Beyond Personal Savings: Tripoli Seeks Better Finance and Stronger Support for Entrepreneurs

Tripoli’s entrepreneurship assessment identifies limited finance, fragmented support and skills gaps as major barriers facing small businesses, particularly those led by women, youth and displaced people. Its impact will depend on whether policymakers and development partners convert the findings into coordinated, inclusive and adequately funded business-support programmes.

Tripoli's entrepreneurs have demonstrated resilience in an uncertain business environment, but their ability to build sustainable enterprises remains constrained by limited finance, fragmented support services and persistent skills gaps. A new assessment led by Libya's Ministry of Planning in collaboration with the International Labour Organization is attempting to identify how those barriers can be addressed while making business opportunities more accessible to women, young people and internally displaced persons.

More than 50 representatives gathered at Tripoli's public library on September 15, 2026, to review preliminary findings from the Inclusive Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Assessment. Participants came from public institutions, social partners, financial and business organisations, education and training providers, entrepreneurship-support bodies, the United Nations system and development partners.

The consultation could help establish priorities for improving Tripoli's entrepreneurship ecosystem. Its real significance, however, will depend on whether the final assessment produces clearly funded interventions, measurable objectives and defined institutional responsibilities.

Finance Gap Keeps Promising Businesses Small

Access to appropriate finance emerged as one of the biggest barriers facing micro, small and medium-sized enterprises. Entrepreneurs often depend on personal savings, family networks, grants or informal arrangements because formal financing is unavailable, unsuitable or difficult to navigate.

Such dependence can prevent businesses from purchasing equipment, recruiting workers or reaching new markets. It also creates unequal opportunities. Entrepreneurs with savings, assets and strong family connections are better positioned to establish businesses, while those from lower-income or displaced households may struggle to move beyond an idea.

Women and young entrepreneurs may face additional difficulties if they lack collateral, credit histories or access to established financial networks. The result is not only a shortage of finance but also an exclusion problem: enterprises with commercial potential may remain informal or fail to launch because their founders do not fit conventional lending requirements.

Tripoli therefore needs more than additional credit. Financial institutions require products suited to smaller enterprises and different stages of business growth. Entrepreneurs also need financial literacy, reliable records and assistance in preparing investment proposals. Without these foundations, expanding credit could increase debt risks instead of supporting sustainable businesses.

Alternative financing pathways were discussed at the workshop, but the available information does not identify the proposed instruments, their scale or the institutions expected to deliver them. These details remain.

Fragmented Support Needs a Connected System

The assessment found that Tripoli's entrepreneurship ecosystem contains potential but suffers from fragmented services and uneven coordination. Training, mentoring, finance and market assistance may be offered by different organisations without forming a clear pathway for business development.

An integrated support system could connect entrepreneurs with appropriate services as their businesses evolve. A start-up receiving technical training, for example, could also obtain mentoring, financial preparation and help reaching customers. More effective referrals would reduce duplication and make existing programmes easier to navigate.

For policymakers, the challenge is to establish coordination without creating another bureaucratic layer. Authorities may need to identify a lead institution, set common service standards and create mechanisms for sharing information among finance providers, training institutions and business-support organisations.

Performance must also be assessed through outcomes rather than participation figures alone. Useful indicators could include business survival, formalisation, employment creation, investment secured and market access. Programmes should also measure whether women, young people and internally displaced persons are benefiting in practice.

Skills Must Follow Real Market Demand

Skills gaps represent another obstacle to enterprise growth. Workshop participants emphasised practical training, mentoring and work-based learning, supported by closer cooperation between education providers and industry.

This approach could make training more relevant to Tripoli's labour market. Education providers would gain clearer information about the technical, managerial and digital abilities businesses require, while employers could contribute through apprenticeships, workplace instruction and mentoring.

Digital and green economic activities may offer new opportunities, but broad references to emerging sectors must be translated into specific occupations, commercial demand and viable business models. Training people for markets that remain underdeveloped would risk producing qualifications without sustainable employment.

Training alone will also not guarantee inclusion. Women and displaced people may face transport problems, care responsibilities, limited documentation or weak professional networks. Targeted assistance may therefore be needed to ensure that disadvantaged groups can enter programmes, secure finance and reach markets.

Implementation Will Determine Tripoli's Gains

If effectively implemented, the assessment could help Tripoli diversify economic activity, strengthen smaller enterprises and create more productive employment. Better-supported firms could also provide services, develop local supply chains and offer opportunities to people who remain outside established employment networks.

For policymakers, the initiative offers evidence that can inform enterprise, employment and skills policies. Financial institutions could gain access to new customers, while established companies may benefit from stronger suppliers and a better-trained workforce. Entrepreneurship-support organisations could expand their role, although they would face greater expectations regarding transparency and results.

The ILO, UN agencies and other development partners can contribute technical expertise, institutional capacity and experience from crisis-affected environments. Their support should strengthen Libyan institutions and avoid establishing services that cannot continue after external funding ends.

The next steps will be decisive. The final assessment should specify priority interventions, implementation costs, funding sources, responsible institutions and timelines. It should also establish safeguards ensuring that publicly supported opportunities are allocated transparently rather than captured by better-connected applicants.

Tripoli does not lack entrepreneurial ambition. The central challenge is building the financial and institutional infrastructure that allows promising businesses to survive and grow. Success will ultimately be measured by whether entrepreneurs gain practical access to finance, skills, dependable support and markets, not by the number of strategies or workshops completed.