Africa Women Innovation and Entrepreneurship Forum (AWIEF)

26 September 2022

Nile Ritz Carlton

Your Excellency Dr. Monique Nsanzabaganwa,

Your Excellency Dr. Rania Al Mashaat,

Your Excellency Dr. Nevine Al Kabbaj

Mr. Sherif El Gebaly,

Mr. Ali Eissa,

Ms. Irene Ochem,

Dear colleagues and partners

It is true honor to join you today in this innovative, creative, and inspiring space!

First, allow me to thank the Africa Women Innovation and Entrepreneurship Forum for the organization of this event, co-hosted by the Ministry of International Cooperation and the Egyptian Businessman Association.

This is an opportune moment for us to emphasize the importance of South-South cooperation, which the UN system truly prioritizes, and this event plays a crucial role in facilitating such a necessary knowledge and best practices exchange.

Egypt really is at the heart of Africa on innovation and entrepreneurship – this is echoed by 562 active tech start-ups, growing investments – attracting around $300 million just in 2022 so far – into enterprises, including social enterprises, that continue to grow by the day.

I must say, however, that only about 12% of these tech start-ups have at least one female founder.

Ladies and gentlemen, there is still a lot to be done in expanding women’s economic participation in growth economic sectors, and in leveraging their full potential accordingly.

The UN leadership is categorical about the huge potential of women:

The Deputy Secretary General, Amina Mohamed, who was here in Cairo just two weeks ago emphasized the strength and untapped potential of women’s contributions to sustainable development.

The Secretary General, during the currently ongoing UN General Assembly stressed on the need to dedicate efforts to ensure that gender disparities are curtailed, and that women’s leadership and participation is at the front and centre of the path to sustainable development.

One of the key areas of focus of the UN Common Agenda – which is the driving force behind the acceleration of the Sustainable Development Goals – is identified as facilitating women’s economic inclusion, including investment in and support for women entrepreneurs.

This truly magnifies the prioritization of women’s economic empowerment – and more specifically the (re)skilling and upskilling women and investing in learning to employment and entrepreneurial opportunities.

One of the great initiatives of the Government of Egypt, under the leadership of the Ministry of International Cooperation and the National Council for Women, in partnership with the World Economic Forum, is the Closing the Gender Gap Accelerator. This partnership is a true demonstration of the commitment and motivation around ensuring women’s equal access to the labor market and consequent empowerment.

As the UN family in Egypt, we are proactively engaging in galvanizing efforts in this regard, and I am sure you will hear from my UN colleagues today what works best in Egypt, which may be relevant for Africa.

I hope you will agree with me that one of the main drivers for success are the MSMEs with their enormous catalytic potential to not only leverage, but to also build on youth, particularly young women’s capacities, knowledge, networks, creativity and fresh mindset.

In 2021 alone, the UN in Egypt provided access to finance and technology, as well as technical services to 200,000 starts-ups and existing enterprises. In addition, over 16,000 women benefited from trainings on financial education and management, business development, micro-enterprise management, leadership skills and marketing. More importantly, this work spans across the governorates of Egypt – reaching 21 out of the 27 with this kind of engagement.

The UN Egypt has also been building on global initiatives, in line with national sustainable development plans and priorities.

One example is the global Generation Unlimited initiative or known as Shabab Balad – a global best practice in public-private-youth partnerships for investment in young people, especially women, throughout their journey from “learning to earning”.

Building on the momentum this event brings forth – especially as so many key partners will be exchanging thoughts, experience and knowledge – we, as UN in Egypt, are looking forward to potential collaborations around women’s economic empowerment, including employability, access to decent work, positioning in leadership roles, including in the private sector – and of course, access to innovative and entrepreneurial opportunities.

We are here today to convey our readiness to be a trusted partner in empowering women to contribute to the economy because we know that when more women get the chance to work, it makes their families, communities & countries wealthier.

Economic empowerment of women is truly where we need to be heading if we want to ensure a sustainable future for all, where absolutely no one will be left behind.

I thank you.