Egypt Entrepreneurship Summit: Entrepreneurs to lead the economy

HURGHADA, Egypt – 16 November 2017: The third annual Egypt Entrepreneurship Summit (EES) was launched on Thursday, by the International Labor Organization (ILO), in collaboration with “Canada's Decent Jobs for Egypt’s Young People” project and the Middle East Council for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (MCSBE).

The summit is under the auspices of the Ministry of Investment and International Cooperation.



The summit witnessed speeches by Canada’s Ambassador to Egypt Jess Dutton, Governor of Red Sea Ahmed Abdullah, Vice President of Middle East Council for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (MCSBE) Ahmed Osman, CEO of Tatweer Masr Ahmed Shalaby and President of the Arab Academy for Science and Technology (AAST) Ismail Abdel Ghafar.

Governor of Red Sea, General Ahmed Abdullah

The governor of the Red Sea welcomed the attendees and thanked Canada for supporting young Egyptian entrepreneurs by being a key partner in EES. Abdullah then followed by presenting some investment opportunities in the Red Sea governorate.


Moreover, a video-recorded message of Peter Jan Rooji, ILO Cairo director, was presented where he mentioned that this summit's theme is “A whole world of opportunity;”adding that more opportunities will be generated to create better jobs for young Egyptians.

He added that such events gather entrepreneurs, employers, workers, academia and policy makers in order to share experiences and find creative ways to support their country’s economy with innovative solutions for the challenges it faces.

Ambassador of Canada in Egypt, Mr.Jess Dutton

Dutton said that the world celebrates Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) this week, where millions of youth are joining the growing movement of entrepreneurs. He expressed his pleasure that entrepreneurs are at the core of Egypt's calendar and that Canada is a key supporter for the sector. He added that EES provides an opportunity to allow an exchange of knowledge between experts and practitioners.

CEO of Tatweer Masr, Mr.Ahmed Shalaby


CEO of Tatweer Masr, Ahmed Shalaby, announced that they are working to establish the first entrepreneurial college town community in Egypt, which will include a campus for international universities, who will provide education for different majors but with a core principal of entrepreneurship, to create a new generation of job creators instead of job seekers.

He also added that this project will be an attraction point for students from all over the world who are interested in entrepreneurship.

The Vice President of Middle East Council for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (MCSBE), Ahmed Osman, said that MCSBE believes in group work. “We consider ourselves as a platform to support various initiatives.”

He added that the idea of EES started two years ago and they did not expect it to be a major hub for experts, educators and entrepreneurs from different parts of the world.

Osman thanked the ILO, Canadian government, Red Sea governor, and the Minister of International Cooperation for supporting the summit every year. He also thanked all the partners who allowed EES to be an international forum for entrepreneurship like German aid (GIZ) and USAID who are supporting the Nawah competition for young Egyptian entrepreneurs.

The Egypt Entrepreneurship Summit is held at Hurghada city from November 15 to 18.