Prof. Dr Youssef Gharbawy, President of South Valley University, witnessed a workshop hosted by the Luxor government to discuss Business opportunities for entrepreneurs in Qena and Luxor in cooperation with Inroot Development Foundationentre and the Dutch Embassy in Cairo, in the presence of H.E. Han-Maurits Schaapveld ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Egypt, as well as the presidents of Luxor & Sohag Universities, Qena deputy governor, Aswan University deputy president, director of Rowad 2030 initiative and a representative of IDA.
These studies show the opportunities for start-ups in the sectors of Agribusiness, waste management and creative industries. They also bring together the stakeholders in the entrepreneurship environment and the governmental and local agencies to explore the gaps and available investment opportunities and develop the entrepreneurial environment in southern Upper Egypt to support startups in a way that will give added value to the national economy.
The President of South Valley University stressed the importance of coordinating efforts between universities and the government sector, as universities consider a house of expertise that includes various disciplines. On the side of university hospitals, it also organizes medical convoys at a rate of one convoy every 40 hours. the president stated that the university pays great attention to the field of entrepreneurship, as the university includes a career development centre that provides training courses in various fields to qualify youth for the labour market and hosts the Information Technology Institution (ITI ) in cooperation with the Ministry of Communications, which aims to improve the information infrastructure
The president referred to aspects of cooperation with Inroot Development Foundationentre, including awareness of the principles of entrepreneurship, a competition for entrepreneurs, a course for preparing trainers in the field of entrepreneurship, conducting studies for economic sectors, and establishing a business development unit at South Valley University.
The Dutch Ambassador spoke about aspects of combined cooperation between the Egyptian and Dutch sides in the field of water and food insurance, expressed his happiness in cooperating with the universities of South Valley, Sohag, Aswan and Luxor in supporting the projects of young students and graduate, and the Dutch embassy’s keenness to support entrepreneurship, youth projects, and women’s economic empowerment.
Hisham Al-Salmony, from Enroot Development Foundation, spoke about the aspects of cooperation between the Foundation and universities in the field of entrepreneurship, pointing out that entrepreneurship is at the centre of the state’s attention and that the Foundation always seeks to support efforts made in sustainable development.
Prof. Dr Mostafa Abdel-Khaleq, President of Sohag University, and Prof. Dr Mohamed Mahgoub Azzouz, President of Luxor University, spoke about the most important community services provided and the efforts of entrepreneurship for students and graduates.
Dr Maryam Abdel Karim from Enroot development Foundation spoke about the most important investment opportunities and economic sectors for entrepreneurs in Qena and Luxor governments.
The activities of the workshop had witnessed by Dr Ghada Khalil, Director of the 2030 Pioneers Program at the Ministry of Planning, Dr Essam Abdel Hady, Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture in Qena, the Deans of the Faculties of Tourism & Hotels, Fine Arts, Computers and Information at Luxor University, and a group of faculty members from South Valley University and Luxor University.
