500 Global Join Forces With ITIDA to Open Egypt Office

As part of a holistic ecosystem plan that also sees it create an office in the nation and hire Amal Enan as a partner in Egypt, the international venture capital firm 500 Startups has teamed with the Egyptian IT Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) to operate a number of programs.

Venture capital firm 500 Global manages US$2.7 billion in assets, and ITIDA is the executive branch of the Egyptian Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT), charged with promoting the growth of Egypt’s IT sector.

The two’s relationship will bring a variety of programs to Cairo with the strategic objective of enhancing the nation’s developing startup environment. The first office for 500 Global to be established on the African continent will be in Egypt.

500 Global will roll out three distinct programs over the course of three years that will assist close to 200 entrepreneurs and about 60 accelerator managers. These include a bootcamp for startups in the seed stage, a “scale-Up” program with funding expected for pre-Series A companies that participate, and a bootcamp for accelerator administrators.

Amal Enan has been hired by 500 Global as a partner in Cairo to manage deal-related activities as part of its expanded strategy. For the past eight years, Enan has been funding Egyptian start-ups. She has held positions at the American University in Cairo, Global Ventures, the Egyptian American Enterprise Fund, the Egyptian Ministry of Finance, EFG Hermes, and the IFC.

According to Egypt’s Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Dr. Amr Talaat, “the partnership comes within the ministry’s keenness to establish cooperation with key global players to build an inclusive and robust network of experts and investors, aiming to accelerate the growth of the local startup sector and boost the innovation-based entrepreneurship.”

“We are happy to collaborate with ITIDA to offer a venture education program specifically designed for accelerator managers, as well as 500 Global’s world-class programs, which have created eight of our 49 unicorns. As long-term investors in the nation, we have complete faith in the potential of the Egyptian market and aim to play a significant role in enabling its rapidly expanding ecosystem, according to Courtney Powell, chief operating officer and managing partner of 500 Global.