ABOUT BLUE FISH
Turning heritage into opportunity.
Blue Fish is a social-impact consulting firm founded in Tunisia in 2006, working at the intersection of heritage, entrepreneurship, urban development and community empowerment. We believe that heritage is not simply something to preserve. It is a living resource: a source of identity, knowledge, creativity, livelihoods and opportunity. We help communities, institutions, entrepreneurs and organizations turn local heritage, knowledge and overlooked assets, into viable projects with lasting social and economic value.
Over the years, our work has evolved from supporting Tunisian artisans and helping micro-businesses access international markets to designing and implementing projects around historic cities, cultural heritage, creative industries, youth, local economies and territorial development.
Today, we work across three interconnected dimensions:
PEOPLE
We help people transform knowledge, skills and ideas into opportunities. From artisan entrepreneurs and young people to community organisations, we design programmes that strengthen skills, encourage entrepreneurship and create pathways towards economic independence and civic participation.
PLACES
We believe that buildings, streets, neighbourhoods and landscapes are not just physical assets. They are platforms for economic and social life. We work on the revitalisation of historic buildings and urban areas, developing new uses, business models and partnerships that allow heritage places to remain alive, useful and economically resilient.
CULTURE
We work to make local culture visible, relevant and sustainable; such as documenting forgotten knowledge, supporting crafts and creative practices, developing cultural experiences, creating new markets and using technology to give traditional knowledge a place in contemporary life.
FROM CONSULTING TO DOING
Blue Fish is not a traditional consultancy, we don’t believe in producing reports that sit on shelves, we combine research, strategy, technical expertise and implementation. We work alongside the people who will ultimately make a project succeed, testing ideas, building partnerships, developing business models and helping turn concepts into reality. Our projects range from artisan business development and export readiness to heritage regeneration, territorial marketing, youth programmes, cultural preservation and social entrepreneurship. This practical approach has led us to create, incubate and support initiatives that connect heritage with contemporary economic and social needs.
A NETWORK, NOT A HIERARCHY
Blue Fish is deliberately lean, rather than maintaining a large permanent structure, we bring together a network of experienced professionals, researchers, entrepreneurs, designers, architects, engineers, communicators and local practitioners according to the needs of each project. This allows us to work across disciplines and bring together perspectives that are rarely found in the same room, because the challenges facing historic cities, communities and cultural economies are never purely cultural, economic or urban; they are all three.
CONSULTING WITH A PURPOSE
Blue Fish is also a social enterprise; we believe that consulting can be a tool for redistribution. A significant part of our resources is therefore dedicated to supporting initiatives that would otherwise struggle to access professional expertise, particularly projects led by young people, community organisations, artisans and people working to protect cultural and urban heritage. At Blue Fish, social impact is not a separate department, it is part of the business model.