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Good practice Imported

Asarya Business Incubator & Silphium Labs — EU-Funded Startup Recovery Incubators in Post-Conflict Libya

Libya · Benghazi · See the Libya profile

Evidence: Descriptive / self-reported Top 83% 52/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

EU-funded NGOs SPARK and Super Novae run 'Libya Startup' incubators in Benghazi and Al-Bayda. Benghazi's Asarya incubator selected 26 of over 380 applicants and awarded €100,000 in EU seed funding to 10 graduates in August 2024, supporting entrepreneurs displaced by Derna's 2023

803
Silphium Labs first-cohort applicants
64
Silphium Labs first-cohort selected
100,000 EUR
Asarya graduating startups' shared seed funding (Aug 2024)
Asarya Business Incubator & Silphium Labs — EU-Funded Startup Recovery Incubators in Post-Conflict Libya

Details

Maturity
Pilot
Promoter
SPARK & Super Novae, funded by the European Union
Period
ongoing (Asarya first batch closed 3 August 2024)
Keywords
startup incubation, entrepreneurship, conflict and disaster recovery, EU development funding

Context

SPARK, a Dutch NGO specialising in fragile and conflict-affected states, and Super Novae jointly implement the EU-funded 'Libya Startup' programme (EUR 5.5 million total budget), running two incubators: Silphium Labs in Al-Bayda and the Asarya Business Incubator in Benghazi.

Results

Silphium Labs' first cohort drew 803 applicants, of whom 64 were selected; its second cohort drew 228 applicants, with a surge of applications from Derna after the September 2023 Storm Daniel dam-collapse floods. Asarya's first batch in Benghazi drew more than 380 applicants, selected 26 for a six-month incubation programme, and closed in August 2024 with ten graduating startups sharing EUR 100,000 in EU-funded seed money.

Conclusions

The programme depends entirely on continued EU funding and NGO implementation rather than an indigenous, self-sustaining Libyan institution, and no data on graduates' longer-term survival rates or follow-on private funding raised has been published.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Medium (€50k–€500k) — EUR 5.5 million total EU grant budget across both incubators.
Time to results
Short (< 1 year) — Two cohorts per incubator delivered within the funded period.
Staffing & skills
SPARK NGO staff, Super Novae staff, local incubator mentors

Conditions for success

  • EU External Action Service funding
  • explicit prioritisation of internally displaced entrepreneurs

Common failure modes

  • entirely donor- and NGO-dependent with no documented Libyan government or private co-funding

Where it fits

Governance type
NGO-delivered, donor-funded
Scale
two cities
Income level
upper-middle-income

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