Diasporas: Gateways to investment, entrepreneurship and innovation in the Mediterranean

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SURVEY N° 20 / December 2010
InvestintheMediterranean
Diasporas: gateways for investment,
entrepreneurship and innovation in the
Mediterranean

Diasporas: gateways for
investment, entrepreneurship and
innovation in the Mediterranean
S t u d y N ° 2 0
D e c e m b e r 2 0 1 0

A N I M A I n v e s t m e n t N e t w o r k
Samir Abdelkrim and ANIMA Team

Diasporas: gateways for investment, entrepreneurship and innovation in the Mediterranean
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References
This report was prepared by the ANIMA team within the framework of the
Invest in Med programme. ANIMA Investment Network is a multi‐country
platform supporting the economic development of the Mediterranean. The
network gathers around 80 governmental agencies, Investment Promotion
Agencies (IPA), international networks and players involved in the
territorial development of the Mediterranean region.
The objective of ANIMA is to contribute to a better investment and business
climate and to the growth of capital flows into the Mediterranean region.
www.anima.coop
ISBN 978‐2‐915719‐58‐1
© ANIMA‐Invest in Med 2010. No part of this publication may be
reproduced without express authorisation. All rights reserved.
Cover picture: iStockphoto.com
Authors
 Study realised by Samir Abdelkrim (writing, data research, interviews),
with contributions of Zoé Luçon (Israel country‐profile), Sébastien Dagault
(advices, contribution to the recommendation section), Emmanuel Noutary
(recommendation section) and Bénédict de Saint‐Laurent (foreword,
recommendation section and proof‐reading). The MedDiasporas directory
has been compiled by Samir Abdelkrim, assisted by Maïa Thomine‐
Desmazures, Landri Maré and Oulfa Gazhouani (data collection on diaspora
networks). All belong to the ANIMA Team. Translated into English by
Michael Boweren.
 Warm thanks are extended to the various Investment Promotion
Agencies (IPA) of the MED region, the ANIMA members and the
various people interviewed for the study (see Annex 1).
 Neither ANIMA nor any of the partners involved may be held
responsible for the provided data. Any error or lack of precision should be
reported at info@anima.coop. ANIMA is interested in your comments,
complementary information and updates. Many thanks.

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Acronyms
 AFII: Invest in France Agency
 ANIMA: Euro‐Mediterranean network of players for economic
development
 EU: European Union (often referred to as EU‐15, or former members,
EU‐10, or new members and EU‐27)
 FDI: Foreign Direct Investment
 GDP: Gross Domestic Product
 GIS: Geographical Information System
 GNP: Gross National Product
 ICT: Information and Communication Technologies
 IOM: International Organization for Migration
 IPA: Investment Promotion Agency
 MED‐11: Group of 11 countries neighbouring Europe, i.e. 9
Mediterranean partner countries of the EU (Algeria, Egypt, Israel,
Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestinian Authority, Syria, Tunisia), one
with observer status (Libya) and one in the membership process, Turkey.
Malta and Cyprus joined the Union in May 2004.
 MED‐10: the same without Libya, Malta and Cyprus (with Turkey)
 MENA: Middle East ‐ North Africa = MED‐10 + Mauritania, Libya,
Sudan, countries of the GCC + Yemen, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan
(at times variable geometry)
 MIPO: Mediterranean Investment and Partnership Observatory
 MPCs: Mediterranean Partners Country of the EU
 R&D: Research and Development
 SME: Small and Medium Enterprise
 UfM: Union for the Mediterranean
 UNCTAD: United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
 WIR: World Investment Report (UNCTAD report on world investment)

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List of contents
Foreword: mobilising the Diasporas, a tricky exercise ......................5
Specific ways in which the diasporas function ................................................. 5
Home Sweet Home: a ʺmade‐to‐measure experimentʺ .................................. 6
Other earlier experiments in the Mediterranean ............................................. 8
Another issue, the mobilisation of migrants’ savings ..................................... 10
Lessons for action ................................................................................................ 12
Introduction and framework..............................................................15
Attracting diaspora talents: a new economic challenge for
MED countries ....................................................................................17
Migrations encouraged from the 1960s ............................................................ 17
Financial transfers increasing considerably .............................................................. 20
Bank on the ‘Diaspora’ option: going from exodus to positive mobility ............. 21
Counting on the Diaspora talents to facilitate the economic lift‐off
of the MED region ............................................................................................... 22
The mobilisation of expatriate competence: going from the brain drain
to the brain circulation .................................................................................................... 22
The Mediterranean, new land of opportunity for entrepreneurs .......................... 25
The talent networks, new vectors for co-development .....................31
Typology of the MED diaspora talent networks ............................................. 33
Networks belonging to the business community ..................................................... 33
Networks belonging to the scientific and technical community ........................... 34
Networks belonging to the sphere of civil society ................................................... 34
The economic initiatives of the MED competence networks ......................... 37
Actions contributing to investment, business creation and economic
trade ................................................................................................................................. 37
Partnership and co‐development actions .................................................................. 38
Actions of information and lobbying to promote the MED countries
and improve the business climate ............................................................................... 39
Analysis of some MED country profiles ..............................................41
Algeria: mobilising the knowledge diaspora ................................................... 41
Palestinian Authority: participating in the economic shakedown ................ 44

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Egypt: helping the young local start‐ups to grow ........................................... 48
Israel: the Israeli and Jewish diasporas at the service of the
knowledge economy ........................................................................................... 52
Jordan: better identify networks of expertise .................................................. 56
Lebanon: a reservoir of talents throughout the world .................................... 60
Morocco: placing “MRE investors” at the heart of business
creation ................................................................................................................. 64
Syria : taking advantage of liberalisation ......................................................... 68
Tunisia: taking advantage of the proximity of the European Union ............ 71
Towards a plan of action to mobilise the economic Diasporas ..........75
Mobilising the diasporas, for what reason? ..................................................... 75
Mobilising the diasporas, what’s to be done? .................................................. 76
External conditions ........................................................................................................ 76
Exploiting expatriate talents ........................................................................................ 77
Creating a toolkit of business opportunities for the diasporas .............................. 77
Supporting Diaspora participation in the development of business in
the Mediterranean ......................................................................................................... 78
Implementing these actions, but how? ............................................................. 80
Annexes..............................................................................................83
Annex 1. List of people interviewed for the study .......................................... 83
Annex 2. Sample of 300 talent networks identified in the ANIMA‐
MedDiasporas directory ..................................................................................... 84
Annex 3. Selected Bibliography ......................................................................... 98

Foreword: mobilising the
Diasporas, a tricky exercise
By Bénédict de Saint‐Laurent, Scientific Advisor to the ANIMA network
It would be naive of us to imagine that an ”organised” mobilisation of the
economic diasporas is a simple matter. Accustomed to getting on with it
outside the official circuits, expatriate entrepreneurs are not easy customers.
The specific features of the way in which the diasporas function explain
certain pitfalls. It may be of interest, before moving on to the analysis which
shows the contribution of the diaspora networks which work for the
development of their home country and then on to the recommendations for
action, to present some earlier experiments carried out in the Mediterranean
and provide a brief and rapid overview of them.
Specific ways in which the diasporas function
By their very nature, the diasporas represent a heterogeneous population,
relatively dissipated and difficult to “manage”. One merely has to consider,
for example, the extreme variety of the destinations throughout the world.
In the case of the Lebanese, (according to Wikipedia, in 2008, of the 12.4
million expatriates, 5.8 million were to be found in Brazil, 2.3 million were
living in the United States, 1.2 million in Argentina – against only 5.5 million
living in Lebanon) or the Palestinians (in the region of 5 million expatriates,
with 2.6 million in Jordan, 500,000 in Chile, 465,000 in Syria, 430,000 in
Lebanon – compared with only 4 million living in the Territories, plus 1.2
million Israeli Arabs). The social levels are also very varied, with a highly‐
skilled diaspora (covered by this report), benefiting from a relatively well‐
chosen emigration, and basic workers, practically obliged to emigrate so as
to ensure the survival of themselves and their families.
Another element which complicates matters is the duality which arises when
one can emigrate to a country which is wealthier than one’s own. Of course,
one does not feel perfectly at home, but one has the benefit of an appreciable
income and living conditions, often greater freedom than at home
(democratic freedom, fewer family or social constraints, more anonymous
relationships governed by contract rather than by customs), and a self‐
rewarding experience of social success (when everything goes well...). The

