Global Entrepreneurship Week

ILO holds the second Entrepreneurship Summit in Egypt

In celebration of the Global Entrepreneurship Week, the ILO Cairo Office held the Egypt Entrepreneurship Summit in El Gouna, Red Sea governorate from November 16- 19, 2016.

Press release | 20 November 2016
Cairo (ILO News)- In celebration of the Global Entrepreneurship Week, the ILO Cairo Office held the Egypt Entrepreneurship Summit in El Gouna, Red Sea governorate from November 16- 19, 2016. It was organized by the ILO’s Canadian funded “Decent Jobs for Egypt’s Young People Project” (DJEP) in partnership with the Ministry of International Cooperation, the International Council for Small Business (ICSB) and its affiliate the Middle East Council for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (MCSBE).

With micro and small enterprises (MSEs) being the biggest employment creators in both emerging and developed economies throughout the world, entrepreneurship is increasingly recognized as an effective way to secure livelihoods as well as a strong source of job creation and growth. In Egypt approximately 90 per cent of the private sector labour market is comprised of MSEs, however these enterprises often face considerable barriers to growth and prosperity by lacking business knowledge and awareness, financial support, foreign exposure, and encountering overly confusing bureaucratic processes.

The ILO’s Egypt Entrepreneurship Summit brought together business people, scholars and policy makers to discuss ways to tackle these challenges and unlock the MSE potential in Egypt to create more and better jobs and promote business innovation.

The summit was inaugurated by Dr. Sahar Nasr, Minister of International Cooperation, and attended by several distinguished guests including Major General Ahmed Abdullah, Governor of the Red Sea, and Mr. Troy Lulashynk, Ambassador of Canada to Egypt.

Dr. Sahar Nasr, Minister of International Cooperation in her inaugural speech called for enhancing entrepreneurship by opening new markets, enhancing innovation and increasing efficiency and productivity. She pointed out that enterprises will help Egypt in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and therefore the government will seek to provide an enabling environment that is conducive to improving standards of living, especially for young people, and to encourage youth to establish their own business.

Meanwhile, Mr. Peter van Rooij, Director of the ILO Cairo Office underlined the work that the ILO is undertaking to promote entrepreneurship development in Egypt. “Today the ILO is one of the largest global providers of entrepreneurship training and it is no different here in Egypt. In an effort to promote entrepreneurship, we have been extremely active in delivering tested, proven and effective tools and trainings that are targeted to almost every type of entrepreneur”, said Mr. Peter van Rooij.

From his side, Mr. Tory Lulashynk, Ambassador of Canada to Egypt applauded the ILO’s work in entrepreneurship development. “The ILO team is to be commended for developing programmes and tools in Egypt and around the world to promote global entrepreneurship. In Egypt, these programmes and tools have been tested, modified and adapted to the local context. We are proud to be supporting this work”, said Ambassador Lulashynk.