Outsourcing development to Tunisia gives access to qualified engineers who speak French and English, in a time zone close to Europe, at costs below European markets. It is a nearshore option for companies that want to strengthen their development capacity without hiring locally, while keeping smooth day-to-day collaboration.
Why Tunisia
- Technical skills: a pool of engineers trained in the country’s engineering schools, in web, mobile, data and AI technologies.
- Languages: French and English are widely used in the sector, Arabic too for Middle East markets.
- Time zone: one hour or less from Western Europe, which allows real-time work.
- Proximity: a few hours’ flight from major European cities.
- Competitive costs, without sacrificing quality when the partner is well chosen.
Engagement models
- Fixed-price project: a defined scope and budget, suited to well-scoped projects.
- Dedicated team: a team working full time on your product, managed with you.
- Staff augmentation: profiles joining your existing team for a given period.
- Service centre: long-term ownership of a scope (maintenance, evolutions, support).
Points of attention
- Communication: clear rituals (daily stand-ups, demos, steering committees).
- Quality: automated tests, code reviews, staging environment.
- Security and intellectual property: clear contracts, controlled access, code hosted on your side.
- Team stability: a partner that retains its engineers reduces knowledge loss.
How to choose your partner
Check references on comparable projects, team stability (share of permanent engineers, seniority), method maturity (agile, quality, security), the ability to cover several areas of expertise (web, mobile, data, AI, design) and transparency about team composition.
STEPS, a nearshore partner since 2012
Based in Tunis, STEPS has worked since 2012 with companies in Africa, the Middle East and Europe, with a team of permanent engineers and references such as Afreximbank, for which STEPS is the integrator of the pan-African payment platform PAPSS. We offer staff augmentation, custom development and CTO as a Service. To discuss your needs, book a scoping session.
Frequently asked questions
For qualified French and English speaking engineers, in a time zone close to Europe, with competitive costs and real-time collaboration.
Fixed-price projects, dedicated teams, staff augmentation and service centres for maintenance and evolutions.
With regular communication rituals, automated tests, code reviews, a staging environment and a partner that retains its teams.
Yes if the contract states it explicitly. It is recommended to host the code in your own repositories from the start.