Official Tunisia.com Blog

I do not think I have been busier in my life and I will start as I do every time with an apology that I have no posted on this blog for a long while.

Not only are we (my day Job) heading into our busiest part of the year Hajer and the baby have been away from me for over a month now in Bizerte setting up the new office and company in Tunisia so that site can have a more direct relationship with customers and suppliers in Tunisia. However clearly the biggest stress for me is being away from my lovely wife and new baby.

Big Baby

Now that I have been a month away from Hajer and Sara as I work in the UK ad they are sorting out the new office I fid myself changing a bit in my head and start to worry about the strangest things like is she going to be ok without me, will she have some new skill or quality that I will miss during this time away an worst of all will I see them again and the baby will not recognise me and think hat someone else is her dad. I sit here thinking that I have been away for 25% of my babies' life and I swear that I feel her getting bigger without me (I am clearly becoming a madman). That god there is only one more week until I can get over to see them (December 1^st). To get me excited Hajer sent me over some new photos to get me excited however these only made me cry (big poof) as clearly my Sara has become bigger and as my mother pointed out looks exactly the same as me but has my brother states that all babies look like me given my fat+bald status.

I cannot wait to see them again.

The New Office and Tunisia.com Incorporated in Tunisia.

Warning Englishman Moaning below

You know a process is complicated when you cannot remember what you did a few weeks after you did it and I have o admit that the process of incorporation is useless and needs to be changed for foreign investment in areas outside of Tunis. In the UK you can e up and running in a few days and incorporate you company on the internet within 24 hours in Tunisia this seems like a minimum two weeks of standing in queues and waiting for papers to be signed by nobodies who think they are somebody's I would gladly pay for people to stand about rather than have them all stamp papers for me so that I can get out there and create jobs and pay tax. For me the key difference in the UK is that the want you to start a company here (still loads of red tape but after your started) and then the government agencies come after sometimes to you like in the case of the IR. However in Tunisia it seems that you have to go to all of these agencies for approval which makes the process intolerable my advice is get an accountant to do this for you as I hate queuing and especially in Tunisia as I almost end up throwing people every time.

I do feel that the government is trying to sort this out however as the ATI in Tunis now has a one stop shop for this and also an on line version however I tried this and it isn't as slick as here in the UK as it got to the last stage and wanted a case number of something that needed a form signed in some place which made me give up as a ) I was in Bizerte and b) I just know that if I go to Tunis I am either going to get the "come back tomorrow" or the you are missing form 233453z and need this stamped by Ivana Difficultpersontogetholdov.

Needless to say this process took an long time ad some thing are still left to do a month later however we have an office, phone and our 3 month wait for ADSL will be over soon if Allah wills it so. We can then start to hire people and Hajer hopes to have 3 positions filled within the next six months of Office manager, Advertising Account Manager and Webmaster.

New Office Address

Tunisia.com MD Hajer Heavens

Office A2, DR Building, Place 13 Javier 1952, View Port, 7000, Bizerte, Tunisia.

Telephone 00216 72433451

Once the new office is kitted out I will send some photos of the place and of the new staff members when they join, me and Hajer are investing a lot of time and money in taking the site to the next level and this will allow Hajer to run things as I need some time in the evenings again as my job at zoomzoom is and always will be my priority during the day whih leaves me working on this site during m social time.

The office is in the old port of Bizerte and we chose this as its easy to park, big and near the souk for new products etc and I love Bizerte as you can get things on foot.

Bank Account Blues

Now for my final moan and something that quite shocked me I sent over the money to incorporate the new company and office now I am not claiming to e Mr Trump but it was quite a lot of money ad RBS in the UK sent the money as I have done loads of times before to Tunisia with no previous issue. This money was due to arrive in our new account in BIAT in Bizerte within 10 days and needless to say the issue is still outstanding almost a month later. Every day Hajer has been to the bank and they said it is not there despite RBS in the UK looking on the SWIFT system and saying that the funds are with them in Tunis with the message "unable to put into an account" this s despite then giving me a document with the account information in there and IBAN, RIB, SWIFT and account details all be exactly right I mean how many large transfers from the UK would there be in the system and surely it would be easy to find as you can simply look for the one which has been sitting there for ages. To it all off if I cancel the payment it will cost me £500.00 as it will have to go to £ and then back to DT again arrrrrgggg.

The situation took a really bizarre turn when Hajer went to see her account manager in BIAT Bizerte and was told the following.

"Hajer...I really care for you, and I don't want to be the one to say this but I have to say it....You husband is a LIAR!"

Unfortunately this is not the case and RBS group are sure to disagree especially, who I must say have been truly excellent during this fiasco and cannot understand why the money is sitting in their account and they cannot see it there.

Needless to say next week will bring another episode to this story and hopefully we should get our money sooner rather than later.

Not good BIAT not good.