Egypt's Minister of Planning, Economic Development and International Cooperation Rania Al-Mashat said entrepreneurship remained a core pillar of the country's move towards a more productive, innovative and competitive economy, as she attended the 5th Egypt's Entrepreneur Awards (EEA) 2025 at the Grand Egyptian Museum. The ceremony, now in its fifth year, announced winners across 15 categories, including awards for Excellence in Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Technologies, and Innovation in Education. Among those attending were former Minister of Education and Technical Education Tarek Shawki, Qalaa Holdings Managing Director Hisham El-Khazindar, and Ievents CEO and EEA founder Amr Mansi. The Ministry of Planning, Economic Development and International Cooperation took part in the judging panel for the Green Innovation category, represented by Ambassador Hisham Badr, Assistant Minister for Strategic Partnerships, Excellence and Initiatives. Three emerging projects from companies graduating from the Ministry's National Initiative for Smart Green Projects were shortlisted within the category. In her address, Al-Mashat congratulated organisers for maintaining the event for a fifth consecutive year, saying that recognising entrepreneurship was "not a luxury" but a necessity for economies seeking to keep pace with technological reform, improve competitiveness and strengthen Egypt's regional profile. She said entrepreneurship and innovation were central elements of a new economic model Egypt is working to implement, aimed at achieving diversification, productivity, value-added growth, localisation of technology and industry, and alignment with global and regional developments. Al-Mashat noted that Egypt views entrepreneurship as a main driver of economic and social development, underlining the role of the Ministerial Group for Entrepreneurship and the Cabinet-affiliated Advisory Committee for Entrepreneurship and Digital Economy in supporting the sector. Their aim, she said, was to raise competitiveness and address challenges facing entrepreneurs through coordinated work across government, investors and key ecosystem stakeholders. She added that Egypt had built an advanced digital infrastructure and was expanding on this foundation through the adoption of an artificial intelligence strategy and efforts to attract technological investment. These steps, she said, reinforce Egypt's position as a destination for companies in fintech, e-commerce, logistics and other fields, backed by strong human capital and more than 750,000 qualified graduates each year, many of them in technology fields. Al-Mashat said the government was focused on removing barriers to the growth of the startup sector. The establishment of the Ministerial Group for Entrepreneurship, which brings together national entities supporting startups alongside ecosystem actors and investors, aims to ensure continuous coordination to tackle challenges and open new avenues for venture capital investment.
