Backing entrepreneurship in Egypt requires eliminating bureaucracy: April 6 Movement coordinator

CAIRO – 15 June 2023: Amr Ali, the coordinator of the April 6 Youth Movement, said support to entrepreneurship in Egypt requires eliminating bureaucracy, which imposes restrictions on entrepreneurs.

Ali made the remarks on Thursday in a session on youth empowerment in entrepreneurship within the topics of the youth committee on the social track of the National Dialogue.

Taha Ahmed, a member of the Coordination’s Committee of Parties' Youth Leaders and Politicians (CPYP), said the absence of a clear mechanism for financing projects through funds allocated for the advanced stages of projects is one of the obstacles facing entrepreneurship in Egypt.

Ahmed called fpr launching a program to prepare entrepreneurs from a young age in the various educational stages by integrating entrepreneurship into educational curriculum, student activities and competitions in schools and universities to graduate a creative generation that is capable of innovation.

He also recommended launching rehabilitation programs for entrepreneurs that focus on psychological and personal development, and not only on skills or management.

Representative of Life Makers Foundation charity Hamed Ebrahim suggested issuing an entrepreneurship law and providing financing facilities and appropriate tax exemptions for youth.

During the session, National Dialogue's Social Track Rapporteur Khaled Abdel Aziz highlighted the need to provide support to youth through the available resources that should also be developed.

For his part, CPYP member Gehad Seif said technology localization is a strategic goal with regard to entrepreneurship, highlighting the need to create a qualitative boom in the labor market and expand various markets to accommodate new technological disciplines.

Seif added that entrepreneurship accounts for about 50 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in the US, 60 percent of GDP in China, 50 percent of GDP in Hong Kong and 37 percent of GDP in the UAE.

In parallel to the entrepreneurship session, the National Dialogue’s social track also held a session around challenges and aspirations linked to healthcare in Egypt.

The National Dialogue kicked off in May following a year of preparations as per a call by President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to discuss key issues at the political, economic and social levels.

Final recommendations issued by participants at the National Dialogue sessions are submitted to the president for approval.

Attending the National Youth Conference in Alexandria on Wednesday, Sisi vowed to ratify the National Dialogue's decisions “without restrictions or conditions” within the framework of the powers of the president and the government.

The dialogue’s outcomes that are not part of the president’s and government’s powers will be referred to parliament to be addressed by people’s representatives, Sisi added.