A Swedish startup delegation participated in this year’s largest entrepreneurship event in the Middle East, RiseUp Summit. The Embassy of Sweden in Cairo partnered with Swedish institute and Enpact in this endeavor. Besides from 9 Swedish Startups, a dozen female entrepreneurs from the MENA region who have graduated from the Swedish Institute’s She Entrepreneurs programme.
More than 300 guests, including investors and entrepreneurs, also gathered for RiseUp Summit’s annual Investors’ Dinner at the Residence of the Swedish Ambassador in Cairo on December 7th.
"RiseUp Summit brings us closer together. As a Swede, coming from the country that is ranked the most innovative in the world, I feel that this is fertile ground for close cooperation between Egypt and Sweden" said H.E. Mr. Jan Thesleff, Ambassador of Sweden to Egypt in his address at the Investor’s Dinner. “Investing in entrepreneurship is as much about devoting time and skill as it is about money.”
The Innovation Union Scoreboard, an index published by the European Commission, continuously ranks Sweden as the leading EU country for innovation. Reasons for this include a historic tradition of inventors, a commitment to gender equality and a strong belief in the idea of making business easy. Close collaboration between research institutes and the private and public sectors is another key factor.
This visit is one in a series of successful exchanges between Sweden and Egypt in the fields of entrepreneurship and innovation, making Sweden an ideal partner to Egypt in this domain.
Photos: RiseUp 2019 and the Embassy of Sweden