Egypt’s Minister of Planning Reviews Initiatives Supporting Female Entrepreneurs

• “Al Mashat”: 300 Billion EGP Investment to Empower Women Economically and Socially Over 5 Years
• The Ministerial Entrepreneurship Group is working on preparing a charter for startups and incentives to encourage entrepreneurship and innovation.

Dr.Rania Al Mashat, Minister of Planning, Economic Development, and International Cooperation, participated in the “She Can” conference, which is being held for the tenth consecutive year at the Digital Egypt Creativity Center in Giza.

The event aims to support female entrepreneurs and contribute to shaping the future of the commercial projects sector.

Minister’s Statements

In her speech, the Minister of Planning, Economic Development, and International Cooperation stated:

“The Egyptian woman has always proven her ability to overcome challenges and actively participate in creating and utilizing opportunities in many strategic fields such as science, politics, and entrepreneurship.”

She added that women have established their presence through inspiring achievements that everyone acknowledges.

She continued:

“At the Ministry of Planning, Economic Development, and International Cooperation, we place women’s empowerment at the heart of our strategies and projects,We are working diligently to provide a supportive business environment for female entrepreneurs through funding programs, training, and facilitating access to markets in partnership with local and international entities.”

She mentioned that investments allocated for women’s projects in areas such as education, healthcare, social protection, and labor have seen significant growth from the 2020/2021 period to 2024/2025, amounting to approximately 300 billion EGP over five years.

These projects directly contribute to enhancing the participation of female entrepreneurs in the development process.

She also highlighted the She Trades Egypt initiative, which is being implemented by the Ministry in collaboration with the National Council for Women, the Ministry of Trade, and in partnership with the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation, aimed at enhancing the competitiveness of female entrepreneurs and enabling them to access both local and global markets.

Additionally, she discussed the “She Leads” initiative, implemented in partnership with the National Council for Women, the Ministry of Education and Technical Education, and the Young Leaders Foundation, which targets training and qualifying female entrepreneurs from technical education graduates, spotlighting the exceptional models among them.

She added that the “Gender Gap Closing Incentive”, launched in partnership with the World Economic Forum and in cooperation with the private sector, aims to close the gender gap in economic participation, opportunities, empowerment, and wages.

Egypt is among the first countries in the Middle East and Africa to join this pioneering initiative.

She mentioned that all of these programs and initiatives are available through the “Hafiz” platform for financial and technical support to the private sector, which was launched by the Ministry to connect development partners with various private sector companies, including startups, enabling them to benefit from development finance, technical support, and consultations provided by international development institutions.

She emphasized that the Ministry adopts many other initiatives, including the Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Award within the Egyptian Government Excellence Award, and the “Women Lead” program in partnership with the National Training Academy.

In the same context, and as part of efforts to support the entrepreneurship sector in Egypt, she noted:

“The government has launched the Ministerial Entrepreneurship Group, which gives significant attention to supporting women’s startups, providing an environment conducive to attracting financing, and coordinating efforts between various government entities to develop policies supporting this vital sector.”

Ministerial Group to Support Female Entrepreneurs

She added that the working groups formed under the Ministerial Entrepreneurship Group are working on preparing a charter for the startup community in Egypt and adopting a unified definition of startups.

Additionally, they are working on establishing procedures to support startups and reduce the migration of startups, along with preparing a proposal for appointing a centralized body to finalize the procedures required to establish startups.

Furthermore, they are studying proposals related to incentives that encourage large company investments in startups.

On the sidelines of the conference, a final judging panel was held for the Aurora Tech Award, with the participation of Tamer Taha, Advisor to the Minister of Planning, Economic Development, and Innovation for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, and Head of the Private Sector Participation Unit.

The award aims to support and empower women who are founders of tech startups.