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mother country is doubtless missed and along with it a whole range of
sensations, of positive memories, of relational or affective needs. But any
return to the home country is in most cases difficult, for those who stayed
behind hardly appreciate the experience of the expatriates and may at times
treat them as a kind of traitor to the homeland... There is often an overriding
paradoxical feeling – a feeling of banishment (one is at home everywhere but
nowhere), a wave of guilt vis à vis one’s origins, contradictory envies. The
cinema or songs have helped to popularise this confusion of feelings, played
on by certain campaigns inciting one to return home or to reinvest.
Whatever the case, the economic diasporas have a complicated relationship
with their country of origin, they are rarely opposed to the idea of playing a
positive role. The point is to know whether it is simply a question of good
intentions (‘I have nothing against the idea of helping my homeland’) or
whether it is possible to imagine actually doing it. The relationships of
citizenship which the Mediterraneans maintain with their home territories
would often seem to be very local, more like that of a ʺclanʺ (the family, the
cousins, the Marseillais, the people from the Rif, the Kabyles, etc.) than real
relationships with the nation. At first each one will try and this is quite
normal, to favour his own interest, then his family, his district, his village.
Unlike the Asians, the Mediterraneans are quite individualistic and have
little belief in collective action. This might be a question of trust, which is
likely to be quickly disappointed beyond the family circle or close partners.
The human bond is essential in business relationships in the Mediterranean.
The individualisation, the personalisation of these relationships makes it
much more difficult to introduce reinvestment systems.
Home Sweet Home: a "made-to-measure experiment"
One other feature of the economic diaspora is the ʺgranularʺ character of
their economic impact. While, in the emigration direction, some very
remarkable success stories have been possible for the Southern
Mediterraneans (let us recall, in the case of the Lebanese, Carlos Slim, king
of the mobile telephone and the richest Mexican businessman or Carlos
Ghosn, CEO of Renault‐Nissan), the projects in the other direction remain at
a much more modest level. The Home Sweet Home experiment, carried out
since 2003 by Provence Promotion, the economic development agency from
the Bouches‐du‐Rhône, is highly illuminating in this respect.

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Based upon a concept of an offer of assistance to
return or a second investment in Provence, and
aimed at entrepreneurs of French‐speaking origin
from Silicon Valley, from New England and later
from the City of London, Provence Promotion has
managed to attract several dozen project
promoters, by means of information seminars
organised on the other side of the Atlantic or cross
channel and generous ʺpackagesʺ to aid investment
(see Figure 1). But the great majority of these
projects concerned one‐man businesses; hence the
important needs in terms of support. The return of the diasporas has to be
ʺmade to measureʺ, for it really is a painstaking process...
Figure 1. Home Sweet Home or Provence, back to the Future
The argument of Provence Promotion is addressed to expatriate executives
(ʺYou originate from Provence? You are French, French‐speaking, a lover of
France, attracted by the assets of France?ʺ etc.) and plays on the advantages
of Marseille and its region: broad band connection with the rest of the world
(17 TGV high speed trains per day to Paris and less than 2 hours by plane
from 25 European and Mediterranean metropolitan centres), real estate and
salary from 25 to 60 % lower than those of the European capitals such as
London or Paris, customised aids such as such as Tax Credit for Research or
Regional Business Creation Loan, quality of life and human resources.
There is insistence on support at all stages of the project:
 Assistance in the preparation of the business plan;
 Aid for the development of technological or commercial partnerships;
 Integration into one of the 8 competitiveness clusters of the Region;
 Network comprising more than 100 private and public partners: incubators,
nurseries, State and local governments, banks, venture‐capitalists, business‐
angels, consulting firms, research centres, competitiveness clusters,
manufacturing companies, family support structure…
In 2005, Home Sweet Home received the Initiatives de l’Economie prize awarded
by the French economic press. In 2006, the programme was the French finalist
for the European Spirit of Enterprise Prize. Between 2003 and 2009, Home
Sweet Home supported the installation in Provence of 46 businesses coming
from other regions of the world, with 70% coming from the United States.

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Other earlier experiments in the Mediterranean
Between 2003 and 2006, the programme ANIMA I carried out a project
called ANIMA‐Diasporas, followed by MEDA‐Entrepreneurs, with variable
results. Inspired by the experience of Home Sweet Home, the aim of this
operation was to prepare incentive campaigns encouraging the return of
entrepreneurs originating from the MED countries, accompanied by the
compilation on site of packages adapted to the chosen targets, themselves
taking account of the territorial offer of the host countries or sites. Several
seminars or missions of assistance were organised in Egypt, in Turkey, in
Algeria and in France, so as to define the offer of the countries interested and
launch some tests.
Figure 2. Examples of slogans imagined (Turkey, Jordan, Palestine and Tunisia)

To promote the creation of businesses by the nationals, MEDA‐
Entrepreneurs concentrated on the definition of a marketing strategy
adapted to each country. Precise targeting was advised by Home Sweet
Home as a condition for success:
 Collect all basic data on the expatriation of executives (numbers,
countries of destination, professions exercised);

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 Choose 2 or 3 countries for expatriation (for example, Brazil or the
United States for the Lebanese, Australia for the Maltese, Germany for
Turkey), choose very precise professions or sectors (hi tech engineers,
bankers, doctors, etc.);
 Prepare an argument in English giving good reasons for investing in the
home country;
 Find an original slogan which can be used to motivate the expatriate
(repeated as a title of a slide show, see Figure 2. For example, ʺGreen
Tunisiaʺ with the connotation of agricultural prosperity, linked to
abundant rains);
 Define an attractive package for the candidates on their return (offices
and logistics such as ‘businessman’s hotel’, ‘business’ assistance,
financial assistance and bank loans, search for partners, aid for the
employment of the wife/husband, reception of the family, etc.);
 Imagine a modest plan of action for the first year (in an attempt to
convince the authorities concerned) and gather the financial means
necessary (estimated, for an initial pilot test at 50 k€).
The results are very variable and to be frank, often disappointing:
 Only Malta (a country integrated within the MED area) has really
managed to go to the end of the exercise, with Malta Enterprise having
set up a mission in Australia (1st destination for Maltese emigration),
targeting 2 promising sectors (generic medicines and maritime freight)
and leading to the creation of businesses in Valetta;
 In Egypt, a unit dedicated to the diaspora was able to be created within
the IPA (the GAFI), with a certain success (a few individual businesses
attracted);
 In Turkey, a limited operation was undertaken over 2 summer months,
with some Turkish expatriates in Germany, at the moment they
returned to their town or village of origin (they were given a leaflet); but
the operation could not be monitored, the Foreign Investment
Department (GDFI) had been replaced by the new Invest in Turkey
agency (which has launched effective campaigns, but which were
focused on the large companies);

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 Egypt, Algeria and Lebanon participated in a seminar in Palo Alto
(United States), at the end of 2005, which associated their consulates and
their expatriates; 13 prospects came to light, one of which was from
Lebanon, but even entrepreneurs originating from South of the
Mediterranean showed an orientation for a location on the Northern
rim, which was also represented (Marseille); in the other countries
interested, the attempts came to nothing: Jordan (Jordan Investment
Board) managed to define a budget, but the person trained by ANIMA
was transferred and this budget could not be used;
 A study (in English) on economic migrants was published by ANIMA in
December 2005 (Re‐investment by Native Entrepreneurs in their Home
Countries: World & MEDA Context Study N°7, Jean‐Paul Debrinski1).
Another issue, the mobilisation of migrants’ savings
The orientation of migrant workers’ savings towards investment is a classic
subject of the Euro‐Mediterranean or UfM debates. At least three large
networks show an interest in the subject, but the projects are complex and
therefore difficult to realise:
 A network led by the Caisse dʹEpargne (France) and involving 11 Euro‐
Mediterranean banks (Al Amana, Bank of Alexandria, Banque
Internationale Arabe de Tunisie, Banque Tuniso‐Koweitienne, Caisse
Nationale des Caisses dʹépargne, Confédération nationale des caisses
dʹépargne, Crédit Immobilier et Hôtelier, Groupe Attijariwafa Bank,
Intesa San Paolo, Agence Française de Développement, Banque
Européenne dʹinvestissement) is working on simplified transfers (card
to card, less costly electronic transfers), a European saving account
concept used to invest in the South (with the same advantages in local
convertible currency), and products for the small and medium
enterprises (export‐credit, insurance, leasing...); the recent Milhaud
report on the financing of co‐development in the Mediterranean
mentions migrant savings, channelled into highly liquid short term
products, and rarely transformed into long term savings, hence in
investment for businesses; it suggested developing incentives for

