In an interview with Egyptian Streets, Farah Abdelbaki, one of the organizers and the coordinator of the tech hub ‘’We Innovate’’, talked about the startup scene in Upper Egypt and its future.
The primary goal of We Innovate was to create a thriving startup ecosystem in the country. Conveniently located in the premises of the technology park ”We Park” in New Assiut City, the tech hub aims to assist young Egyptians taking the initiative and starting their own business. Managed by numerous venture capitalists and business angels such as Greek Campus, RiseUp, Flat6Labs, Injaz, Nafham, Education, XWare, UE Systems, ”We Park” also received support from the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. Assiut University also took part in the initiative.
At ”We Innovate” bright Egyptian minds would attend workshops and hackathons to gain more expertise in business development, negotiations, investors’ pitching, and more. They would also meet in person successful entrepreneurs and industry insiders. During their classes, the young people would learn how to solve their local market gaps efficiently.
In Abdelbaki’s view, the most significant challenge for the Egyptian youth was the access to capital in their small hometowns. ”We Innovate” initiative would try to solve that problem by launching entrepreneurship programs for schools so that children at a very age would know basic concepts. The program would also bring various workshops, startup competitions, and startup incubating programs outside Cairo so that more people could afford to attend them.
In the long-run, the initiative aimed to ensure easy access to assets across Upper Egypt. Furthermore, they planned to focus on non-touristic cities and put them on the startup map of the country. The founders would also invest in developing the next generation leaders, startup coaches, program coordinators, and event organizers to put a solid foundation for the future startup ecosystem in Upper Egypt.
Abdelbaki admitted the local youth needed experienced entrepreneurs and industry leaders to believe in it, to raise awareness about its innovations, and to give it a chance to prove itself.
Read the whole interview here.