Forbes Middle East Announces Details of its First “Under 30 Summit” in El Gouna, Supporting and Promoting Entrepreneurship

• Khuloud Al-Omian: Egyptians dominate 34% of this year’s list… And we aim to put Egypt on the global map of entrepreneurship
• Mohamed Amer: Orascom Development is keen to support young entrepreneurs and provide all capabilities to help them achieve their dreams

Forbes Middle East held a press conference to announce the details of its first-ever “Under 30 Summit” of the MENA region which will run from November 24-26 at the El Gouna Conference and Culture Center, to unveil its annual 30 Under30 list that features an inspiring group of entrepreneurs, innovators, and athletes.

This summit, hosted by El Gouna, one of Orascom Development – Egypt cities in the Red Sea, comes within the context of Forbes Middle East’s efforts to support and promote entrepreneurship. Over three days, the summit will witness a number of events that highlight the efforts of young entrepreneurs and innovators, and bring together a large number of experts, business owners in various sectors, and elite stars of society to exchange experiences and support entrepreneurship.

Khuloud Al-Omian, Editor-in-Chief of Forbes Middle East magazine, assured that the Under 30 Summit is a unique event held for the first time in the Middle East to support and promote entrepreneurship in various fields, and the reason behind choosing Egypt to host it is its position as one of the most important Markets in the region and having many young talents in various sectors such as sports, science, technology and social impact, as well as its progress in the field of entrepreneurship, it ranked second in the Middle East and North Africa in terms of the number of investment deals in startups in 2021, pointing out that the Forbes Middle East list (30 Under30) for this year includes 12 young Egyptians, representing more than 34% of it. To select the young talents for this list, Forbes evaluated more than 400 nominations in two rounds, to produce a shortlist of 80 candidates. Then the judges, who are all experts in their disciplines, searched the candidates’ data to select those who deserved to qualify for the final list.

She also explained that the summit witnesses the presence of a group of major companies in the world, which provide support and financing to emerging companies, such as Sequoia and 500 Global, which represents an opportunity for startups and entrepreneurs to present their business models and get support of them, in addition to the presence of a group of The most important CEOs and managers of major companies in the Middle East to provide training workshops and discussion sessions, which contribute to enriching the business community within the region and exploring more growth opportunities.

Al-Omian indicated that the summit aims to put Egypt on the global map in the field of entrepreneurship, and its activities include organizing a competition to present project ideas “Speed-Pitch”, and a ceremony honoring the winners of the Forbes Middle East (30 Under30) list for the year 2022, in addition to a music festival and a unique closing ceremony. She also expressed her happiness in cooperating with Orascom Development to host the summit at El Gouna Convention and Culture Center, which is a beacon for science, arts and culture, and thanked the administration of El Gouna for providing all the capabilities that will make this summit appears as it deserves.

Mohamed Amer, CEO of El Gouna, said: “We are proud to partner with Forbes Middle East to host the first edition of the Under 30 Summit in El Gouna. El Gouna started with a dream to establish a vibrant, sustainable and integrated city, so we believe in Orascom Development in the importance of supporting young entrepreneurs and providing the right environment and all the capabilities to help them achieve their dreams. We are proud that El Gouna is a sustainable hub for startups and youth in Egypt.”

He added: “El Gouna has a special character as it is a multicultural city with an Egyptian identity, having the availability of all the resources, facilities and infrastructure, including hotels, various housing units, schools with different educational systems, an international hospital, recreational and social activities and various events throughout the year, which makes it an important destination in the Red Sea Governorate.”

It is worth noting that Forbes Middle East’s (30 Under30) is an annual list that aims at supporting and empowering young entrepreneurs and innovators, and that Egypt was chosen to host the first edition of the summit, as it is one of the most important markets in the region, and it has many young talents in different sectors such as sports, science, technology and social impact, as well as their progress in the field of entrepreneurship. The volume of investments in startups in Egypt has doubled from $183 million with 117 deals in 2020, to $491 million with 147 deals during 2021, according to a report by the MAGNiTT platform in cooperation with the Technology Industry Development Authority.