In light of the sustainable development framework, The Netherlands Embassy in Cairo announced on Thursday its partnership with the Ministry of International Cooperation and ALEXBANK for the entrepreneurial programme ‘Orange Corners Egypt’.
Orange Corners Egypt is an initiative of The Netherlands that provides young entrepreneurs with training, networks and facilities to start and grow innovative businesses, a press statement issued by the Embassy said.
The initiative consists of two separate incubation programmes – one in Cairo and one in Upper Egyptian city of Assiut – each of which offers recurring 6-month training cycles for 15-25 entrepreneurs at a time, it added.
The entrepreneurial training pays special attention to startups in agriculture and the creative sector, and ensures a minimum of 50 per cent participation of female entrepreneurs, the statement added.
Under the patronage of the Ministry of International Cooperation, the initiative will be able to connect the enrolled entrepreneurs more easily with follow-up opportunities within the Egyptian entrepreneurial ecosystem.
According to the statement, the Ministry will support the implementing partners of the programme in identifying the untapped opportunities where innovative ideas can contribute to Egypt’s development across different sectors while achieving the SDGs.
“Egypt’s youth are the driving force of our nation. Only by involving, empowering and enabling them, we will be able to achieve real strides towards sustainable development,” Rania Al-Mashat, Minister of International Cooperation, said,
“2021 is the year of private sector engagement: we are pushing towards the national development agenda through public-private partnerships that foster the sustainability ethos and spread it across several sectors; especially the entrepreneurial scene,” she added.
ALEXBANK will join the programme as a main private sector partner.
“Egypt is a country of talented youth seeking the opportunity of becoming entrepreneurs, and the Orange Corners model can certainly contribute to fulfill this wish by bringing also to Egypt a well-experienced startup framework,” Dante Campioni, the CEO of ALEXBANK, said.
“We’re also particularly happy that the programme can provide opportunities in the field of agribusiness and agritech, giving the chance to a new generation of entrepreneurs to venture into the evolution and integration of the agricultural sector that is so important to Egypt,” he added.
Han-Maurits Schaapveld, Ambassador of The Netherlands, said, “Young Egyptian entrepreneurs are the oxygen of Egypt’s economy. Therefore, we are very excited to collaborate with the Ministry of International Cooperation and ALEXBANK to provide essential support for entrepreneurs to further develop their skills and ideas through Orange Corners Egypt.”
The entrepreneurial training in Egypt is conducted by Egyptian service providers Cultiv in Cairo and Outreach Egypt in Upper Egypt. The first training cycles kicked off in Q1 of 2021, the statement added.
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