Why we open-sourced 8,363 Algerian business activity records (CC BY 4.0)

Why we open-sourced 8,363 Algerian business activity records (CC BY 4.0)

An Algerian entrepreneur loses 3 to 6 weeks just figuring out which CNRC activity code applies to their project. Not building the company. Not finding clients. Just decoding a 400-page nomenclature locked inside a PDF.

That's absurd. And that's what we're fixing today.

The problem: information asymmetry

The CNRC nomenclature lists 2,129 activity codes. Each carries an approval status: free, regulated, or blocked. The ANAE list of activities eligible for self-entrepreneur status? 1,491 entries, in a separate PDF. CNRC, CASNOS, and NESDA office contact details? 58 wilayas × 3 institutions, scattered across dozens of pages.

None of this is secret. All of it is public. But it's public in a format nobody can actually use: unsearchable PDFs, sometimes scanned, sometimes updated without notice.

Result: every Algerian entrepreneur starts from zero. Download, manual search, calls to offices, back-and-forth with notaries. 3 to 6 weeks burned before any real step happens.

Our answer: 8,363 records, open, queryable

Today, UpGrowth releases the full reference set as open data under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0).

• 2,129 CNRC codes, with approval status, supervisory authority, sector, sub-sector, FR/EN/AR labels
• 1,491 ANAE activities, self-entrepreneur eligibility, parent CNRC code
• 58 wilayas, CNRC, CASNOS, NESDA offices with verified addresses and hours

Downloadable as CSV. Queryable through our search tool. Embeddable as an iframe widget on any site.

All under a license that explicitly says: reuse, modify, integrate into your products, articles, academic work. A simple citation back to upgrowth.dz is enough.

Why give it away?

Three reasons.

1. Because this data shouldn't be a competitive advantage. When access to the basic rules costs time, only people who already have time to spare succeed. Which means the already-established. The hidden cost of opacity is that it filters out outsiders before they even start.

2. Because we build a platform, not a tollbooth. UpGrowth makes money when an entrepreneur takes the next step: domiciliation, incorporation, startup label, expert match. If we gate the data to sell consultations, we're confusing cause and effect. The data should be free. Execution is what we sell.

3. Because trust is measured in generosity. No one believes "we're the N°1 platform for entrepreneurs in Algeria" on faith. But when we give away 8,363 reference rows under CC BY 4.0, the message becomes: if they share this, imagine what they keep for paying clients.

What you can do with this data

• Journalists: cite us. The full press kit has the citation format, pre-approved quotes, and an embeddable search widget. Easier than writing an article from scratch.
• Researchers: import the CSV into your analysis. Methodology + sources on each dataset page.
• Developers: drop the iframe into your app, site, blog. No API key, no quota, no rate limit.
• Entrepreneurs: use the search tool to find your code in 5 seconds. What normally takes 3 weeks.

What's next

This first drop is just a start. Already in the pipeline:

• Fiscal data (IFU, CASNOS, IBS rates) updated with each Finance Law
• A complete ecosystem map (incubators, accelerators, investors, coworking) with 1,854+ entities already at /ecosystem
• A public JSON API to query the datasets without downloading the CSVs

The goal is simple: make upgrowth.dz the primary source everyone uses to talk about the Algerian entrepreneurial ecosystem. Journalists, students, founders, ministries.

Working on something that could use this data? Email us at contact@upgrowth.dz. We want to know what you're building.

Want to create your company in Algeria? UpGrowth Connect handles everything: domiciliation, tax IDs, commercial registry, bank accounts. In 7 days.