1 Downloadable from:
http://www.animaweb.org/uploads/bases/document/medaentrepreneur2_FR_EN.pdf

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products likely to extend the horizon of these savings (sustainable
development account, building society account, life assurance, etc.).
 Another network of private banks, created in 1996, is coordinated from
Malta, the Mediterranean Bank Network (MBN). It includes Banco
Sabadell (Spain), Banco Popolare (Italy), Bank of Jordan, Bank of
Valletta (Malta), Commercial International Bank (Egypt), Hellenic Bank
(Cyprus), Israel Discount Bank, Nova Ljubljanska Banka (Slovenia) and
the Banque Fédérale des Banques Populaires (France). The objective is
above all to act as a ʺvoice of the banking communityʺ with the
Euromed and UfM authorities, but MBN is also interested in migrants’
transfers and innovative solutions to encourage entrepreneurship;
 The Euromed Postal network, supported by Invest in Med and
ANIMA, was launched by La Poste (France) in 2007 and associates the
postal organisations of 18 countries (Algeria, Cyprus, Egypt, Spain,
France, Italy, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Malta, Monaco,
Portugal, Palestine, Slovenia, Syria, Tunisia and Turkey), willing to
work on common projects, in particular intended for migrants. Among
these countries, 14 postal services decided in October 2010 to create a
postal community (Union des Postes pour la Méditerranée) which is
studying the possibility of twin accounts (same account in Euro in
France, in Dinars in Algeria), less costly transfers and financial
products or a courier system based on a hub planned for Tunis.
In 2006, the EIB published a study on ‘the transfer of the funds of
Mediterranean migrants from Europe’2, which was interested in the large
‘corridors’ of the transfer of funds between Europe and the MED countries.
Some 7.1 billion Euro are transferred officially each year from Europe to 8
Mediterranean countries (from 12 to 14 billion if account is taken of the
‘informal’ transfers). These transfers of funds therefore assume great
economic importance for the MED countries (between 2 and more than 20 %
of GDP depending on the country concerned).
According to the EIB, ‘the companies which transfer funds often represent the
dominant official channel, for they are accessible, rapid and effective; they are,
however, extremely costly for the users. The transaction fees may in fact be as high

2 Downloadable from :
http://www.bei.org/attachments/country/femip_migrants_fr.pdf

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as 16 % of the amount transferred. Finally, the funds are essentially intended for
consumption. They are used to improve education, health and accommodation
conditions and only a small part is oriented directly towards productive
investments’. This is effectively the Achilles’ heel of all the important
reflections on the subject...
Lessons for action
All these experiences, including the failures, provide a wealth of lessons for
MedDiasporas. ANIMA has always considered that the subject was both
symbolic and strategic and an attempt should be made to reboot it using a new
approach.
Finally, it is probably necessary to confirm the difficulty of the exercise, to
imagine a new logic, and refocus the ambition on a few concrete objectives:
 Difficulty of the exercise: a. The money from the diasporas is used
above all for consumption and the survival of the households left
behind in the country of origin; b. Therefore a very small part may be
used for the creation of business; c. The projects envisaged are only
very rarely of appreciable size (but this does not mean that they are not
important – a specialist in biotechs or in cryptography who returns
may well be decisive); d. Thus, they require a great deal of monitoring
and therefore are of little interest to those responsible (they involve an
undue amount of means for results whose impact is likely to be highly
focused and very long term ...);
 New logic: even if the migratory flows take place on a planetary scale,
a global approach is not necessarily efficient; offering reinvestment
perspectives to migrants is part of a local to local logic; the Euro‐
Mediterranean dimension (a regional programme) is only of meaning
to train, provide examples, disseminate the main results obtained;
 Recentering necessary: at times envisaged, the creation of centralised
systems is not realistic; on the contrary, the strengthening of existing
networks which have demonstrated a real operationality in the field,
backing for local actions (development of ʺpackagesʺ, incentive
campaigns), the dissemination of information (directories, best
practices, success stories), would seem to be useful.

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The case of Israel, often quoted as a counter‐example, is a special case.
Firstly, immigration there represents an intrinsic stake. Then, certain events,
such as the return of the million Russian Jews, enabled the problem to be
treated from a ‘macro‐economic’ point of view, with economies of scale (for
example, to ‘occupy’ the 80,000 or so Russian scientists, the launching of a
network of 24 incubators and venture‐capital funds, business coaching
programme, etc.).
In the other countries of the region (except perhaps Palestine), the issue of
migrant entrepreneurs is more difficult and involves a decentralised
approach, drawing attention to local successes and mobilising resources
close to the field. It is in these conditions that MedDiasporas will be able to
bear fruit –the etymology moreover shows the way, in Greek dia‐sporein
(‐) means to sow small seeds, dispersing them throughout space,
or in great profusion... The diaspora then, is the dispersion, with all the
challenges associated with it...

Introduction and framework
The challenge
Part of the global community and living in the Internet age, the highly
qualified expatriates speak several languages and possess financial means
and a solid experience acquired in the professional world abroad, in which
they are at times perfectly well integrated, but nevertheless retain very
strong affinities with their country of origin. Self‐organised in the form of
professional networks in the North, aware of their added value to the South,
the competence networks are powerful lever in support of modernisation and
the economic realignment of the MED region.
The objectives
For a number of years now, in the MED countries, there has been increasing
awareness, albeit belated but salutary, of the enormous economic potential
of the competence living abroad:
 To take up this challenge for the creation of jobs, the MED countries
need an ecosystem likely to encourage both the creation of competitive
local businesses, the contribution of private capital (investment and/or
financing) and technological innovation. What role can the highly
qualified diasporas play so as to accelerate the modernisation of the
region’s economies?
 What are the main actions carried out by the diaspora talents to
participate in the economic and technological development of their
country of origin? Among the range of networks detected, which are the
most active and operational in the field?
 In what way can the interactions between the competence networks and
the main public and private MED institutions in charge of economic
development be facilitated?
The objective of the study is to understand firstly the different motives for
the mobilisation of the MED talent networks which act in favour of the
economic development of the region, and to analyse the various forms
which these contributions may take, by proposing, among other things, a
typology. Later, a more detailed country by country overview will be carried
out on the basis of interviews conducted so as to throw light upon the main

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needs expressed by the countries of origin in the fields of economic
development and the transfer of know‐how, as well as examples of
successful initiatives promoted by qualified diaspora networks. Particular
attention will be paid to the predominantly economic initiatives promoted
by the talents of the MED diaspora (actions contributing to investment, to
entrepreneurship and to innovation).
The perimeter of the study
Literature on the diasporas provides a great number of definitions which can
cover a very wide spectrum. In this study, the main targets of analysis will
be the qualified expatriate networks from the economic, scientific and technological
domains originating from the MED countries. By talent network, should be
understood a self‐organised grouping composed mainly of qualified and
highly qualified expatriates, sharing common professional interests and a
strong feeling of belonging to a country or a community of origin. For a
diaspora network, the upkeep of close ties (socio‐cultural, economic, and
affective) with the country of origin and the will to act in its favour are the
affectio societatis of the members of the network and the fuel which stimulates
its activity. Synonymously, the terms ‘talents’ and ‘competence(s)’ will be
used to refer to qualified expatriates.
This study is based upon research work on literature (see the bibliography in
Annex 3), completed by several dozen interviews conducted with players in
the field between January and October 2010 (see the list of interviews in
Annex 1). The systematic search for networks of MED diasporas throughout
the Web provided the means to compile the directory of the MedDiasporas
competence network, presented in Annex 2, which accounts for 470 diaspora
networks originating from the Southern and Eastern rims of the
Mediterranean.

