The NileView
A Jigsaw Puzzle Journey: Building an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem––One Step at a Time.
For 105 years, as a higher education institution driven by excellence, impact, and innovation, The American University in Cairo (AUC) has been serving Egypt, the Middle East, and Africa (MEA) by offering a portfolio of academic programs and community development projects in a wide array of disciplines and through a vibrant and adaptive learning environment that prepares leaders to excel in a dynamic and interconnected global environment.
In recent years, one of the university’s ambitious journeys has been the development of a campus-wide entrepreneurial ecosystem, which was in many ways led by the School of Business to help nurture and grow tech-enabled startups that offer creative solutions catering to the needs of society. This required instilling a transformative mindset among the school’s different stakeholders, especially students and learners—and creating a culture that reflects thought leadership, innovation, collaboration, diversity, and inclusion. In the space of entrepreneurship, the role of higher education institutions––especially business schools––is pivotal. They are integral in shaping minds and preparing leaders, policymakers, entrepreneurs, and the movers and shakers of tomorrow.
Building a campus-wide entrepreneurial ecosystem requires an all-inclusive collaborative space where different stakeholders on and off campus are aligned and engaged to inform the decision-making process. The objective is to avail an effective student-centered learning environment, adaptive pedagogical approaches, and interdisciplinary and relevant curriculum with a focus on capacity building in key subject areas including but not limited to critical thinking, creativity, complex problem solving, teamwork, communication, leadership, responsible business, governance, and business ethics. The stakeholders include faculty, staff, students, learners, alums, corporate partners, government and civil society organizations, in addition to industry experts, practitioners, business leaders, mentors, investors, and aspiring entrepreneurs. Together with the power and reach of business schools, these stakeholders can advocate for an entrepreneurial culture that can help develop the economy and transform society. It has been over 20 years since AUC School of Business kick-started its exciting journey of building its entrepreneurial ecosystem. Following are some highlights of how the building of this jigsaw puzzle all began.
In 2003, the launch piece of the puzzle came to life when a group of ambitious undergraduate students established The Entrepreneurs’ Society (ES)––an association to promote the entrepreneurial culture among students on campus through workshops, business plans, and case competitions. They also published a student magazine––The Lead. I was one of their first academic advisors. I enjoyed working for several years with passionate students who, from an early age, opted to venture into the world of entrepreneurship.
In 2007, another essential component of the puzzle was established––El-Khazindar Business Research and Case Center (KCC). Over the years, KCC produced more than 200 business cases, addressing a variety of entrepreneurial and family business issues with a focus on emerging markets. In 2011, KCC started getting real global visibility by contributing several cases to a special edition of Innovations: Technology, Governance, Globalization published on the occasion of organizing the Global Entrepreneurship Summit.
In spring 2009, an essential subject in business education––entrepreneurship–– was casually covered in the curriculum. It was in one chapter of one of the textbooks used in teaching one of the undergraduate courses titled Business and Society—that had to change. Therefore, in the fall of 2009, with the founding of the School of Business (formerly the School of Business, Economics, and Communication), a new mission statement was formulated, which read, “to create an environment that fosters the development of principled and innovative business leaders and entrepreneurs who can make a difference.”
Establishing an entrepreneurial school or university could not have been realized by simply introducing entrepreneurship courses or organizing seminars or workshops as verticals. Entrepreneurship had to be seamlessly well-integrated into the school culture, shifting its character and embedding it in its portfolio of offerings, including academic degrees, research projects, case studies, extracurricular activities, internships, CO-OP programs, student-led clubs and associations, executive education programs, and community development projects. Entrepreneurship can only flourish through creative collaboration and breaking the silos.
In 2010, the university established Egypt’s first Technology Transfer Office (TTO) to encourage the faculty’s entrepreneurial ambitions and protect their intellectual property––another key piece in the puzzle. The TTO was a building block in the journey to help entrepreneurs move from ideation to value creation to the marketplace.
For the School of Business, the rationale behind creating the ecosystem was––while aligning with the university’s strategic directions––to strategically reposition itself as the educational partner of the national entrepreneurial ecosystem that was in the making and play an influential role in building it. The objective was to change how students and learners think, generate ideas, perceive opportunities, understand innovation, take risks, develop alternative solutions, and become impact-driven. It was essential early on in the journey to realize some quick wins to build momentum and realize an impact. Accordingly, the school decided to proceed with two parallel paths. The first off-campus by formulating a nationwide community development program, which can help expedite and scale its advocacy efforts to create an entrepreneurial ecosystem, and the second on-campus by introducing several courses in entrepreneurship as a step to introduce a minor coupled with launching a campus-wide entrepreneurship awareness campaign through public lectures, workshops, and seminars.
