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Leila Ben-Gacem
Leila Ben-Gacem (Arabic: ليلى بن قاسم) is a Tunisian social entrepreneur. She is the founder of Blue Fish company[1] and the initiator and founder of several initiatives in the Tunisian ecosystem and cultural scenes through Tunisian Civil Society.[2] Ben-Gacem is also an elected member of the municipal council of Beni Khalled since Tunisia's first decentralized municipal elections were held in 2018.[3] BiographyBen-Gacem studied biomedical engineering at Boston University. She worked in many companies such as IMM in Tunisia, Hewlett-Packard in Germany, Assada Medical in Libya. In 2006, she started the social enterprise Blue Fish to help Tunisian artisans, particularly women, to export their works and develop their businesses.[4] In 2009, she initiated Sougha Est in the khalifa fund for enterprise development in Abu Dhabi in the UAE.[5] She occupied the position of Senior Manager at the Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development, helping Emirati women artisans in developing their local enterprises,[6][7] until 2013 when she decided to go back to Tunisia. In 2013, Leila founded Dar Ben-Gacem, a boutique hotel and a social enterprise.[8][9][10] The guest house's main objective is to contribute to the development of the Medina of Tunis.[11] Ben-Gacem was elected, in the period of 2014-2016, as a board member of Edhiafa Association that deals with the network of boutique hotels in Tunisia. Before that, she was a board member in CJD (Centre des Jeunes Dirigeants) - Young CEO Centre until 2009. Civic engagement and social changeBen-Gacem is known as a socio-cultural catalyst.[12] She has been involved in many cultural initiatives to revive the Medina of Tunis and ensure its sustainable development.[13] In 2015, Leila and other civil society actors played a major role in reviving the Rachidia association in its 80th anniversary, then she joined other cultural initiatives such as Journal de la Médina, the national Wikipedia project MedinaPedia[12] and the first Light Festival in Africa Interference.[14] In 2015 as well, she has led a national campaign to revive the industry and usage of the Chachia.[15] Leila occupied the position of President of the Association of Preservation of Beni Khalled from 2015 until 2018.[2] She is also a founding member of the Ultramarathon Association in Tunisia[16] since 2017, where they organised the first Ultramarathon, UltraMirage[17] in Nefta in the south of Tunisia.[2] In 2017, Ben-Gacem founded the first co-working space in the Medina of Tunis, entitled Dar El Harka,[18] intended as a hub for creative industries.[15] Ben-Gacem joined Emna Mizouni in founding Digital Citizenship organization to advance the knowledge and skills of women entrepreneurs. Ben-Gacem ran for civic office in the 2018 Tunisian municipal elections, as part of a list of independent candidates with the slogan "Ghodwa Khir - Tomorrow is better".[19] She was elected to the Beni Khalled municipality. Later, she was appointed the head of the finance committee.[3] She also joined the network of women municipal counsellors in the Maghreb region[20] along with Souad Abderrahim and other women municipal councillors.[21][3] RecognitionBen-Gacem received Fatma El Fehria Award in 2017.[22] In the same year, she received the Women Entrepreneur in Cultural Sector Award as well. Prior to that, in October 2016, she became an Ashoka Fellow.[23] References
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