Egypt is a highly vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem: Seedstars analyst
Doaa A.Moneim, , Thursday 30 Jan 2020


Egypt's market enjoys significant potentials that catalyse entrepreneurship ecosystem to achieve robust upgrade, said Ecosystems Enablers and Potentials Venture Capital analyst for MENA region at Seedstars Francesca Bombassei.

Speaking to Ahram Online on the sidelines of StartEgypt Forum that was held on Wednesday in the Greek Campus at the American University in Cairo, Bombassei said the sector has grown significantly in Egypt over the past few years.

"We see Egypt as a big ecosystem with a lot of opportunities. Meanwhile, more and more startups are being created. We see a high demand and, increasingly, startups responding to that demand," Bombassei said.

She added that the investment scene in Egypt is improving, with increasing venture capital in the market and more impact investments. Egypt has become a mature market where the demand for funding meets supply and more people are eager to invest in the sector.

"Cairo is on another level than other cities in terms of the available opportunities in the MENA region and Africa. Egypt is a highly vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem," she highlighted.

Bombassei said the main challenge for entrepreneurship in Egypt is the poor supply of funding available for entrepreneurs, and outside the capital city, the big challenge is that there is no access to people who can coach entrepreneurs and innovators until they launch their own businesses, and that they cannot also access the right network to launch their products.

She added that the significant opportunity in the Egyptian market currently is that there is an education in the field of technology.

Indeed, she added, Egypt is doing a great job, as the governance system in Egypt is widespread. If each governorate backs up startups and entrepreneurs, the ecosystem will boom and the challenges will be overcome.

She asserted that the government should focus on small and medium-size enterprises through providing funds and vocal support, especially outside the capital, and to work with ecosystems enablers to boost the sector.

Seedstars is a company that invest in people and startups, connecting complementary stakeholders and funding solutions for entrepreneurs.

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