I thought briefly about writing this post, and i came to the conclusion that writing is not about being perfect rather than speaking out your mind and putting things into a rational perspective..at least for me.
*Just a hint: Try to read this post as if someone is speaking it out loud rather than commenting on the lack of professional/academic writing.
To me, the entrepreneurship ecosystem in Egypt is complex, vague and very close-restricted to a certain kind of propaganda, few incubators, very few accelerators (both are not very much differentiated between, Alas), incompetent ideas are seen as entrepreneurial thinking (a common business project is different than having a mere new,creative idea and bringing it to the light in a business form), mostly tech-related (SocEnt support system in Egypt is done by 4-5 entities only)....and much more dilemmas which i would like to pin-point in this post.
*The ecosystem relates to the different stakeholders including, but not limited to, entrepreneurs, mentors, venture capitalists, angel investors, educators, NGOs, financial institutions and others. They all represent building blocks in the ecosystem and they are all important to avail a setting that encourages ideas, inspires entrepreneurs, and promotes innovation.
Let me be honest, what triggered me to write this post was the whole media and social media frenzy over the entrepreneurship-promoting based tv show “El-Mashroo3”....(Somehow like the “Apprentice” tv-show aired on American tv, the only difference is that the candidates were considered to be entrepreneurs”) The tv-show isn’t but an expose, aired mini-model of what’s really happening in the entrepreneurship ecosystem in Egypt.
In points below, i would love to highlight some of these dilemmas:
1) Entrepreneurship in Egypt is always referred to as the “Tech-frenzy”. Most of the startups are based on the use of technology (mobile apps, software, ....) In a country that has over 40% of illiterate population, 50% don’t really recognize/ use the apps on their smartphones and above 25% of children over the age of 10 who can’t really read. Tech-based startups is essential definitely, but as long as the country is satisfied with a reasonable percentage of support system for providing what’s needed in the society. In 2014, Egypt is still suffering from the lack of number of effectively implemented community-based projects that can solve the real issues like Education, Healthcare, street children, livelihoods,...etc etc.
So, before launching your project or startup, apply a simple methodology called “The Design Thinking; it includes more research, ideating and prototyping...you can find informative and simple tools here https://dschool.stanford.edu/groups/k12/wiki/17cff/
(Just if you are interested, there are amazing courses on Design thinking on Coursera)
2) Egypt is swamped with people who have great “applicable” ideas who their dreams is to put these ideas into action. In USA and India (according to my experience), one of the main assets of a healthy entrepreneurship atmosphere are the various support system tools that can help early-staged entrepreneurs to kick-off their startup, one of which is the concept of CoWorking Spaces. All over Egypt, there are only 7 coworking spaces placed only in Cairo!! I, mean, in Alexandria for example; there is a great pool of entrepreneurs yet the simplest service is not provided. And the need for such a thing is huge, that i was so startled how come no one thought of starting one already? Coworking spaces is not only about providing offices-like spaces for entrepreneurs and their teams to work with minimum fees, but it is more of a network to connect related activities, conducting related events and trainings...and much more (You can find a piece on Wamda about the services the 7 coworking spaces provide in Egypt here: http://www.wamda.com/2013/03/where-to-find-cairo-s-coworking-spaces)
It is stated that there are many popular business in the world of technology such as Dropbox, Airbnb, and many more small businesses like these ones that started as small incubator companies working in co-working spaces provided. It helped them grow fast and achieve their goals at a quicker rate. This is very important in achieving success in the start-up world. (For more info, this is a good link http://www.businessinfocusmagazine.com/2013/06/coworking-spaces/ )
Moreover, most of the Alexandrian Entrepreneurs are still suffering from the concept of centralization of Cairo as the heart of launching businesses, although there are a lot of unrecognized capability of entrepreneurs. Despite the fact that “Start-up Alexandria” event is one of the most successful entrepreneurship-related events in Egypt, but it is almost the only one known of to common people.
3) The entrepreneurship situation as a whole is very underdeveloped, not only by the very few numbers of accelerators, incubators, networking events and facilities but also the lack of outreach and awareness. From lack of coherent legal framework to the lack of support provided to promote entrepreneurship by the government and the private sector, entrepreneurs are stuck between few of the local entities and foreign institutions to guide them on the route of launching their business. Even if there are some, but apparently they are not performing their marketing strategy to outreach well. There are must be some sort of entity to unveil the ideas of people who don’t have what it takes to know of the existing opportunities for entrepreneurs. When i was working as head of an entrepreneurship project concerned about promoting entrepreneurial skills and concepts to young technicians in schools, was an immensely revealing experience that the entrepreneurship ecosystem speaks with its only language to people who can translate this language thoroughly. Connecting islands is needed.
There are a lot of other issues that i would love to mention but it would take me pages and pages of writing and tons of research, but before concluding, a one remaining point that i cannot deliver in couple of lines which is; the social entrepreneurship ecosystem in Egypt (maybe, another post). But till then, you can read amazing preview on that issue from research conducted by Ehab Abdou and Inji El-Abd. (Found online)
Last but not least, Entrepreneurship was a trend for the past 3 years, but now it is an essential requirement to unleash innovation and help the economic growth in a stage where we find ourselves surrounded by false propaganda promoting the term. So, dig deep and spread the word.
