the needed tens of thousands of entrepreneurs to launch a serious SME entrepreneurial programme to employ the thousands of Libyan university leavers, youth, unemployed and entrepreneurs.
In April 2024, the Tripoli based Minister of Economy, Mohamed Hwej issued a Ministerial decision approving the regulations for granting guarantees to the credit fund.
The fund works to guarantee a proportion of the risks facing financial institutions operating in Libya, such as banks, to finance economically viable projects.
It was hoped that the decision, reducing the exposure of banks to business loan risks, will encourage banks to take more risk in giving out loans to businesses and help motor the private sector Libyan economy.
Libyan state banks sitting on billions of under-invested deposits
It will be recalled that Libyan banks, and state banks particularly, are sitting on billions of dinars in their coffers which they are unable or unwilling to loan out to businesses. They may also lack the know-how and culture to assess loan requests and their risks and feel they do not have adequate legal cover to reduce their risk of losing this money.
The Economy Minister’s decision had also coincided with Libya signing an MoU in the same month with the Islamic Development Bank Group (IsDB) to establish the National Fund for Economic Empowerment.
Opinion: Libya’s credit crunch | (libyaherald.com)
Seven banks to contribute LD 150 to Credit Guarantee Fund | (libyaherald.com)
