Why has private entrepreneurship in Egypt and Tunisia remained underdeveloped despite decades of economic liberalization and private sector-friendly incentives and reforms? And how can the entrepreneurship ecosystem in the two countries develop in order to meet the people’s high expectations of having a productive and just socio-economic order? These are the research questions that will be addressed by the CIPE/Stanford upcoming joint report "Reforming entrepreneurship ecosystems in post-revolutionary Egypt and Tunisia. This feature service article sets the stage for the answering of these questions by critically engaging with the conventional wisdom we have on MENA and by developing a concept of entrepreneurship that best fits the post-revolutionary contexts of Egypt and Tunisia.