Attracting diaspora talents: a new
economic challenge for
MED countries
Migrations encouraged from the 1960s
According to the Institut National d’Etudes Démographiques (INED), in
2010 the world had 214 million international migrants, that is to say
individuals living in a country where they were not born, or 3.1% of the total
world population. It is estimated that there are around 10 million migrants
originating from the countries of the Southern and Eastern rims of the
Mediterranean living and working abroad3. Among these migrants are to be
found a number of expatriate talents (scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs,
intellectual professions, etc.), who had left their country of origin to chance
their luck elsewhere, in the hope of a better professional and social future.
According to a study carried out in 2009 by the recruitment agency,
TalentRepublic, 54% of the students from Arab countries who have left to
train abroad do not return to their country of origin, and 100,000 scientists,
doctors and engineers leave Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia,
Morocco and Algeria4 each year. Thus around 80% of the Algerian diaspora
located in the United States and Canada is composed of highly qualified
graduates5, while nearly 500,000 highly qualified Jordanian white collar
workers were working in the Gulf States prior to the crisis (CCG).
Figure 3. How are the immigrants distributed on a planetary scale?
In a report published at the end of November, the INED analyses the spread of
immigrants throughout the world. For the demographer, Gilles Pinson, the most
attractive countries should be classified into several categories:
 A first group of countries, characterised by their hydrocarbon wealth, where the
immigrants (defined by the INED as individuals born in another country other

3 Ivan Martin, Executive Summary ‐ Labour Markets and Migration in Arab
Mediterranean Countries, CARIM, 2009
4 Françoise De Bel Air, Highly‐skilled migration from Jordan: a response to socio‐
political challenges, CARIM, 2010
5 Hocine Khelfaoui, The Algerian diaspora in North America: a resource for its
country of origin?, CARIM, 2006

18
than the one in which they reside) are sometimes in a majority: Qatar (86%),
United Arab Emirates (70%), Kuwait (69%), Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman and
Brunei (28 to 40%).
 A second group is made up of the micro‐States endowed with an advantageous
fiscal status, which also have a highly internationalised population, the likes of
Monaco (72%), Macao (55%) or Singapore (41%).
 A third group is made up of the “former new” countries, with large lightly
inhabited spaces: Australia (22%), Canada (21%).
 A fourth group brings together the Western industrial democracies, where the
proportion of immigrants compared with the total population of the country is to
be found between 7% and 16% : Austria (16%), Sweden (14%), Spain (14%),
United States (13%, this country also plays host to the greatest number of
immigrants in the world, with 40 million individuals), Germany (13%), France
(11%), Netherlands (10%), United Kingdom (10%), Belgium (9%), Italy (7%).
 Finally, a last group is made of the countries which host massive flows of
refugees who come from neighbouring states. In this group is to be found Syria,
where around one million Iraqi refugees are living (5% of its population).
Source: “The number and the share of immigrants in the population: international
comparisons”, Gilles Pinson, INED, November 2010
The geography of the migrations in the Euro‐Mediterranean region is very
much linked to the historical heritage (ties between the Maghreb and France,
between Morocco and Spain, between Turkey and Germany, etc.).
Figure 4. Geo‐location of MED expatriates in the main countries of the EU (Source:
Mediterranean Migration Report 2006‐2007)
Algeria
Egypt
Jordan
Lebanon
Morocco
Tunisia
Algeria
Egypt
Jordan
Lebanon
Morocco
Tunisia
46 278
2 501
511 294
Spain
46 278
2 501
511 294
Spain
46 278
2 501
511 294
Spain
80 602
7 841
3 407
Belgium
80 602
7 841
3 407
Belgium
80 602
7 841
3 407
Belgium
685 558
15 974
33 278
728 782
260 622
France
685 558
15 974
33 278
728 782
260 622
France
685 558
15 974
33 278
728 782
260 622
France
13 555
10 645 7 981
39 380
69 926
23 217
Germany
13 555
10 645 7 981
39 380
69 926
23 217
Germany
13 555
10 645 7 981
39 380
69 926
23 217
Germany
13 555
10 645 7 981
39 380
69 926
23 217
Germany
10 672
24 705
3 105
10 454
12 351
3 070
UK
10 672
24 705
3 105
10 454
12 351
3 070
UK
10 672
24 705
3 105
10 454
12 351
3 070
UK
10 672
24 705
3 105
10 454
12 351
3 070
UK
Source : Mediterranean
Migration Report 2006-2007,
CARIM, European University
Institute Florence
20 202
58 879
2 652
3
317
319 537
83 564
Italy
20 202
58 879
2 652
3
317
319 537
83 564
Italy
20 202
58 879
2 652
3
317
319 537
83 564
Italy
20 202
58 879
2 652
3
317
319 537
83 564
Italy
3 888
11 131
2 833
168 504
4 126
Netherlands
3 888
11 131
2 833
168 504
4 126
Netherlands
3 888
11 131
2 833
168 504
4 126
Netherlands
3 888
11 131
2 833
168 504
4 126
Netherlands

19
Figure 4 presents the spread of the largest expatriate communities
originating from the MED countries in Europe. The origin of these diasporas
is linked to the differentiated economic growth which the EuroMed + Gulf
States area experienced in the second part of the 20th century. The European
countries were short of poorly qualified manual labour in certain sectors
(automobile, for example). The Gulf States, for their part needed executives
and specialists, given their reduced indigenous population. Less developed,
the South of the Mediterranean has played a role of labour reservoir.
Despite the loss in human capital, the MED countries understood that this
emigration of their brains was a means of relieving social tension linked to
unemployment and ensuring indirect economic spin‐offs, the most
important of which was the transfer of funds made by the migrants to their
families. ‘From the 1960s (Turkey, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria) and the 1970s
(Egypt, Jordan), the governments of several countries facilitated the emigration of
their nationals and certain even made it a part of their announced strategy for
growth set out in their development plans.’6.
Figure 5. Main corridors for the transfer of funds in the Euro‐Med space
(Sources: World Bank, CVA‐Euromed Postal report for Invest in Med, only the values above
US$ 100 million are represented)

6 Migrants and migrations in the Mediterranean basin, Philippe Fargues and Hervé Le
Bras, Les Notes IPEMED, 2009

20
In Morocco, where the incentive for the departure of qualified workers was
among the strongest in the battle against unemployment, it was a question
of ‘exporting’ the greatest number of workers and executives as possible,
those who were later to be referred to as MRE (Moroccans Residing Abroad),
so as to reduce very strong domestic social pressure.
Financial transfers increasing considerably
The transfers of funds from the MED diaspora have exploded since the
beginning of the 2000s, so much so that they have become one of the main
budgetary sources for certain countries of the region, such as Egypt,
Morocco (which are both to be found in the world Top 20 of the countries
receiving the greatest amount of foreign currency from the diaspora) or
Lebanon (the transfers of funds represented 25% of Lebanese GDP in 2008).
According to the World Bank, workers originating from the MED countries,
despite the start of the crisis, have transmitted to their families 34.8 billion
dollars in 2008, that is nearly double the transfers recorded in 2005 (US$ 18.1
billion).
Figure 6. Main sources of external income, MED‐10 countries, in US$ millions
Sources: FDI: UNCTAD, UN/ANIMA estimations for 2009; Tourism: WTO, ANIMA;
Transfers: World Bank; PDA: OECD (estimation ANIMA for 2009); Exports: UN ComTrade
(CIA WFB for 2009)
30 045
59 169
55 051
52 562
30 772
42 743 42 085 50 675
59 675
56 708
18 133
26 472
28 730
34 864
31 728
5 633
8 685
9 524
12 431 11 200
207 517
243 656
288 921
360 287
282 622
0
50 000
100 000
150 000
200 000
250 000
300 000
350 000
400 000
0
10 000
20 000
30 000
40 000
50 000
60 000
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Foreign direct investment Tourism revenues
Remittances by migrants Public development aid
Exports (on right axis)

By making regular transfers to the families who remain at home, the MED
country diasporas participate in the export of capital from industrialised
countries towards the region. Based on the estimations of the World Bank,

21
Figures 6 and 7 show that financial transfers represent, in these times of
world economic slowdown, indispensible lifelines for the upkeep of the
socio‐economic stability of the MED countries. As a percentage of GDP, the
transfers of funds made by Jordanian workers, between 80 and 90% of which
are used for everyday household consumption, should represent in 2009
more than double the net FDI flows received the same year.
Figure 7. Transfers from migrants, tourism income and direct foreign investment
(FDI) in some MED countries (Sources: World Bank, U.N. World Tourism Organisation,
UNCTAD, Central Bank of Egypt)
Country 2007 2008 2009
(est.)
2007 2008 2009
(est.)
2007 2008 2009
(est.)
Egypt
in dollars (bn) 6.3 8.4 7.6 8.2 10.8 10.5 11.1 13.2 8.1
as percent of GDP (%) 4.8% 4.7% 3.9% 6.3% 6.1% 5.4% 8.5% 7.5% 4.2%
Jordan
in dollars (bn) 3.4 3.8 3.6 2.3 2.9 2.5 1.9 2 1.5
as percent of GDP (%) 20.8% 18.5% 15.4% 14,0% 14.4% 10.7% 11.5% 9.5% 6.4%
Morocco
in dollars (bn) 6.7 6.8 6.3 7.2 7.2 6.6 2.2 2 1.3
as percent of GDP (%) 8.9% 7.7% 6.9% 9.5% 8.1% 7.3% 2.9% 2.3% 1.4%
Tunisia
in dollars (bn) 1.7 2 2 2.6 2.9 2.4 1.6 2.7 2
as percent of GDP (%) 4.9% 4.9% 5,0% 7.4% 7.3% 6.1% 2.1% 3.2% 2.2%
Remittances Tourism revenues Net FDI inflows

