Nearly 35 startups and entrepreneurs in the Middle East and North Africa region benefited from the Bridge'Up, From Innovation To Creation Initiative, said Zeineb Messaoud, the Executive Director of digital innovation hub the DOT. The initiative is an ambitious inter-regional project to boost entreprepreneurship in four target countries, namely Tunisia, Jordan, Lebanon and Palestine, Messaoud Thursday told a press conference in Tunis. The project was set in motion in April 2023. It is financed by the European Union in collaboration with NGO Spark and the first digital innovation hub, the DOT. It is designed to help build partnerships with strong impact and connect innovative organisations with shared values in the MENA region. Messaoud said the thirty-five startups and entrepreneurs, including ten from Tunisia, had access- as part of this project- to a five-week training programme with tailored support in a bid to help them internationalise their activities and gain access to international markets. A two- day regional conference (February 15-16) will bring together the key actors of the ecosystem of innovation and entrepreneurship, partners and lenders to foster a fruitful collaboration in the MENA entrepreneurship ecoystems and put in place a platform of exchange for the Tunisian ecosystem. Bridge'Up project Manager Abdelaziz Ben Malek said support was provided to 35 startups and entrepreneurs under this initiative. Their capacities were also appraised so as to put forward strategic and operational recommandations. DOT is the fruit of a public-private partnership led by the Ministry of Communication Technologies and supported by the EU-funded Innov'i - EU4Innovation project, the Tunisia Foundation for Development and the German Agency for International Cooperation. Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse