World MSME Day: Local Solutions Anchoring Economic Growth Across Libya

June 27, 2026

A man walks through a cluttered, metal-roofed lumberyard with stacked logs and scattered debris.

For decades, Libya’s economic landscape has been closely tied to public sector employment and oil revenues. Today, however, a new generation of local businesses is playing an increasingly vital role in building economic resilience.

According to the World Bank, over 60 percent of new business registrations since 2023 have come from individual entrepreneurs and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This steady growth signals an important step toward economic diversification, driven by local communities working to create sustainable livelihoods and foster innovation from the ground up.

These enterprises are creating jobs, addressing localized challenges, and supporting community recovery. From rebuilding environmental infrastructure in Derna, to expanding digital services for women in Sebha, to modernizing trade in Benghazi, local businesses are driving meaningful social and economic changes. With funding from the African Development Bank Group (AfDB), these startups demonstrate the tangible impact of targeted entrepreneurship support.

REC: Starting Over for a Greener Derna

For the team behind REC, a recycling enterprise based in Derna, entrepreneurship is central to the city's recovery. Founded by a group of young entrepreneurs committed to environmental sustainability, REC was active in collecting and recycling waste long before Storm Daniel struck the city in September 2023. The devastating floods destroyed the enterprise's equipment, facilities, and assets, forcing the team to start over.

Rather than abandoning their mission, the founders chose to rebuild.

“Just as we give discarded materials a second life, we had to give ourselves the same opportunity to begin again,” says co-founder Safia.

Person in a floral hijab and dark coat stands by a white brick wall, hands raised.

Hijab-wearing woman in a vest with a badge sits at a desk with a computer.

Woman in a patterned dress stands near a blue metal structure in a yard.

With support from the Ruwwad Project, REC successfully resumed operations. Today, the enterprise collects and recycles debris from demolished buildings, damaged trees, and organic waste, transforming them into reusable resources that contribute to a circular economy. Beyond its immediate environmental impact, REC creates sustainable employment opportunities for young Libyans, demonstrating how green businesses can contribute to both economic recovery and sustainable development.

Tamouh: Tech Solutions for Women by Women in Sebha

More than 1,000 kilometers south, in Sebha, another enterprise is addressing community-specific needs through technical innovation. Khadija’s entrepreneurial journey began during her time as a telecommunications engineering student, where she frequently assisted peers with computer repairs and troubleshooting.

Over time, this grew into a formal business vision designed to address a distinct market gap. Many women in the community experienced challenges accessing reliable technical support due to privacy concerns regarding personal data on phones and computers. To address this, Khadija, along with a team of female technicians, founded Tamouh.

By establishing a secure, all-female environment for device repair and digital maintenance, the startup provides women with reliable technical services while creating specialized IT employment opportunities for female engineering graduates in the region. Through the support of the Ruwwad Project, Tamouh has expanded its service capacity and technical equipment, transforming a local privacy challenge into a sustainable model for women's digital inclusion and economic participation in southern Libya.

Photograph of a woman in a hijab wearing green gloves, using a microscope at a lab bench.

People in pink shirts sit at a long table with electronics in a classroom.

Group of women wearing hijabs at a tech workshop, working at a bench with electronics tools.

Kayan: Modernizing Trade Through Technology

In Benghazi, the founders of Kayan identified an opportunity to optimize logistics for local commerce, addressing a challenge familiar to many shop owners, café managers, and restaurant operators. For years, procurement required businesses to spend significant time traveling between wholesale markets, comparing products and prices, and manually coordinating deliveries.

Kayan introduced a digital alternative. The technology-based platform connects suppliers, traders, and business owners through a single application, allowing users to place orders remotely, track deliveries in real time, and access transparent pricing information.

The concept emerged after the founders observed how technology was transforming wholesale trade in neighboring regional markets and recognized a structural gap in Libya's domestic market. Following a year of testing and refining their model, they joined the Ruwwad Project to strengthen their operations and expand their logistics capacity.

Today, Kayan helps local businesses reduce operational overhead while creating jobs in warehousing, logistics, sourcing, and delivery services.

Two men with blurred faces talk in a store aisle with colorful shelves.

Person loading a truck with stacked cardboard boxes and water bottles from a doorway.

Small Businesses, Big Impact

Although operating in different sectors, REC, Tamouh, and Kayan share a common framework: each identified a local challenge and developed a targeted solution with tangible benefits for their communities.
Together, they highlight the important role that small and medium-sized enterprises play in Libya's development. Whether supporting disaster recovery, empowering women, promoting environmental sustainability, or accelerating digital transformation, SMEs help create jobs, strengthen local economies, and build resilience.

On World MSME Day, their milestones serve as a reminder that impactful solutions often begin with a clear vision and the structural support necessary to achieve scale. Under this framework, UNDP has supported 413 Libyan entrepreneurs with capacity building, with 170 receiving direct financial grants to start or grow their projects.

The businesses featured in this story received support through the Ruwwad Project under the Deraya Initiative, implemented by UNDP Libya with funding from the African Development Bank Group (AfDB), in partnership with TEAM for Training and Development and the Institut Arabe des Chefs d'Entreprises (IACE).