The Minister of Communications and Information Technology Amr Talaat has delivered a speech at the opening of the second edition of Techne Summit, held in Cairo. Techne Summit is held under the auspices of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT), the Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA), and the Digital Economy and Technology General Division (DETGD) of the Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce (FEDCOC), as well as the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (MSMEDA) as the strategic partner.
Techne Summit is an international multi-industry-focused investment, technology, and entrepreneurship event in the Middle East. It focuses on connecting the Middle East region to Europe and Africa. This year, it brought together over 200 speakers, 180 investors from more than 30 countries, and 100+ exhibitors.
The ICT Minister emphasized that fostering the entrepreneurship and startup sector is one of the main pillars of MCIT strategy. The strategy aims to disseminate entrepreneurship culture and support digital innovation nationwide by establishing CREATIVA Innovation Hubs. He added that eight Hubs were opened last year and around 17 new hubs are being established nationwide. He revealed that about five CREATIVA Innovation Hubs will be opened during the first half of 2023. The other Hubs will be established during the second half and the first half of 2023 and 2024 respectively.
In his remarks, Talaat explained that establishing CREATIVA Innovation Hubs reflects Egypt’s recognition of the significance of developing the entrepreneurial economy and supporting startups. He pointed out that MCIT has started implementing CREATIVA Innovation Hubs project according to certain conditions. The first was not to start with Cairo but the other governorates. He clarified that four Hubs, out of the first six Hubs, were established in Upper Egypt: Aswan, Qena, Minya, and Sohag, and two Hubs in Menoufia and Mansoura. Then, two Hubs were established in Cairo and Ismailia.
Talaat stated that the second condition was to establish CREATIVA Hubs inside or near universities to support young people, and university staff who can participate in delivering the training provided in these Hubs. Meanwhile, the third condition was to leverage global expertise to manage these Hubs, share knowledge with Egypt, and attract investors worldwide to invest in startups. He underlined that around 120 people have been trained to manage incubators and entrepreneurship centers to promote local competencies in managing the Hubs nationwide.
The ICT Minister added that MCIT is cooperating with all the state agencies to facilitate the establishment and operation of startups. These agencies include the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Higher Education to include entrepreneurship and freelancing skills in the curricula of universities and schools to train youth, including university and secondary school students, on entrepreneurship and startup success factors.
The ICT Minister clarified that a set of legislative amendments that facilitate the establishment of startups has been initiated. These amendments include making the minimum capital of a one-person company just EGP 1,000 when establishing the company, instead of EGP 50,000. Currently, a system for establishing companies remotely is being developed as announced at the Egyptian Economic Conference, he added. Furthermore, the digital system is currently being developed to enable youth to establish companies through Digital Egypt platform. He also pointed to the increasing number of startups in Egypt as well as the Egyptian startups attracting venture capital (VC) deals.
Talaat pointed out that entrepreneurship is one of the pillars of the biggest economies of developed countries. He added that this industry hits over $3 trillion worldwide.
During his meeting with the organizers of Techne Summit, the ICT Minister expressed his pleasure with holding another Summit in Cairo, along with Alexandria. He referred to MCIT keenness to support distinguished startups participating in Techne Summit to develop them, especially the startups established outside Cairo, through the incubators of CREATIVA Innovation Hubs.
It is worth noting that the second edition of Techne Summit is held on March 11-12, at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization (NMEC). It includes nine tracks: CreativeTech, Disrupt Tech, eCommerce, EdTech, FinTech, HealthTech, Investment, Marketing and Advertising, and Startup Business Academy. This is in addition to two competitions for entrepreneurship projects, 10 workshops delivered by professionals and experts, and five panel discussions.
The opening ceremony of Techne Summit was attended by Ambassador of Singapore to Egypt Dominic Goh, MSMEDA CEO Bassel Rahmy, ITIDA CEO Ahmed Elzaher, FEDCOC Secretary General Alaa Ezz, and DETGD Chairman Khalil Hassan Khalil.
