Countering the lockdown: Online workshop series on "Youth Empowerment and Ideas’ Development"

The first online three-day workshop in the series entitled “Youth Empowerment and Ideas’ Development" was held from June 22 until 24, 2020 in Cairo in cooperation between the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom (FNF), Fekretak Sherketak; the entrepreneurship center of the General Authority for Investment and Free zones (GAFI), the Egyptian Ministry of Youth and Sports (MYS) and the National Egyptian Development Association (NEDA). Some 25 youth participants joined the workshop.

The workshop aims to promote entrepreneurship and equip youth participants with the necessary tools, knowledge, skills and the right mindset to create and refine ideas, to lead a process of innovation, and to start business and social enterprises.

In her opening word, Ms. Dina Fouad, Deputy Minister of the MYS stressed the importance of future follow up with the participants to support them in dealing with the challenges facing them in their business.

The participants got the chance to learn about the entrepreneurship ecosystem in Egypt and   differences between startups and SMEs in terms of market, product, growth, profit and risk.

They learned about importance of customer segmentation for the business success as it help reducing the cost of marketing and it directs the efforts of product design and they got a deep dive into understanding the Business Model Canvas (BMC).

The training also focused on how to build a product that fits the market needs, and the funding scene for the startups in Egypt. The presentations included the definition of incubation, acceleration, angel investment and venture capital with examples from the Egyptian market.

The participants learned the art of pitching and how to give a winning presentation to the investor, including the importance of the preparation, the body language and the use of technology in the presentation with examples.