The Egypt VC Summit was a unique event that showcased promising venture capital investment opportunities in Egypt and across the region to high-level investors and venture capital funds from around the world. There was a special focus on promising Egyptian fintech startups that have the potential to become the next unicorns of the region.

The Summit was attended by a brilliant elite of investment experts from the VC industry, internationally renowned speakers and around 400 participants from all over the world. Various panels and roundtables were held with the participation of high profile Limited Partners (LPs), General Partners (GPs) as well as commercial banks from Egypt. This provided a unique opportunity to interact directly with government officials and decision makers, and to participate in special events organised to attract and mobilise venture capital investment in the Middle East and Africa.

Mr. Rami Abulnaga, Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt stated that:
“This summit comes in-line with Central Bank of Egypt’s efforts to endorse the FinTech industry since the launch of its FinTech & Innovation Strategy back in 2019, and in accordance with H.E. Mr. President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi’s directives to provide an enabling environment for FinTech entrepreneurs, create new jobs of the future, and adopt more innovative FinTech solutions capable of delivering banking and financial services to all segments of society more easily and at less cost, as a crucial step to transform Egypt into a regional center for the fintech industry in the Arab World and Africa.”

From his side, Eng. Ayman Hussein, First Sub-Governor for Information Technology sector, added:
“Egypt has achieved rapid growth in venture capital investments in the field of FinTech & FinTech-enabled industry over the past years reaching a new high of almost $170M in H1 2022; which has increased by 12 times compared to 2017”.

Tobias Kauer, Vice President, KfW DEG Impact also stated:
“We are seeing a huge potential and great opportunities in the Egyptian VC ecosystem, which deserve more attention in Europe – especially from institutional investors. That’s why we are supporting initiatives such as the Egypt VC Summit, which is strongly aligned with AfricaGrow’s and DEG Impact’s goal of mobilising capital.”

Andreas Ruepp, Head of the Financial Sector Development Project at GIZ Egypt said:
“Egypt presents a unique position at the centre of not one, but two of the world’s most exciting frontier markets: Africa and the Middle East. The Egypt VC Summit was designed to accelerate investment into Egypt supporting SMEs and startups as central players in economic development offering exponential growth and employment prospects.”

Karim Samra, Founder and CEO of Changelabs:
“Egypt, Africa, and the Middle East are radically different than they were ten years ago, and the region is booming, led by major economies like Egypt. To find the best opportunities, investors must come in person, discover the VC funds directly, meet entrepreneurs, and better understand the ecosystem first hand. This is why we created the Egypt VC Summit with our partners.”

To promote sustainable economic growth and employment prospects, it is important and necessary to support innovative and talented entrepreneurs and foster a fertile startup ecosystem. Events such as the Egypt VC Summit, where different stakeholders come together and engage with each other, are essential to create a thriving environment for VC investment.

As a major player in international development cooperation, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) will continue to use its leverage to promote access to finance for MSMEs and start-ups in Egypt as well as in other partner countries in the region.

For more details on Egypt VC Summit, follow this link: https://www.egyptvcsummit.com/