Therefore, in 2010, the school established the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program (EIP) to help educate, train, and inspire students, learners, and entrepreneurs about the space of entrepreneurship through various seminars, workshops, bootcamps, business plan and case competitions, networking events, and mentorship programs. EIP aimed to help spread entrepreneurship to a broader audience, identify promising entrepreneurs, help them develop innovative ideas, formulate their business plans, and turn them into viable startups. All EIP offerings––for equality, diversity, and inclusion purposes––were open to students and learners from different universities and entrepreneurs from all over Egypt. EIP created a Mentor’s Network, including faculty from various disciplines, industries, and business experts––many AUC alums. In addition, the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Council (EIC) was established, which included representatives from faculty, students, alums, entrepreneurs, business leaders, policymakers, civil society leaders, and government officials from Egypt and the MEA region. EIC was essential in getting insights and perspectives from different players in the entrepreneurial space on priority areas to address, including research to impact policy and connections to facilitate corporate partnerships. EIP was instrumental in positioning the school as the educational partner of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Egypt. The campus was buzzing almost weekly with students, fresh graduates, and promising entrepreneurs from different provinces in Egypt.
In 2011, the school introduced a minor in entrepreneurship. It was offered to all undergraduate students, regardless of their majors. By 2013, enrolment in entrepreneurship courses became among the highest on campus, and the required vibe and excitement about entrepreneurship was gradually gaining momentum among the entire university community. One step at a time, the journey of spreading the culture of entrepreneurship on campus progressed and, more significantly, played an instrumental role in developing the national entrepreneurial ecosystem.
In 2013, one of the most significant pieces of the jigsaw puzzle was created––the first university-based incubator/accelerator in Egypt, the Venture Lab (V-Lab), to identify, support, mentor, and incubate innovative entrepreneurs while capitalizing on the university’s intellectual capital, infrastructure, and research capacities, and connecting them to its network of faculty, staff, and alums. The V-Lab supports selected high-growth and innovation-driven early-stage startups from Egypt and the MEA region to commercialize their technologies and business models into successful and sustainable ventures. Although hosted in the School of Business, the V-Lab was by design established as an interdisciplinary incubator/accelerator to provide different support services for qualifying entrepreneurs and startups across campus and beyond according to a set of publicly announced rigorous processes for application and qualification based on the novelty of the idea, scalability, commercial potential, team experience, and commitment to success. The V-Lab offerings include two accelerator programs: the Startup Accelerator and the FinTech Accelerator Program.
In 2013, the Startup Accelerator was launched. It runs two cycles annually. Each cycle includes around 25 qualified startups selected from a pool of 400 applicants with diverse backgrounds and experiences. The program helps entrepreneurs make their startups investment-ready, allowing them to tap into the right networks and strategize for scaling and growth. It is an intensive 16-week sector-agnostic program. The V-Lab provides free-of-charge access to the university resources, including a co-working space, the internet, the library, labs, and other facilities, in addition to attending bootcamps, seminars, workshops, and capacity-building activities on a variety of topics, such as idea pitching and fundraising; as well as; mentoring, coaching, access to potential investors, market research, assistance with professional services such as human resources and students’ recruitment, marketing and communication, and legal support. The program—through the generous support of the V-Lab corporate partners—has accelerated startups in several areas, including healthcare, eCommerce, transportation, artificial intelligence, logistics, education, energy, green economy, trade, sustainability, and logistics. The corporate partners include local and international players such as the Arab African International Bank, the Drosos Foundation, Hivos, and one of Egypt’s real estate developers––Mountain View.
In 2015, the Fintech Accelerator was launched to support startups developing innovative solutions to Egypt’s large unbanked population, especially in remote locations and underprivileged communities. It is a 16-week equity-free program offering specialized business knowledge and technology support, equipping entrepreneurs with business design skills, growth-hacking techniques, and investment-readiness support through coaching, mentorship, access to an investment clinic, and peer-to-peer-networking-opportunities through demo days and other events. The corporate partners include local and international players such as the Commercial International Bank, the International Finance Corporation, and Mastercard, offering the participating startups unrivaled access to market insights and exclusive opportunities.
By 2015, the EIP reach had impacted more than 2,600 undergraduate and 1,200 graduate students from different universities across Egypt. Moreover, EIP raised more than $1 million for capacity building and development, which resulted in training 310 faculty members and educators and 4,350 learners from Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates, South Africa, Kenya, Sudan, and Nigeria. EIP was the first of its kind in the MEA region when it pioneered a university program focusing on raising awareness of the potential role of entrepreneurship and innovation in society. EIP had reached a stage where it needed to scale its impact.
Therefore, in 2015, EIP was restructured into the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (CEI), offering a series of tailored programs and services, including an annual international student case competition on issues related to consumer behavior, economic trends, and policy reforms and a yearly hackathon to increase the students’ experience of working in small groups and sharing creative skills while exploring innovative solutions to social and economic problems and inspiring a more sustainable, accessible, and resilient future for society. The CEI introduced a series of community development projects to address the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)––an important component of the school’s curriculum––including issues such as inclusive development, sustainability, youth employment, women’s economic empowerment, and gender equality. These projects are delivered in collaboration with local, regional, and international partners and donor agencies. Both EIP and CEI have forged over 100 partnerships in business, industry, academia, civil society, and government and have benefited more than 70,000 entrepreneurs, learners, and students in entrepreneurship awareness programs and activities.
