The Union of Arab Chambers, in partnership with the Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce, and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) launched an initiative to support entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs in the Arab world. Egypt was the first stage of this initiative, provided that the experience and initiative be generalized to the rest of the Arab countries.
This initiative is under the umbrella of the Presidency of the Egyptian Council of Ministers, the Egyptian Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Egyptian Ministry of Planning, the Central Bank of Egypt, the Egyptian Foundation for Small and Medium Enterprises Development (MSMEDA), and the Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce.
The initiative started by selecting three pilot governorates in partnership with the local ecosystem that includes representatives from different stakeholders within the three governorates (Sohag, Minya, and Beheira) and identifying the most important priority investment sectors in light of Egypt's development plan. The first phase of the initiative began with preparing cadres from three Governorates selected according to international standards in preparation for their assignment to manage the entrepreneurship centers to be established in the chambers of commerce in the three governorates to serve the governorate's people who are entrepreneurs and owners of small and medium enterprises. The program will be presented according to the mechanisms followed internationally in this regard, under the supervision and preparation of UNIDO ITPO / AICEI Bahrain and the Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport.
The launch of the initiative came during the organization of the Union of Arab Chambers, in cooperation with UNIDO and the Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce, a five-day training course entitled "TOT to train Entrepreneurs", with the participation of the most important experts and trainers in addition to a prominent presence of the or Arab chambers.
The opening session received notable Arab and Egyptian participation, and important speeches to each of the Secretary General of the Union of Arab Chambers, Dr. Khaled Hanafy, President of the Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce, Eng. Ibrahim Al-Arabi, Dr. Jihan Saleh, advisor to the Egyptian Prime Minister, Assistant Secretary-General, Head of the Economic Affairs Sector in the League of Arab States Ambassador Kamal Hassan Ali, President of the Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport Ismail Abdel Ghaffar, Head of the UNIDO Office - Bahrain Hashem Hussein, in addition to the Head of the UNIDO Office - Cairo, Dr. Basil Al-Khatib.
In this context, the Union’s Secretary General, Dr. Khaled Hanafy stressed the importance of holding the symposium with the participation of the most important experts and academics, praising “the prominent participation of Arab chambers in this training course, as entrepreneurship, entrepreneurs and small and medium-sized companies are widely considered a vital factor in national economic systems, especially as they create jobs out of total jobs at a higher rate than those created by other employers.
He added: “The holding of the session comes in line with the recommendations made by the Arab Private Sector Forum held in Beirut in 2019 to promote micro, small and medium enterprises and create job opportunities for youth in the Arab region through the establishment of entrepreneurship centers and women's empowerment programs, and in implementation of the recommendations of the Small and Medium Enterprises Symposium which was held in coordination between the Arab League and the Union of Arab Chambers regarding the consequences of the Corona crisis on small and medium enterprises in the Arab world.
Hanafy pointed out that "recommendations have been activated by the Union of Arab Chambers and UNIDO ITPO / AICEI Bahrain to start establishing and operating centers to support entrepreneurs (EDIP) in coordination with the Union of Arab Banks, the Arab Union for Agricultural Development, the Arab Union for Small and Medium Enterprises and the Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport."
In turn, the President of the Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce, Eng. Ibrahim Al-Arabi, delivered a speech at the opening of the training course, in which he praised the efforts made by the UAC in cooperation with the UNIDO to support the idea of entrepreneurship in the Arab world.
He also affirmed that "supporting entrepreneurs and helping them transform their ideas into projects, which are often innovative projects," pointing to the "need to reform education so that it becomes able to teach young people self-confidence and enhance sound thinking skills."
Source (Union of Arab Chambers)