To me, the entrepreneurship ecosystem in Egypt is complex, vague and very close-restricted to a certain kind of propaganda, few incubators, very few accelerators (both are not very much differentiated between, Alas), incompetent ideas are seen as entrepreneurial thinking (a common business project is different than having a mere new,creative idea and bringing it to the light in a business form), mostly tech-related (SocEnt support system in Egypt is done by 4-5 entities only)....and much more dilemmas which i would like to pin-point in this post.
*The ecosystem relates to the different stakeholders including, but not limited to, entrepreneurs, mentors, venture capitalists, angel investors, educators, NGOs, financial institutions and others. They all represent building blocks in the ecosystem and they are all important to avail a setting that encourages ideas, inspires entrepreneurs, and promotes innovation.
Let me be honest, what triggered me to write this post was the whole media and social media frenzy over the entrepreneurship-promoting based tv show “El-Mashroo3”....(Somehow like the “Apprentice” tv-show aired on American tv, the only difference is that the candidates were considered to be entrepreneurs”) The tv-show isn’t but an expose, aired mini-model of what’s really happening in the entrepreneurship ecosystem in Egypt.
In points below, i would love to highlight some of these dilemmas:
1) Entrepreneurship in Egypt is always referred to as the “Tech-frenzy”. Most of the startups are based on the use of technology (mobile apps, software, ....) In a country that has over 40% of illiterate population, 50% don’t really recognize/ use the apps on their smartphones and above 25% of children over the age of 10 who can’t really read. Tech-based startups is essential definitely, but as long as the country is satisfied with a reasonable percentage of support system for providing what’s needed in the society. In 2014, Egypt is still suffering from the lack of number of effectively implemented community-based projects that can solve the real issues like Education, Healthcare, street children, livelihoods,...etc etc.
So, before launching your project or startup, apply a simple methodology called “The Design Thinking; it includes more research, ideating and prototyping...you can find informative and simple tools here https://dschool.stanford.edu/groups/k12/wiki/17cff/
(Just if you are interested, there are amazing courses on Design thinking on Coursera)
2) Egypt is swamped with people who have great “applicable” ideas who their dreams is to put these ideas into action. In USA and India (according to my experience), one of the main assets of a healthy entrepreneurship atmosphere are the various support system tools that can help early-staged entrepreneurs to kick-off their startup, one of which is the concept of CoWorking Spaces. All over Egypt, there are only 7 coworking spaces placed only in Cairo!! I, mean, in Alexandria for example; there is a great pool of entrepreneurs yet the simplest service is not provided. And the need for such a thing is huge, that i was so startled how come no one thought of starting one already? Coworking spaces is not only about providing offices-like spaces for entrepreneurs and their teams to work with minimum fees, but it is more of a network to connect related activities, conducting related events and trainings...and much more (You can find a piece on Wamda about the services the 7 coworking spaces provide in Egypt here: http://www.wamda.com/2013/03/where-to-find-cairo-s-coworking-spaces)
It is stated that there are many popular business in the world of technology such as Dropbox, Airbnb, and many more small businesses like these ones that started as small incubator companies working in co-working spaces provided. It helped them grow fast and achieve their goals at a quicker rate. This is very important in achieving success in the start-up world. (For more info, this is a good link http://www.businessinfocusmagazine.com/2013/06/coworking-spaces/ )
Moreover, most of the Alexandrian Entrepreneurs are still suffering from the concept of centralization of Cairo as the heart of launching businesses, although there are a lot of unrecognized capability of entrepreneurs. Despite the fact that “Start-up Alexandria” event is one of the most successful entrepreneurship-related events in Egypt, but it is almost the only one known of to common people.
3) The entrepreneurship situation as a whole is very underdeveloped, not only by the very few numbers of accelerators, incubators, networking events and facilities but also the lack of outreach and awareness. From lack of coherent legal framework to the lack of support provided to promote entrepreneurship by the government and the private sector, entrepreneurs are stuck between few of the local entities and foreign institutions to guide them on the route of launching their business. Even if there are some, but apparently they are not performing their marketing strategy to outreach well. There are must be some sort of entity to unveil the ideas of people who don’t have what it takes to know of the existing opportunities for entrepreneurs. When i was working as head of an entrepreneurship project concerned about promoting entrepreneurial skills and concepts to young technicians in schools, was an immensely revealing experience that the entrepreneurship ecosystem speaks with its only language to people who can translate this language thoroughly. Connecting islands is needed.
There are a lot of other issues that i would love to mention but it would take me pages and pages of writing and tons of research, but before concluding, a one remaining point that i cannot deliver in couple of lines which is; the social entrepreneurship ecosystem in Egypt (maybe, another post). But till then, you can read amazing preview on that issue from research conducted by Ehab Abdou and Inji El-Abd. (Found online)
Last but not least, Entrepreneurship was a trend for the past 3 years, but now it is an essential requirement to unleash innovation and help the economic growth in a stage where we find ourselves surrounded by false propaganda promoting the term. So, dig deep and spread the word.