Bank on the ‘Diaspora’ option: going from exodus to positive
mobility
The financial sums involved have become essential for the economic stability
of a number of MED countries, and it is difficult today to imagine in the
short term a final return of the MED diaspora to their country of origin, since
the transfers of funds are largely dependent on the presence of expatriates in
the host country. The drying up or the ending of the financial transfers
would lead automatically to a brutal reduction in the income for States such
as Lebanon, Morocco, Jordan or Egypt, an accelerated impoverishment of
households and a dangerous increase in social discontent.
Furthermore, in their great majority, the qualified members of the MED
diaspora have built their professional and family life in the host country
which precludes for the greater number of them any eventuality of a firm
and final return. Paradoxically, this double attachment favours the
multiplication of other forms of more indirect commitment in favour of the
development of the country, of the region or the town of origin, notably by
the creation of organised networks.

22
For the public players from the South, as from the North, it henceforth
becomes important to give priority to other forms of mobilisation of the
diaspora at the service of development, by encouraging the circulation of
skilled expatriates, or “diaspora option”7, in a logic of co‐development,
facilitating exchanges and regular movements between the host countries
and the country of origin without prejudicing their eventual final return. The
qualified diaspora networks constitute an adequate vector for the MED
countries as well as for the host countries which are interested in
encouraging initiatives facilitating the transfer of technology, know‐how and
competence, in a circulatory logic and without involving a final return on
the part of expatriate competence.
Counting on the Diaspora talents to facilitate the
economic lift-off of the MED region
The mobilisation of expatriate competence: going from the brain
drain to the brain circulation
Against the flow of the classical concept of the exile of skilled diasporas, or
“Brain Drain”, the paradigm of “Brain Circulation” or circulation of
competence8 takes increasing importance in the public debate on international
migration. This recent concept, which appeared in the 1990s at the moment
of the explosion of Internet and the globalisation of trade, completely
overthrew the traditional approach to the phenomenon of the migration of
brains, often described as being a dead loss for the countries of the South.
According to this approach, the qualified migrants from the South who set
up in the North contribute not only to the creation of wealth in the host
country (creation of local businesses and hence jobs) but also in their country
of origin, serving notably a gateways in the fields of economic and scientific
development. With the generalisation of Internet, the diaspora talents have
started to organise themselves in the form of professional networks sharing
for the most part objectives of an economic, scientific, technical or
intellectual contribution in favour of their country or region of origin.

7 Rémi Barré, Valeria Hernandez, Jean‐Baptiste Meyer, Dominique Vinck, ‘Scientific
Diasporas”, IRD éditions, 2003.
8 Brain circulation: How high‐skilled immigration makes everyone better off, AnnaLee
Saxenian, The Brookings Institution, 2002. See also The New Argonauts: Regional
Advantage in a Global Economy, AnnaLee Saxenian, Harvard University Press, 2006

23
Figure 8. Return Option vs ‘Diaspora Option’ (Source: Jean Baptiste Meyer, IRD, 2008)
Country of
residence
Country of origin
c
c
DIASPORAS
Country of
residence
Country of origin
c
c
DIASPORAS
Return option Diaspora option(brain circulation)
By deciding to group together in a network, both to serve their own
professional interests but also to mutualise their know‐how, their experience
and their address books at the service of their country of origin, the diaspora
talents are gradually becoming privileged partners for the countries of
origin, with each party animated by a certain “wish for relationships”9.
Figure 9. The exchange networks of qualified migrants are multiplying on Internet
“Take advantage of the brain drain rather than suffer it, all countries which have
experienced a massive exodus of their graduates dream only of this... In the virtual
world, there is nothing extravagant about the idea. ʺToday we can observe a
proliferation of highly qualified diaspora networks whose aim is the development of
their country of origin. Those from Asia represent half of the total against nearly one
third for Africa and a little less than one quarter for Latin Americaʺ, explains Jean‐
Baptiste Meyer, a research worker at the Institut de recherche pour le développement
(IRD). (…) India and its ʺIndUs entrepreneursʺ, from the name of the association
which has enabled the boom in information technology in the country thanks to the
contribution of expatriate Indians in Silicon Valley, and China with its million
professionals abroad, according to the Overseas Chinese Professionals, have opened
up the way.
A change of perspective which is becoming a real possibility, for the emerging
countries are more and more attractive. This is the case of Morocco, for example,
where expatriate students and executives are on the look‐out for opportunities and
links with their country of origin. ‘The professional networks of qualified Moroccans are
more visible in the United States than in France, where this community is drowned in the
wider Moroccan immigrationʺ, explains Sabrina Marchandise, PhD student in
geography at the University of Montpellier‐III (Hérault).

9 Jean‐Baptiste Meyer, “The circulation competence, a challenge for development” ,
Swiss directory of development policy [On line], Vol. 27, n°2 | 2008, put on line on 19
March 2010. URL : http://aspd.revues.org/167

24
On its site, the association Biomatec, which brings together the North American life
sciences community, shows its determination to tighten the links between Moroccan
scientists from the other side of the Atlantic and those who remained on the shores of
the Mediterranean. Same objective for the Maroc Entrepreneurs network, which
claims ʺthe biggest network of senior executives and students in Europeʺ, with 10,000
members. “
Taken from “The exchange networks of qualified migrants are multiplying on Internet” by
Brigitte Perucca, Le Monde, 30/03/2010
The example of the Indus Entrepreneurs network, a model success story
for the MED diaspora talents
Research undertaken among the highly qualified expatriates of Asian origin
living and working in the Silicon Valley has highlighted the multiplication
of professional networks pursuing a double mission10: the creation of wealth
in the host countries (entrepreneurship, networking, business opportunities)
as well as in the country of origin (transfer of know‐how and mentoring,
externalisation of production towards the country of origin, the promotion
of the country of origin among investors from the host country, etc.). The
installation in the Californian Silicon Valley of tens of thousands of highly
qualified migrants from India has enabled this country to weave very
fruitful technological links with one of the most innovative and dynamic
economic regions in the world (at the end of the 1990s, nearly one third of
the technological enterprises in Silicon Valley – that is nearly 73,000 jobs –
were owned by Indian and Chinese entrepreneurs).
The network IndUS Entrepreneurs was created in this context in 199411, and
it brings together several thousand highly qualified professionals of Indian
origin (directors of start‐ups, entrepreneurs, engineers, etc.). Indus
Entrepreneurs has given itself the mission of promoting entrepreneurship
and investment between Silicon Valley and India on three main levels:
networking, support (mentoring of young Indians seeking business
connections in the United States) and technology transfer (for example
between the United States and Bangalore Valley).
The success encountered by IndUS entrepreneurs has directly inspired a
number of businessmen from the MED diaspora installed in Silicon Valley. It

10 Brain circulation: How high‐skilled immigration makes everyone better off,
AnnaLee Saxenian, The Brookings Institution, 2002
11 IndUS Entrepreneurs : www.tie.org

25
is the case of the TechWadi network, launched in the Spring of 2010, which,
as it will be seen in greater detail below, has taken on the task of drawing the
attention of the highly qualified Arab‐American diaspora living in Silicon
Valley to the need to improve the technological development of the MENA
region. It was also the year 2010 that saw the creation of the Algerian Start
Up Initiative, a network which brings together ICT professionals based in
Silicon Valley and in Europe and which organises each year in Algeria a
business plan competition as well as personalised coaching actions for the
attention of young innovative Algerian entrepreneurs.
The Mediterranean, new land of opportunity for entrepreneurs
A new look at the diaspora
A major change is today underway in the history of relations between the
MED countries and their diasporas. In the South, after years of indifference –
and at times feelings of guilt‐, the political discourse today pleads willingly
for the exploitation and the mobilisation of expatriate talents, presented as a
chance to catch up economically (support for training, technical expertise
and innovation, information on entrepreneurship, etc.) and as an
opportunity for opening up to international markets (attraction of
investments, establishment of privileged gateways to the diaspora host
countries).
With the economic lift‐off of the region, stimulated by the appetite of the
foreign investors, the diasporas, which are animated by affective feelings
while keeping intact the taste for entrepreneurship, henceforth perceive the
MED region as a land of opportunity, increasingly integrated in world trade
(agreements of cooperation with the European Union or the United States,
integration in the WTO, etc.) and where “everything still remains to be done”
according to the well‐worked formula.
Business opportunities are multiplying on the Southern Rim
“The opportunities are there and today we should no longer hesitate before
investing. In the same way as a good number of countries in the region, Morocco is
emerging rapidly. For an expatriate, setting up today, as well as taking advantage of
this development he can position himself over the mid and long term on a market in
rapid expansion.” In the footsteps of the Franco‐Moroccan entrepreneur,

