On the 30th of September INSME explored female entrepreneurship in Egypt during the second Policy Lab organized in the framework of THE NEXT SOCIETY project and featuring the Heya Reda Programme, an initiative promoted by the Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center (TIEC). The topic is of remarkable importance since women entrepreneurship represents a powerful, untapped economic resource that is still struggling to emerge, especially in some countries like the case of Egypt.
The Heya Raeda Programme followed an effective methodological approach characterized by hands-on training, tailor-made assistance to enhance attendees’ skills and confidence and to boost their innovative ideas in order to promote the overall entrepreneurial ecosystem growth. Furthermore, digitalisation has been identified as a driver for women entrepreneurship and as a mean to overcome the obstacles traditionally faced by them.
The stimulating Policy Lab saw the participation as speakers of Rasha Tantawy, from TIEC, who stressed that “the Heya Raeda was born from the necessity to reintegrate women into the workforce after a long break, which is a considerable challenge” while Faten Salem presented the impressive results achieved. The debate was enhanced also by Farah Ahmed, an entrepreneur that benefited from the programme. Professor Lynn Martin from the Anglia Ruskin University pointed out among the strengths of the programme the scalability of the initiative because of its focus on digitalisation, since “internet gives everybody a window into the world, to build communities, to learn, educate themselves and take ideas forward”.
Source: The International Network for SMEs - INSME
