Al-Futtaim Group Real Estate and Edrak for Edutainment Projects Development Co. broke ground on KidZania Cairo, the first edutainment city in Egypt and Africa, according to a statement on Tuesday. The ceremony took place at Cairo Festival City in the presence of Mohamed El Mikawi, managing director of Al Futtaim Group Real Estate Egypt; Philip Evans, director of commercial and retail leasing at AFGRE; Tarek Zidan, KidZania Cairo's governor and Edrak's CEO; and Hernan Barbieri, KidZania's integration director. Spanning over 5,200 square meters with a total built-up area of 7,500 square meters, KidZania Cairo is an entire kids-scale city built to simulate real life. Children between the ages of four and 14 are able to choose from more than 70 ‘jobs' in a wide variety of sectors including retail, media and entertainment, construction, culture, sports and industry. Zidan said that research showed that “34 percent of the Egyptian population is under 14 years old.” Projected to open in 2012, KidZania is expected to attract an average of 750,000 visitors in its first year, with expectations that this number will have reached 1,000,000 visitors annually by 2022. KidZania currently has branches in Mexico, Japan, Indonesia, Portugal, Korea and the UAE. In the next four years, the company is expecting to open in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Thailand, Malaysia, India, China, Turkey, Chile and Brazil. Negotiations are underway with the UK, France, South Africa, Russia and The Philippines.