26
Hakim Kharrat, head of Protenia12, more and more businessmen from the
diaspora have decided to cross the Mediterranean to create added value
there. The Southern Rim of the Mediterranean would in fact today appear to
be a base of competitive production for industry and services, enjoying a
privileged geo‐economic location (proximity to the European Union,
multiplication of the powerful logistical and port infrastructures,
competitiveness of the labour force, etc.). Thanks to the reforms and
ambitious public policies, the MED region has emerged onto the map of the
international operators continually in search, despite the crisis, of
opportunities for development and reservoirs of economic growth (Figure
10).
Figure 10. Growth of GDP in some countries of the MED region in % (Source: World
Bank. Estimations for 2010 and 2011)
Country 1996-2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 (e) 2011 (e)
Algeria 4.0 2.0 3.0 3.0 2.1 3.9 4.0
Egypt 4.4 6.8 7.0 7.2 4.7 5.2 6.0
Jordan 4.7 8.0 8.9 7.9 3.2 3.9 4.5
Lebanon 3.3 0.6 7.5 8.5 7.0 7.0 7.0
Morocco 4.5 7.8 2.7 5.6 5.0 3.0 4.4
Syria 3.3 5.1 4.2 5.2 3.0 4.0 5.5
Tunisia 5.0 5. 6.3 4.5 3.3 3.8 5.0

12 Protenia is a biotechnology company dedicated to the engineering and production
of recombinant proteins. http://www.protenia.net/

27
Figure 11. Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia: 3 success stories of entrepreneurs of the
diaspora
Hakim Kharrat and Abdesslam Choua, Morocco version biotech
“Nothing predestined Hakim Kharrat (45 years old) and Abdesslam Choua (46 years old),
the co‐founders of Protenia, the first Moroccan biotechnology company, for an
entrepreneurial venture in the Kingdom. These two forty year old scientists had in fact
perfectly succeeded their professional integration as R&D engineer and research scientist in
clusters of excellence in France and Germany. What is more, Hakim Kharrat was at the head
of MilleGen, a Toulouse‐based company specialising in therapeutic antibody engineering.
In 2004 however, during a holiday in Morocco, Hakim Kharrat took the temperature of the
economic changes underway in his native country. His idea was born. He convinced his
friend Abdesslam Choua to invest and develop his activity from the other side of the
Mediterranean“. The idea was to create a technological production hub on site. (…) Protenia
came into being. Dedicated to the engineering and the production of therapeutic
recombinant proteins for research, the medical world and for industry, the young company
located at Ifrane, in the heart of the Technopark of the Moroccan University of Al‐
Akhawayn. The company, which has also developed a strong service activity, today
employs a dozen research scientists, engineers and technicians. It exports to France and
Europe and plans to deploy in the United States. (…)”
Taken from l’Usine Nouvelle,Véronique T. Narame, n° 3108, 3 July 2008

RedFabriq plays on Franco‐Algerian complementarity to work with the
multinational companies
After several years spent in managing international projects in France, Zaak Challal, a
Frenchman of Algerian descent, decided in 2008 to take the plunge and create his enterprise
and at the same time fulfilling an old dream: create a innovative start‐up with strong
potential whose success could serve as an example and profit the development of Algeria.
The concept RedFabriq was launched. RedFabriq is today a service company specialising in
solutions for the monitoring and control of information systems. With a privileged target:
the computer departments of large French and foreign groups for the industrialisation of
their projects. With a customer service centre in Paris dedicated to the architecture and the
design of projects, in 2008 Zaak Challal installed in Algeria a development platform
baptised “Near” (from “Nearshoring”) bringing together all the production teams (by
recruiting a dozen or so people: engineers, computer scientists, developers, all of Algerian
nationality). Since, several multinationals (among which McDonaldʹs, Groupama Asset
Management, Boucheron, Orange Business Solution, Gallimard, etc.) have shown their faith
in the competitiveness of the economic model proposed by RedFabriq: the guarantee of
international quality know‐how (privileged partnership with Microsoft, project
industrialisation methodology: Merise, UML and RUP) alongside a rigorous control of costs
and lead times.
Source: ANIMA, 2010

28
Khalil Charfi, his little computer services company is getting bigger
“It was during their studies in France fifteen or so years ago that Khalil Charfi and Samir
Zghal, today in their forties, first came across each other. For the graduate of the Institut
National des Télécommunications and the ‘Centralien’ from Lyon, there was no doubt: it
was to be in their home country that they were to devote themselves to their passion for the
new information technologies. On their return to Tunis in 1998, with three other associates,
and the backing of the investment capital company Tuninvest, they created Oxia, a
computer services company specialising in software engineering. After initial contacts with
Tunisian customers, the still small company started to deploy on the international scene.
“Today, 40% of our turnover comes from computer service companies, banks and French
software editors the likes of Cegid, 40 % from the Tunisians and 20 % from Africans and
Algerians”, explains Khalil Charfi, who ascribes his rapid development to the credit of a
real proximity with his customers. (…) With a team of 120 engineers and consultants (40 %
of them women), Oxia is optimistic for the future. “Great efforts have been made in the
NICT sector in Tunisia. The level of students is good. For the past two years, many foreign
businesses have been coming to set up here to take advantage of our competence”, says the
company boss with pride. (…)»
Taken from l’Usine Nouvelle,Véronique T. Narame, n° 3108, 3 July 2008
Since the beginning of the decade, the infrastructures have been developed
at a great pace (East‐West motorway in Algeria, a world class logistics
complex, Tanger Med, the boom in the special economic area of Aqaba in
Jordan, etc.). Key sectors such as tourism (Morocco), agriculture (Algeria) or
energy (Egypt, Libya) benefit from sizeable public support.
Figure 12. Evolution of FDI inflows and number of projects in the MED region (Sources:
ANIMA‐MIPO observatory, amounts in € mln; UNCTAD in US$ mln, 2003‐2009)

8 999
13 463
62 997
112 686
102 618
63 086 63 642
7 570
11 763
40 251
65 226
59 934
39 080
32 309
13 738 13 394
35 415
59 021
54 678
52 562
30 772
234
298
637
732 774
738
519
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
0
20 000
40 000
60 000
80 000
100 000
120 000
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Numberofprojects
FDIflow(million€or$)
Gross FDI flow, MIPO (M€) Net FDI flow, MIPO (M€)
FDI flow, UNCTAD (M$) Number of projects

29
The ICT offer has also exploded: the bulk of the MED countries today have
solid infrastructures (updating of internet coverage, clusters and
technological parks) attracting numerous world leaders from the sector (IBM
in Egypt, Mentor Graphics and Gemalto in Morocco, Microsoft in Tunisia
and Jordan, etc.). The attractiveness of the MED region can be seen in the
field by a considerable rise in FDI, with nearly 5,000 investment projects
brought by foreign operators between 2003 and 2010 according to the
ANIMA‐MIPO Mediterranean Investment and Partnership observatory. At
the peak of the crisis, the announcements of gross FDI kept up beyond the
threshold of 60 billion Euro, that is 3% of world FDI.
A regional ecosystem increasingly favourable to innovation and
entrepreneurship
To take up the challenge of job creation, the MED countries are multiplying
the policies aimed at encouraging the creation of innovative businesses and
risk‐taking.
Figure 13. The Diasporas participate in the setting up of a Mediterranean ecosystem
favourable to entrepreneurship and innovation (Source: ANIMA)
Investment, Venture Capital
financing, Business angels,
expertise, mentoring,
commercial relays, etc.
Innovation,
entrepreneurship, jobs,
sectoral strategies, training,
needs of expertise, etc.
Contributions
of MED
diasporas
talents
Needs of
MED
countries
Favourable ecosystem

