Minister of International Cooperation, Dr. Rania Al Mashat, highlighted the success story of Flat6Labs accelerator as a model for bilateral cooperation, which is one of the leading startup accelerators and investors in the MENA Region that fosters youth employment through offering a wide range of services including mentorship, training and access to capital.
This came during a visit to the business incubator in the presence of Mr. John Barsa, USAID director in Washington, who is visiting Egypt for the first time, Mr. Jonathan Cohen, United States Ambassador to Egypt, Ms. Leslie Reed, Director of the USAID office in Egypt, and Dr. Maya Morsi, President of the National Council for Women. The minister highlighted that Flat6Labs has grown to be the leading business accelerator in Egypt, which has helped 106 businesses and created 7,450 jobs, of which 6,293 are owned by women. She added that Egypt has a highly vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem as the SMEs sector provides over 80% of private sector employment in Egypt. The minister highlighted that the project falls under the Ministry of International Cooperation’s “Global Partnerships Narrative”, which focuses on three main pillars: people at the core, projects in action, and purpose as the driver to promote fruitful partnerships that are in with the government’s 2030 development agenda. To support SMEs in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, Al-Mashat announced recently that the European Investment Bank approved EUR 750 million euros to Banque Misr to mitigate the negative repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic on small and medium enterprises and close the liquidity gap.