Last June, President Obama announced in Cairo, Egypt that the U.S. government will host a Summit on Entrepreneurship to identify how we can deepen ties between leaders, foundations, and entrepreneurs in the U.S. and Muslim communities around the world. Throughout April leading up to the April 26th summit, I will comment on the state of entrepreneurship in some of the nations participating which I will be attending in the hope of prompting further observations from readers.
Egypt is one the first countries that comes to mind when I think about entrepreneurship and the Muslim world. For the fourth time, Egypt ranked among the top 10 global reformers in the 2008/09 period, according World Bank’s Doing Business in the Arab World 2010 report. The report considers the country to be a comprehensive reformer; Egypt implemented at least 19 reforms, covering 8 or more of the 10 areas measured by Doing Business.
In its reform efforts, Egypt is inclusive, involving many relevant players of an entrepreneurial economy. This was evident at a very well attended launch of last year’s Global Entrepreneurship Week in Egypt, which included the Minister of Education, the President of the Financial Supervisory Authority and a wide array of business, cultural and academic leaders tapping the expertise of several organizations, such as the Middle East Council for Small Business and Entrepreneurship, the local universities, and the development agencies. The event discussed how to build an entrepreneurial environment through education, cultural change and pro-entrepreneurship policies.
To read the full, original article click on this link: Policy Dialogue on Entrepreneurship | The State of Entrepreneurship in Egypt
Author: Jonathan Ortmans
Jonathan Ortmans is president of the Public Forum Institute, a non-partisan organization dedicated to fostering dialogue on important policy issues. In this capacity, he leads the Policy Dialogue on Entrepreneurship, focused on public policies to promote entrepreneurship in the U.S. and around the world. In addition, he serves as a senior fellow at the Kauffman Foundation.
