Egypt’s Minister of Planning, Economic Development, and International Cooperation Dr. Rania Al-Mashat affirmed that entrepreneurship is a cornerstone of the country’s shift toward a more innovative, productive, and competitive economy, as she attended the closing ceremony of the Egypt Entrepreneurship Awards (EEA) at the Grand Egyptian Museum.
The ceremony marked the announcement of winners across 15 categories, including Excellence in Artificial Intelligence & Advanced Technologies and Innovation in Education. The event was attended by former Minister of Education Dr. Tarek Shawki, Hisham El-Khazindar, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Qalaa Holdings, and Amr Mansi, CEO of Ievents and Founder of the EEA Awards.
Green Innovation
The Ministry of Planning, represented by Ambassador Hisham Badr, Assistant Minister for Strategic Partnerships and Excellence, served on the judging panel for the Green Innovation category.
The category featured three shortlisted startups emerging from the ministry’s National Initiative for Smart Green Projects, underscoring the government’s commitment to supporting climate-focused and sustainability-driven entrepreneurship.
Egypt’s New Economic Model
In her keynote remarks, Al-Mashat congratulated organizers for sustaining the awards for the fifth consecutive year, stressing that celebrating entrepreneurs is “not a luxury, but a necessity” for any economy seeking to remain competitive and technologically advanced.
She emphasized that entrepreneurship and innovation form a central pillar of Egypt’s new economic model—one that aims to diversify production, localize technology, and build higher value-added industries in alignment with global and regional transformations.
Egypt’s Startup Ecosystem
The minister highlighted that Egypt regards entrepreneurship as a critical engine for economic and social development. She noted that the Ministerial Committee for Entrepreneurship and the Cabinet’s Advisory Committee for Entrepreneurship and the Digital Economy work in unison to advance sector competitiveness and address barriers facing startups.
Al-Mashat added that Egypt has built a robust digital infrastructure, further strengthened by the government’s adoption of an AI strategy and efforts to attract technological investment. These developments, she said, help position Egypt as an increasingly attractive hub for companies working in fintech, e-commerce, logistics, and other emerging sectors.
She pointed to Egypt’s competitive advantages, including a strong and diverse talent base, with over 750,000 graduates annually, many specializing in technology-related fields.
Government Efforts to Address Startup Challenges
Despite progress, Al-Mashat acknowledged the presence of challenges that must be addressed to unlock the sector’s full potential. For this reason, the government launched the Ministerial Committee for Entrepreneurship, bringing together all national bodies supporting startups, ecosystem enablers, investors, and private-sector stakeholders.
The committee meets regularly to identify obstacles, propose solutions, and strengthen the flow of venture capital investment, ensuring startups can scale, innovate, and compete regionally and globally.