The projects and incentives aimed at stimulating innovation are being
strengthened for example in Tunisia and Morocco (project of Tunis Telecom
City, “e‐Maroc” strategy in favour of the generalisation of digital
technology), while the support funds for local small and medium enterprises
(SMEs) are developing in Algeria and in Libya and Science Parks housing
incubators and R&D centres continue to see the light of day in Egypt, in

30
Jordan, in Israel or in the Palestinian territories. And even if the public and
private systems of financing innovation still remain insufficiently developed,
several incentive measures have been adopted in countries like Lebanon
where the Kafalat guarantee fund grants loans to SMEs and innovative start‐
ups.
By coming back to create local start‐ups the diaspora talents on return to
their homelands bring with them and disseminate more demanding
international standards, (awareness of new technological trends, need for
transparency, new vision), which help to stimulate the public efforts
deployed to improve the competitiveness of the local economy. In the
support domain, the actions carried out by the diaspora networks in favour
of students and young entrepreneurs is increasing considerably:
introduction to entrepreneurship, coaching and mentoring missions,
business plan competitions, establishment of North‐South ‘Technological
Corridors’ (e.g.: inter‐cluster partnerships between France and Tunisia,
launch of the first PlugandPlay incubator in Egypt in partnership with
expatriates based in Silicon Valley, etc.).

The talent networks, new vectors
for co-development
The MedDiasporas directory, a tool to help identify the MED talent
networks
Whether at a distance or through the more or less temporary comings and
goings, the MED diaspora talents are today more and more numerous to
mobilise in the form of networks so as to contribute as concretely as possible
to the economic develoment of the region via actions of support, the transfer
of expertise and investment. Launched in 2010, to measure the potential of
the talents of the MED diaspora, the MedDiasporas directory (which
managed to detect 470 networks between January and September 2010) aims
to facilitate the creation of contacts between the competence networks and
the economic and political decision‐makers who wish to introduce pro‐
diaspora facilities, to establish privileged business partnerships or simply
identify networks of qualified compatriots abroad.
Figure 14. Top 10 of the countries hosting the greatest number of qualified Diaspora
networks (Source: ANIMA‐MedDiasporas)
USA/155
France/47
Canada/45
UK/32
Germany/29
Belgium/11
Australia/11 Ireland/6
Brasil/4 UAE/4

32
An audit measuring the operational reality of the MED talent networks
To measure the representativeness and the degree of activity of the 470
diaspora networks identified, ANIMA carried out a mini audit of all the
internet sites of the MED competence networks inventoried between March
and September 2010. The MedDiasporas directory therefore proposes,
beyond the quantitative information (number of networks, country of origin
and host country, category appartenance), a good amount of qualitative
information which can be used to evaluate the degree of activity of the
network (the main indicators of the degree of activity are the frequency of
the updates of the web site as well as the regularity of the events and/or
actions carried out). It was also a question of distinguishing effectively the
competence networks which were really active and thus able to be mobilised
rapidly, from what in the literature is qualified as “fallen stars”13, internet
sites hardly or not at all active or hardly representative (often created at the
initiative of a single individual, without a real community behind it), but
which still have visibility on the web.
Figure 15. Classification of diaspora networks by country of origin according to the
level of operational activity (updating of Internet site, organisation of events, etc.)
Source: ANIMA‐MedDiasporas
72
66
51
42 40
24
17
12
10
5
0
20
40
60
80
Morocco Lebanon Algeria Egypt Israel Syria Jordan Palestine Tunisia Libya
Active Diaspora networks
Less active Diaspora networks

13 Jean‐Baptiste Meyer, “The circulation competence, a challenge for development” ,
Swiss directory of development policy [On line], Vol. 27, n°2 | 2008, put on line on 19
March 2010. URL : http://aspd.revues.org/167

33
Typology of the MED diaspora talent networks
The MedDiasporas directory has inventoried on the web 470 talent networks
originating from the MED countries, which can be split into three large
categories: the business community (236 networks), the scientific and
technical community (63 networks) and civil society (173 networks). The
recapitulative table on page 34 provides some examples of the networks
concerned.
Figure 16. Distribution of the networks inventoried in the MedDiasporas directory
by category (Source: ANIMA‐MedDiasporas)
13%
50%
37%
Scientific and technical
community
Business community
Civil Society

Networks belonging to the business community
This category includes the members of the MED diaspora with the financial
and technical capacities to contribute to the creation of value in the country
of origin:
 Either directly (direct investment, greenfield projects, business
partnerships, taking a participation in a local company, coaching and
support, etc.). Here we refer to entrepreneurs.
 Or indirectly: this is for example the case of the senior executives working
within foreign companies and having hierarchical and organisational
capacities to weigh upon the strategy of internationalisation of the
company, to the advantage of their country or region of origin (e.g.: head
of the supply chain, member of the board of directors, head of expansion
strategy, etc.). These are referred to as intra‐entrepreneurs.

34
E.g.: the Californian network TechWadi14 created by Americans originating from the
MENA region, organises innovation transfers as well as actions of information on
entrepreneurship towards their country of origin. TechWadi is also used as a hub of
exchanges between entrepreneurs, incubators and American and Arab investors.
Networks belonging to the scientific and technical community
This category includes the members of the MED diaspora with scientific
competence acquired in the country of origin or the host country. These
members are often organised in the form of national or regional professional
networks. These expatriates, often highly qualified and occupying important
functions in the host country, may play a key role in terms of the transfer of
technical and scientific know‐how and in terms of training in the widest
sense (professional, inter‐university partnership, collaboration between
laboratories, technical agreements, etc.).
E.g.: the network NOSSTIA15, an association founded by the members of the Syrian
diaspora carries out actions of technical and scientific upgrading in Syrian universities
and administrations, notably in the ICT domain.
Networks belonging to the sphere of civil society
This category brings together the greatest variety of players. Included in this
category are members of the MED diaspora coming from varied professional
universes (senior executives from the civil service and the private sector, the
cultural and artistic professions, etc.) and with an intellectual authority
which enables them to be heard, to weigh on the opinion or even the
decisions of the political decision‐makers and members of the diaspora. The
category civil society also includes the networks of traditional diasporas,
which are characterised by socio‐cultural events (actions of solidarity,
cultural events), mainly in the host country. Also concerned are the
associations specialising in migrations and development.
E.g.: The Association Migration Solidarité et Echanges pour le Développement16
organises actions in favour of the economic and associative development of the Maghreb:
benevolent action and missions of solidarity, creation of a bank of competence of Algerian
migrants, information workshops and aid in the creation of projects in the Southern countries.

14 TechWadi : http://www.techwadi.org
15 NOSSTIA : The Network of Syrian Scientists, Technologists and Innovators Abroad :
http://www.nosstia.ca/
16 Association Migration Solidarité et Echanges pour le Développement : amsed.fr/

35
Figure 17. Distribution of the MED Diaspora networks per category (Source:
ANIMA‐MedDiasporas, 2010)
Business
Community
What types of network? Business networks and trade between
the host countries and countries of origin, professional
networks, federations of entrepreneurs, networks of young
business school graduates, etc.
Examples of networks identified in MedDiasporas:
Algerian Start Up Initiative, Maroc Entrepreneurs, The Arab‐American
Business & Professional Association, US‐Algeria Business Council,
Réseau des Experts France Maghreb, New England‐Israel Business
Council, Algerian Talent Network, TechWadi, Association of
Moroccans Professionals in America, Lebanon Business Network,
Algerian Talents & Leaders Association, Convention France Maghreb,
Association des Compétences Tunisiennes Innovantes de France, etc.
Scientific and
Technical
Community
What types of networks? University networks, research workers
associations, scientific networks, Alumni & associations of the
top engineering and business schools, associations of
cooperation in the domain of health, student federations, etc.
Examples of networks identified in MedDiasporas :
The Network of Syrian Scientists, Technologists and Innovators
Abroad, Association Marocaine des Professionnels et des Scientifiques
de Québec, SoliMed Algérie, Canada‐Israel Cleantech Alliance,
Association Universitaire des Libanais de France, Moroccan American
Society for Life Sciences, The Syrian American Medical Society, etc.
Civil Society
What types of networks? Associative platforms, associations
promoting a gender approach, associations specialising in
migrations and the development, think tanks, etc.
Examples of networks inventoried in MedDiaspora :
Palestinian International Institute, Canadian Arab Friendship
Association, The Association of the Palestinian Community in UK,
Association de Solidarité Euro‐Marocaine, Réseau Citoyen des
Associations Franco‐Berbères, High Atlas Foundation, Conseil National
des Marocains de France, etc.

