Egypt's Int'l Coop, min. meets with startups participating in New Africa-France Summit

CAIRO – 4 October 2021: Minister of International Cooperation, Rania A. Al-Mashat, met Sunday with a group of Egyptian start-ups that specialize in a variety of areas, including customer identification programs, electronic payment, oil recycling and insurance.

The promising companies are expected to participate in the new Africa-France Summit, taking place this October in Montpellier, France with the aim of revamping the relations between Africa and France through novel frameworks and innovative ideas to open the prospects of partnerships between the African continent and France.

The Minister of International Cooperation convened the meeting with representatives of Amanleek, Digified, KiWi and Delta Oil companies, in the presence of Ahmed Gomaa, Chairman & CEO of Egypt Ventures; Tamer Taha, Advisor to the Minister of International Cooperation on Innovation, Digitalization and Entrepreneurship; Mahmoud El-Zohairy, Managing Director of EFG EV Fintech; and Mr. Ahmed Hazem, CEO of Falak Startups.

Al- Mashat discussed with the participants their preparations for the Africa-France Summit, the different activities their companies undertake, and the stages that their development process goes through. The Minister was eager to listen to the challenges faced by the nascent companies during the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as the opportunities that they managed to leverage during the pandemic to grow their businesses, especially that Covid-19 equally posited severe challenges and invaluable opportunities for the tech-savvy services to capitalize on.

In commending the vital role played by entrepreneurs in implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), The Minister reiterated the vitality of international events in transferring knowledge and exchanging expertise with other countries and cultures. This, in addition to highlighting the Egyptian startups’ role in pushing the frontiers of development in Egypt across a sundry of fields through innovative and solution-oriented ideas to combat development challenges.

Al-Mashat explained that the Egypt International Cooperation Forum (Egypt-ICF) held several panels and workshops to address the importance of innovation and financial inclusion in achieving sustainable development. Egypt- ICF’s workshop on “The Demographic Divide: Youth and Innovation for Transforming Africa,” shed light on the entrepreneurs’ key role in enhancing the continent’s development. Another workshop titled “Women in business: Supporting Female Entrepreneurship in Egypt” hammered on the importance of financial inclusion for women in promoting development.

The Minister identified the “Closing the Gender Gap Accelerator” as a tool that could pave the way for startups to play a role in bridging the gender gap in the labor market through public-private collaboration. Moreover, startups working in environmental protection and green transformation could as well find a propitious opportunity to grow in light of Egypt's bid to host the UN Climate Change Conference (COP 27).

Ahmed Gomaa, Chairman & CEO of Egypt Ventures said that the total number of companies representing Egypt at the Africa-France Summit is 27 startups working in education, energy, smart cities, industry, financial services, trade and logistics. Gomaa stated that 9 of the participating startups are supported either directly from Egypt Ventures or its affiliate accelerators, namely Falak Startups and EFG EV Fintech.

Representatives of the startups expressed their keenness to participate in the New Africa-France Summit, which represents a venue to benefit from the expertise in the entrepreneurial scene in France as well as in Africa, adding that the Summit allows for growing businesses in the African and European markets to capitalize on their experience harnessed through Egyptian markets while exploring the opportunities and challenges in foreign markets. 

The Africa-France Summit will cover five key topics: Citizen engagement, Entrepreneurship and innovation, Higher education and research, Culture, and Sport. The Summit shall bring together stakeholders to reinforce cooperation and envision future partnerships between Africa and France in various fields

Egypt Ventures is the first government-backed venture capital, as it was established by the Ministry of International Cooperation with the participation of the General Authority for Investment and Free Zones and NI Capital. Since its establishment in 2017, Egypt Ventures has directly and indirectly invested in 174 startups, with an amount of EGP 275 million through its accelerators EFG-EV fintech, Falak startups, and Flat6Labs.

Last June, the Ministry of International Cooperation, in coordination with Egypt Ventures, launched the Generation Next forum under the Auspices of H.E. Dr. Mostafa Madbouly, Prime Minister of Egypt. The forum aimed at highlighting the Government of Egypt’s commitment to expanding the startups’ role in stimulating the Egyptian economy and improving the entrepreneurial ecosystem through effective partnerships with International Financial Institutions (IFIs) and development partners to facilitate access to funding; enhance governance; and uphold Social and Environmental Standards (SES) and SDGs.