Microsoft Egypt launched a women's empowerment campaign under the hashtag #MakeWhatsNext, aimed at motivating young women to develop their skills and discover various professions in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields. As part of the initiative, Microsoft Egypt collaborated with several governmental and non-governmental organisations around the world to organise a series of events and training programmes across the country to provide young women between the ages of 12 and 35 with the skills and confidence needed to work in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. "We believe that it is our duty to inspire young women to take advantage of the enormous potential offered by science, technology, engineering, and mathematics," said Khaled Abdel Kader, general manager at Microsoft Egypt. He continued that for this reason, the MakeWhatsNext campaign came to show young women that these fields are not limited to men only and that they can enter them. "We are pleased to cooperate with the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) and international NGOs to instil these beliefs in a tangible way for Egyptian women throughout the country," he assured. In the framework of the campaign, Microsoft cooperated with the Ministry of Youth and Sports in organising a special event to encourage young women to enter these fields, where five-day training sessions were held at 43 youth centres across 26 governorates. More than 1,000 young women benefited from these sessions, which included practical professional training to perform basic job tasks using the latest Microsoft technologies, such as e-mail, reporting, negotiation, and financial management principles. Microsoft Egypt also collaborated with the MCIT to organise a five-day educational seminar in five selected NGO offices across Egypt, providing training for nearly 200 young women in personal skills development, digital literacy, and "programming hour" sessions. Microsoft launched the MakeWhatsNext campaign in 17 countries across the Middle East and Africa. The campaign was aimed at developing the skills of more than 100,000 young girls and reaching up to 10 million young women and their parents and tackling stereotypes and misconceptions that often frustrate young women and prevent them from pursuing careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. It kicked off on 8 March, International Women's Day, and concluded on International Girls in ICT Day on 26 April.