36
Focus on the propagation of virtual diaspora networks: examples of
LinkedIn and Facebook
The MedDiasporas directory has enabled the detection to date of 71 virtual
networks (or e‐networks) mainly on Facebook and LinkedIn, among which
53 belong to the category “Business community” and 6 to the category
”Scientific & Technical community”. The rapid expansion of the social
networks on Internet has enabled the instauration of new privileged
channels of communication between the expatriate competences and the
country of origin. Each month new professional networks are created on line
exclusively dedicated to the development of business between MED
diaspora talents and entrepreneurs and the scientists of the country of
origin. Simple to use and dynamic, these virtual networks have rapidly
become Agoras for investment and entrepreneurship in the Mediterranean,
where promoters of projects and investors come to disseminate information
on the business environment, meet with each other and trade.
The example of the group Jordan Brain’s Gain (JBG) is emblematic of the
new wave of the “e‐diasporas”. Founded on the LinkedIn hub, this very
active network brings together today more than 1.300 member, among
whom a good number of entrepreneurs from the Jordanian diaspora. Faced
with a wealth of exchanges, often completed by videoconferences, the
“virtual” members of the JBG met physically in Amman in 2008 and 2009 to
promote the project “The Jordan Edge”, the aim of which is to accelerate the
contribution of the qualified Jordanians from Silicon Valley to the
technological development of their country.
Examples of e‐networks detected on LinkedIn and Facebook : Jordan Brain’s Gain,
Algeria Business Innovators, Algerian Professionals in North America, Egyptian Expatriate
Professionals, Israeli IT Professionals Network, Jordanian Professional Overseas, Syrian
Engineers in Europe and North America, Moroccans Overseas Group, Arab MBAs, TechAviv,
Outsourcing and offshoring to Syria, US‐Israeli Life Sciences Association, Moroccan
Intellectual Capital, etc.

37
The economic initiatives of the MED competence
networks
Increasing numbers of MED competence networks are used as “gateways”
for economic development between countries of origin and host countries.
Their contributions are very varied and the list proposed is non‐exhaustive
but provides an illustrated typology with concrete examples.
Actions contributing to investment, business creation and
economic trade
1. Dissemination of information on the business environment, promotion
of the flourishing sectors and the facilitation of investments. This is for
example the role of US‐Algeria Business Council which catalyses the
commercial exchanges and business partnerships between Algerian and
American economic operators, or Maroc Entrepreneurs which favours
the development of economic relationships between French and
Moroccan SMEs.
2. Organisation of targeted business meetings by the MED competence
networks. Thus, for example, the Réseau des Algériens diplômés des
Grandes Ecoles or l’Association des Tunisiens des Grandes Ecoles
organises each year business meetings in France and in Europe to
promote the creation of value in Algeria and Tunisia.
3. Coaching and mentoring: the project TechWadi100 enables the members
of the TechWadi network established in Silicon Valley, to mentor young
creators of businesses living in the countries of the Maghreb and the
Near East, by providing them with customised support including
advice/counselling, financing and international contacts.
4. Organisation of visits of entrepreneurs in the country of origin. A form
of support undertaken by a good number of networks, such as for
example, the French association Réussir en Algérie, or the Association
pour la Coopération en Méditerranée which in 2009 was to accompany
a delegation of Franco‐Algerian business leaders in the context of the
Invest in Med programme (Figure 18).
Figure 18.The entrepreneurs of the Algerian diaspora ask for concrete measures
Meeting in October 2009 in Algiers in front of the main investment players in Algeria,
(ANDI, banks, heads of the fiscal services, ministries of tourism and expatriates, etc.),
20 entrepreneurs from the Algerian diaspora, who had come to debate in a workshop

38
organised by the ACIM in the context of the programme Invest in Med, pointed out a
certain number of measures which were hindering investment and the development
of business in Algeria.
In the presence of the ministerial representatives, several measures initiated within the
framework of the Loi de Finances Complémentaires 2009 were hence severely
criticised such as documentary credits, presented a veritable obstacle to investment. In
the face of the criticisms formulated by the expatriates on the difficulties of
entrepreneurship and to answer the call from the field, several measures of support
were proposed from the Algerian side, such as the project for the creation of branches
of public banks abroad, so as to support the young promoters of projects from the
Algerian diaspora.
For Abderahmane Benkhalfa, Delegate General of the Algerian association of banks
and financial establishments, “we are aiming for a real installation of activity in Algeria
and a delocalisation which will provide added value. We do not see the emigrant as a source of
savings but as a promoter of direct investments.” Several projects promoted by the
participants are today in the process of being fulfilled notably in tourism, the fishing
industry and certification.
Partnership and co-development actions
1. Technological Partnership: Biomatec is a network of scientists of
Moroccan origin based in the United States which organises actions of
cooperation and the exchange of know‐how with Moroccan peers
(workshops, conferences, newsletters, forum on line, blogs, etc.). In the
same key, the Association Scientifique Tunisienne en Allemagne
(TWG e.V.), an association of students and graduates with the mission
of supporting the cooperation between Tunisian and German industrial
and academic institutions.
2. University partnership and inter‐clusters: the initiative MedClusters
promoted by Moroccan diaspora talents and which, via a cycle of
seminars, deals with issues linked to innovation and entrepreneurship
on a Mediterranean scale by insisting notably on the role that the
diasporas can play to favour partnerships between clusters from the
North and South rims of the Mediterranean.
3. Co‐development and solidarity actions: Touiza Solidarité, a French
association directed by members of the Algerian diaspora carries out
actions to develop micro‐enterprises and promote the agricultural
potential of Kabylie in Algeria (transfer of expertise and exchange of
best practices).

39
Actions of information and lobbying to promote the MED countries
and improve the business climate
These are high level ad hoc events (conferences, forums) the aim of which is
to draw the attention of the decision‐makers, the entrepreneurs and public
opinion to the growth potential of the MED region.
1. It is the role of the network of the Young Mediterranean Leaders
created in 2008 at the moment of the launch of the Union for the
Mediterranean and which brings together several hundreds of economic
leaders who meet around an annual forum to debate and support
initiatives and concrete projects contributing to the construction of the
Euromediterranean area.
2. In the same way, the France‐Maghreb Convention brings together each
year several thousands of business leaders and representatives of the
Maghreb countries and encourages economic reforms by awarding each
year a “Trophy for the modernisation of public service in the Maghreb”.
3. The network AFAEMME17, which brings together women business
leaders originating from the MED countries, carries out lobbying actions
to promote and improve the professional role of women in the countries
on the shores of the Mediterranean.

17 It is to be noted that following the example of AFAEMME, several networks are
members of ANIMA or are part of MedAlliance and in this respect cooperate in the
programme Invest in Med, which plays a federating role. With, for example, the
organisation of EuroMediterranean B2Bs associating members of the diaspora through
the creation, started by the programme Invest in Med, of the CJD Maghreb, or further
the mobilisation of the technical and scientific diaspora through the initiative PACEIM
proposed by the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement and financed by Invest
in Med, for the creation and support of innovative businesses in the Mediterranean,
etc.

40
Figure 19. Examples of contributions made by MED competence networks
- Establishment of
trade links
- Access to
international
markets
- Codevelopment
initiatives
- Establishment of
partnerships
between
entreprises,
universities,
clusters, etc.
- Expertise,
training, discussion
forums, etc.
-Animation:
economic
clubs linking regions
or countries
of destination and
origin
- Experience sharing
Partnerships &
codevelopment
- Investment
promotion, business
forums, visits of
entrepreneurs from
host countries
- Support: coaching
and mentoring,
business plan
competition
- Support to
entrepreneurial
projects
- Raising awareness
among scientific and
universitary
networks
-Promotion of
the country of origin
as an area of
economic
opportunities:
events,
conferences, etc.
Investment &
business creation
Lobbying actions
to:
- promotion of MED
countries as business
opportunities
- improvement of the
local legislation and
the business climate
- Fundraising
- Support measures
encouraging
the mobility of skilled
diasporas:
scholarships, visas,
exchange programs,
partnerships, etc.
-Individual or
collective
lobbying for the
recognition and
the facilitation of
diaspora-led
initiatives
Lobbying &
sensibilisation
Business
Networks
Scientific
Networks
Civil Society

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