Keynote Speech

Mr. Jawad Abbasi, the MENA director of GSMA,

Mr. Khaled Hegazy, the Chief Corporate Affairs Officer of Etisalat Misr,

Dear Exhibitors and Attendees,

I would like to welcome you all to the Arab Virtual Entrepreneurship Exhibition where we acknowledge and celebrate the technological revolution that enabled us to host this fully virtual exhibition. Together with other technologies - which have recently made accelerated progress- reflect some of the positive outcomes of COVID-19 pandemic, and give reason and hope for a better, more inclusive and resilient future for humanity as a whole.

 During the COVID-19 crisis, startups and small business are struggling to survive. According to COVID-19 Survey by Startup Genome, as of mid-2020, more than 40% of startups globally are in the “red zone” when it comes to cash; meaning they have cash to survive for only three months or fewer. Global Venture Capital funding has dropped by roughly 20% since the onset of the pandemic in December 2019, creating ripple effects throughout startup ecosystems worldwide.

As funding is reduced, the number of startups is subsequently reduced, which would slash the value of an ecosystem exponentially. As such, preserving the number of startups in an ecosystem helps protect its overall economic value. Policymakers and citizens alike should continue to support the entrepreneurship ecosystem and direct efforts to empower and enable the ecosystem whenever possible.

In UNDP Egypt, we always prioritize supporting startups and MSMEs, and for years now, we have been building capacities of youth, through ideation and innovation and providing support to national institutions to improve the enabling environment for startups and MSMEs and therefore supporting the creation of a robust and conducive ecosystem.

When we planned how to celebrate the Global Entrepreneurship Week this year, we had in mind 3 key messages to address:

1.     Increase the cross-country efforts to improve the entrepreneurship ecosystem in the Arab region.

2.     Provide entrepreneurs with networking opportunities with the private sector.

3.     Highlight the challenges and barriers facing the Arab entrepreneurs, as well as present the best practices from the region.

For this reason, we have invited entrepreneurs and different players in the entrepreneurship ecosystem from the Arab region. Over 35 Arab startups -represented by 100 young innovators- virtually exhibiting their businesses to the world with a chance to get noticed by investors, potential clients and supporters.

I encourage all of you to participate in today’s sessions and to visit our exhibitors, who will be available for the whole week.

I would really like to thank UNDP reginal office and the participating Country Offices from neighboring Lebanon, Tunisia, Iraq, Morocco, Yemen and Syria for their amazing support and participation. I would especially like to thank the Egyptian MOYS for their continuous partnership, as well as GSMA and Etisalat Egypt with high appreciation to their support and partnership with UNDP Egypt in this successful event.