This year’s Tech the Justice Gap forum in Tunis showed how closely justice and economic confidence are linked for small and medium businesses in Tunisia.Held on 18 November 2025 at the Palais des Congrès, the forum brought together more than 300 participants from government institutions, the justice sector, the private sector, civil society, and the startup ecosystem. Entrepreneurs, policymakers, and innovators all pointed to the same conclusion. When people can solve legal problems without confusion or long delays, they are far more ready to invest, hire, and take on new opportunities.
HiiL’s Director of Innovation, Ronald Lenz, shared new insights on the daily challenges faced by small and medium sized enterprises. Many business owners have dealt with contract disputes, registration delays, or unclear interactions with public authorities. For informal firms, the pressure is even greater, with issues ranging from theft to uncertain rules around licensing. These problems often remain unresolved, which creates hesitation and slows growth. Only a small share of business owners have access to legal guidance, which means many rely on friends or relatives instead of formal channels.
The data presented at the forum also offered a clear sign of progress. Businesses that manage to settle conflicts feel more secure and are more likely to grow in the year that follows. Justice creates clarity, and clarity gives entrepreneurs room to move. Tunisia is already taking practical steps to open this space. The removal of post dated cheques has made financial relations safer. The expansion of digital identity systems is paving the way for smoother online transactions, easier contract signing, and simple access to justice services. Local tech companies are adding strong momentum. Solutions from firms such as E Tafakna and Contractzlab show how artificial intelligence can help business owners create reliable agreements and make better decisions, even when they operate far from major cities. Alongside these insights, three moments at the forum marked important progress for HiiL’s growing work in Tunisia.
Monde de travail: a new platform To enhance access to employment justice
One of the key moments of the forum was the public launch of Monde du Travail, a new Employment Justice Platform developed in partnership with the Ministry of Social Affairs and the Labour Inspectorate. The platform provides workers and employers in Tunisia with reliable, easy-to-understand information about employment rights, obligations, and procedures. It also offers step-by-step guidance for dealing with the most common workplace problems — from contract issues and unpaid wages to disciplinary measures and termination.
A major barrier identified through years of HiiL’s justice research is that most people do not know when or how the Labour Inspectorate can support them. Monde du Travail closes this information gap by helping users understand their situation, outlining practical options for prevention or resolution, and directing them to the appropriate office when needed. By encouraging early action and dialogue, the platform reduces uncertainty, prevents problems from escalating, and promotes faster, fairer, and lower-cost outcomes for both employees and employers.
A strengthened partnership with the Tunisian Business Registry
HiiL also signed a new Memorandum of Understanding with the Business Registry. This agreement confirms our shared ambition to design and implement justice innovation solutions that help entrepreneurs start and grow their businesses with confidence. It builds on our successful collaboration earlier this year, including the Hack4Justice hackathon that brought together young developers, legal experts, and public institutions.
A major milestone of the forum was the signing of a new Memorandum of Understanding between HiiL and the National Business Registry (RNE). This partnership formalises a shared commitment to co-design and scale justice innovations that make it easier for entrepreneurs and MSMEs to start, operate, and grow their businesses with clarity and confidence. The agreement builds on months of close collaboration between the two institutions, including the 2025 special edition of Hack4Justice, where young developers, legal experts, and RNE teams worked together to prototype AI-powered solutions for company registration and public-facing legal assistance.
New research launched on the needs of micro, small, and medium enterprises
The forum also marked the launch of HiiL’s Justice Needs and Satisfaction Survey focusing on MSMEs. The findings reveal the real cost of unresolved problems on business performance and offer a valuable route map for new solutions. You can access the JNS report here.
Showcasing Tunisia’s Justice Innovators: Legaltech Startups Take Center Stage at Tech the Justice Gap 2025
The forum also celebrated Tunisia’s growing justice-tech ecosystem through a dynamic startup pitch session featuring five innovative legaltech teams: E-Tafakna, Contractzlab, SIMARL, Legal D, and Idaraty. Each startup presented practical digital tools designed to help MSMEs access reliable legal information, streamline administrative procedures, and prevent or resolve disputes more efficiently. After a live vote from the audience, Idaraty was selected as the winning startup of the 2025 edition. Idaraty offers a smart digital platform that helps entrepreneurs navigate administrative steps, verify required documents, and complete procedures more easily, reducing uncertainty and saving valuable time for small and medium businesses. This session showed how locally developed innovations can become essential building blocks of a more accessible and technology-enabled justice system in Tunisia.
The path forward
Speaking to participants, Ronald Lenz noted that justice should be understood as a strategic investment that strengthens the foundations of the private sector. When people trust that their concerns will be addressed fairly and in a reasonable timeframe, they feel more confident to innovate and expand. Tech the Justice Gap confirmed that Tunisia has a growing ecosystem capable of creating practical, user friendly justice solutions. With strong public partnerships, active local innovators, and new insights from research, the path toward stronger small business growth is becoming clearer for 2025 and the years ahead.
