Understanding Handipreneurship in Tunisia: How Barriers and Empowerment Shape Entrepreneurial Trajectories

Abstract

This research explores the phenomenon of handipreneurship in Tunisia, with particular attention to the obstacles encountered by entrepreneurs with disabilities and the mechanisms through which they mobilize empowerment to initiate and sustain entrepreneurial activities. The study aims to understand how disabled individuals navigate structural, social, and psychological constraints, and how these challenges shape their entrepreneurial trajectories. To address these objectives, a qualitative research design was adopted, based on semi-structured interviews conducted with 14 Tunisian entrepreneurs with disabilities aged between 25 and 35. The interview protocol examined participants’ socio-demographic characteristics, motivations, perceived barriers, and empowerment strategies throughout the start-up process.
The findings indicate that these entrepreneurs face a multidimensional set of constraints, including limited access to financial and institutional support, scarcity of inclusive infrastructure, social stigma, and reduced self-confidence linked to disability-related experiences. Despite these challenges, participants demonstrate strong agency by activating coping strategies and drawing on personal resilience, family support, peer networks, and collective initiatives. The results highlight a dynamic process in which handipreneurs transform adversity into entrepreneurial opportunities through the progressive development of personal skills, social capital, and a sense of self-efficacy.
Overall, the study provides empirical insight into how empowerment unfolds in the entrepreneurial journeys of entrepreneurs with disabilities in Tunisia. It contributes to the literature on inclusive and disability entrepreneurship by proposing an analytical framework that illustrates how empowerment mechanisms, individual, relational, and community-based, facilitate entrepreneurial emergence. The outcomes underscore the need for more inclusive policies, targeted support mechanisms, and awareness initiatives that foster equal access to entrepreneurship for people with disabilities.