Upper Egypt’s Orange Corner puts Egypt’s Assiut on map of innovation-driven economy

CAIRO - 20 March 2022: The Minister of International Cooperation, Rania A. Al-Mashat witnessed the graduation of 19 entrepreneurs from the second cycle of the Orange Corner Upper Egypt Entrepreneurship Program during her visit to Assiut, bringing the total number of graduates of the program to 61 entrepreneurs from the governorates of Cairo and Assiut. 

 

The event also witnessed the participation of Major General Essam Saad, the Governor of Assiut, the Ambassador of Netherlands in Cairo, Han-Maurits Schaapveld, and Dante Campioni, Managing Director and CEO, AlexBank.

 

Putting Egypt’s Assiut on the map of innovation-driven economy, Orange Corners Upper Egypt is another stellar example of startups rising and growing across governorates. In 2021, this incubation programme completed the first cycle of the project that took place over the course of 6 months from March to August of this year where a total of 135 applications were received and a total of 33 startups attended the two-day bootcamp. In Cycle 1, there were 16 startups selected to be part of the programme where 50 percent of the attendees were females and 31 percent were males; all based in either Assuit or Sohag. 

 

In her speech, Rania A. Al-Mashat said that the Orange Corners program reflects the valuable role of international cooperation in pushing stakeholders such as the private sector to act as key partners and allies in development. She added that the Ministry of International Cooperation is supporting the private sector in Egypt’s rural areas and different regions through finance, knowledge, and standards and endeavor to create high-impact, sustainable development projects and programs.

 

She added that through a country-led engagement framework, the Ministry of International Cooperation’s C4D goals aim to ensure local ownership of services and projects, ensuring that development financing is based on the principle of country ownership.

 

The Governor of Assiut, Major General Essam Saad, noted that the governorate has pushed forward in promoting economic empowerment of youth and women to establish their own enterprises. 

 

For his part, the Ambassador of Netherlands in Cairo, Han-Maurits Schaapveld, underscored the value of the partnership it shares with Egypt to support young Egyptian entrepreneurs, stating: “The Netherlands encourages ambitious and sustainable cooperation and aims to find win-win solutions for all globally. The young Egyptian entrepreneurs have proven to be risk-taking, daring to make change and often with limited resources. Orange Corners Egypt aims to help young entrepreneurs to develop not only their ideas but also their personal skills."

 

Dante Campioni, Managing Director and CEO, AlexBank, stated: “We are honored to celebrate the first year of success for Orange Corners Egypt with the Ministry of International Cooperation and the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the Arab Republic of Egypt and we are very proud of the results of the first two sessions to prepare startups to venture and grow in their fields of specialization.”