11 NOV 2021
Over the past decade, Egypt’s entrepreneurship ecosystem has expanded on several dimensions, including technical, vocational education and training (TVET) reforms, improved legal framework for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and start-ups, a proliferation of support structures, maturity of venture capital firms, and increased media attention. However, entrepreneurs and start-ups in Egypt still face challenging economic conditions which impede the further development of promising innovations and businesses, and not least, the social and economic outcomes they bring.
Against this backdrop, the Danish-Arab Partnership Programme has provided financing to the Multi-Donor Trust Fund for Countries in Transition, through the African Development Bank, to the Arab Republic of Egypt’s Academy for Scientific Research and Technology (ASRT), and through Tanmia wa Tatweer (TwT) – Egypt’s Entrepreneurship Development Project.
The objective of the TwT project is to empower potential and existing entrepreneurs and start-ups through a complementary set of interventions that will provide direct support to entrepreneurs as well as enhance the enabling environment. The commissioning of the study on "Innovative financing mechanismns for start-ups" falls under the enabling environment component of the TwT project as the purpose of the study is to identify innovative financing mechanisms that i) are specifically geared for start-ups and entrepreneurs and which ii) are adaptable to the Egyptian context and iii) can be readily implemented.
The webinar marks the conclusion of the study entitled "Innovative financing mechanisms for start-ups in Egypt". The webinar presents the study and provides a platform for a diverse group of international innovative finance practitioners and experts to share their experience and learnings applying three different innovative financing mechanisms: Lewam Kefela, Investment Director at Village Capital, Gavriel Landau, CEO and Co-Founder at Charm Impact, Konstantin Boyko, CEO and Co-Founder at Lenderkit, and Etienne Ndatimana, Head of Product & Operations at AceliAfrica.
Moreover, three Egyptian experts contextualises these learnings to the Egyptian start-up, financing and regulatory environment: Tamer El-Raghy, Managing Director of the Acumen Resilient Agriculture Fund (ARAF), Hussein Abou Bakr, CEO of Mozare3, leading digital community for Farmers in Egypt, and Mostafa Ghaly, Senior Consultant to the Egyptian government in improving the business environment.