Tunisia is shooting down digital growth.

The statement.

Facebook ads have an average cost-per-click (CPC) of $1.86 and cost-per-thousand-views (CPM) of $11.20, which varies based on factors from ad quality to competition. According to a Facebook report, the average small business advertising on Facebook spends around $1,000–$2,000 per month.

The case.

So how does the above statement compare to Tunisian small businesses?

To have a very generic and rough answer we did some time traveling to land in Tunisia where the government grants digital agencies and tech startups what is called "La Carte Technologique Internationale"(CTI) / "International Tech Card". A bit like "Le Big Mac".

This card allows local companies to buy tech services online and internationally - like facebook/google ads for example.

WTF? You might ask.

To make a long and intricate story short, in Tunisia, local companies and individuals are not allowed to hold or send foreign currencies. Hence the time traveling comment.

So what's the CTI all about?

We're not sure but here's what it might look like from space

The spending limit on the card is EUR3K per year for regular companies and around EUR28.5K per year for companies under the Startup Act label. If you don't know what the Startup Act is, just pretend you do, this won't affect the rest of the post.

Let's break it down.

• EUR3K/year that's EUR250/month for a non Startup Act company. Note that for now companies who are not under the Startup Act label represent roughly around 90% of web and tech companies in Tunisia including agencies.

• EUR28.5K/year that's EUR2,375K/month for the remaining let's say 10% of the ecosystem.

Looking back at the numbers stated in the first paragraph, all this nonsense would mean that:

1- Most tech and web companies in Tunisia don't have the chance to be competitive online, internationally and nationally vs Startup Act companies.

2- Non Startup Act companies who spend more than the legally allocated budget are definitely doing some shady business with foreign currencies.

3- Startup Act companies will be leading the market in a rather unfair manner.

Conclusion.

If you are a local Tunisian tech/web company and want to beat the system while remaining out of prison, you will have to turn to growth hacking to survive the budget cap imposed by the government. Contact us.