By 2015, a growing percentage of the research outcomes conducted by the school faculty had started to tilt toward entrepreneurship, innovation, and family business. This was reflected essentially in the quality but also the volume of publications. In addition, with an eye to ensuring that the school’s research outcome has an impact policy on the entrepreneurial space in Egypt, the school––through the intellectual contribution of several faculty and staff––became the producer of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor: Egypt National Report and the Middle East North Africa Report.
In 2018, the school co-founded a Family Business Consortium with partner universities from Morocco, the United Arab Emirates, and Lebanon to avail a platform for collaboration in awareness campaigns and research projects addressing issues such as governance, succession planning, resilience, building trust across generations, and family values and legacies. The objective is to highlight the importance of family business as a catalyst for enhancing economic growth and societal development in the MEA region. The school launched the family business talks series, produced 40 teaching cases––winning two case writing global awards––organized family business awareness campaigns, and introduced the virtual international family business research day in collaboration with our partners MCI | The Entrepreneurial School in Austria and ESCA Ecole de Management in Morocco. In addition, the school became a regular convener for conversations on family business, its challenges, and opportunities.
In 2021, through the support of the International Finance Corporation, CEI partnered with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to become a certified MIT Venture Mentoring Service provider. The program created a community of qualified mentors who use the principles and methodology of the MIT VMS model to guide aspiring entrepreneurs.
In 2021, the school started offering a bachelor’s degree in business and entrepreneurship. The objective is to prepare students with the skillset and knowledge needed to become business-ready, including critical thinking, responsible business, and adaptability to complex situations while unleashing their creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurial thinking. The students also learn the fundamentals of business, such as managing people, operations, logistics, digital transformation, marketing, finance, and business ethics, to be able to lead a business venture.
In 2021, the V-Lab introduced the Startup Launchpad––an 8-week immersive program aiming to grow Egypt’s tech-enabled entrepreneurship ecosystem by equipping idea-stage entrepreneurs with the foundations of entrepreneurship and the opportunity to develop viable products based on their ideas. In addition, the V-Lab launched Incudev to support universities, governments, non-governmental organizations, and corporates planning to establish their accelerators and incubators offering capacity-building and mentorship programs. To date, through the support of the Drosos Foundation, Incudev has trained 170 managers in 90 entrepreneurship centers, incubators, and accelerators and supported 44 universities in Egypt, Tunisia, Lebanon, Palestine, United Arab Emirates, Rwanda, South Africa, and Kenya in awareness campaigns and advocacy about entrepreneurship education, including helping them design their curriculum. Moving forward, Incudev is an excellent platform to help start a regional network of professionals interested in building their local ecosystems.
In 2023, the V-Lab celebrated a decade of impact on society. During that time, it has accelerated 356 startups and created more than 12,000 direct and indirect jobs. These startups have accumulated more than $350 million in investments. In addition, over 3,000 hours of capacity-building and 2,000 hours of mentorship were delivered––mostly one-to-one. In 2023, the V-Lab was recognized as the Best Accelerator in Africa at the Global Startup Awards.
The journey of creating the entrepreneurial ecosystem jigsaw puzzle at AUC School of Business was seamless and organic. We are not there yet, and we never will be because it is a journey, not a destination. It evolves, adapts, and transforms itself as innovations advance and the needs of society change. It is important to highlight that throughout the journey, the school was present, visible, and playing a leading role at the intersection of academia through content creation, program offerings, and research and the community through awareness, advocacy, capacity building, and developmental projects. For more than 15 years, the journey was orchestrated by a group of faculty from across campus, staff, entrepreneurs, and alums from different schools who shared a common vision and were passionate and determined to leverage entrepreneurship and demonstrate its potential to society. The school, through its campus-based entrepreneurial efforts, the extended country-wide network of stakeholders, and several collaborative partnerships, was an anchor in growing the startup culture within university settings in other emerging economies in Africa and the Middle East.
A nationwide, sustainable, and scalable tech-driven entrepreneurial ecosystem could be a game-changer for Egypt. However, for it to thrive, it must be government-enabled, private-sector-led, innovation-driven, talent-empowered, and future-oriented. Despite the current dire economic challenges Egypt faces, its tech-driven startup ecosystem is considered one of the most promising in emerging markets. It has the potential to help transform the economy, and a viable starting point would be to leverage Egypt’s young and tech-savvy population––with 60 percent under the age of 30 and around 3.7 million students enrolled in higher education institutions––and scale the entrepreneurial culture by establishing incubators and accelerators in different universities. As for AUC School of Business, the next journey is to strengthen the collaboration with its peer business schools by sharing the lessons learned and best practices to help scale their impact in the space of entrepreneurship.
About the authors: Howard Thomas is an Emeritus Professor of Strategic Management and Former Dean of the Lee Kong Chian School of Business at Singapore Management University, Warwick Business School at the University of Warwick, and the College of Business at the University of Illinois. He is also a Special Advisor to the President of the European Foundation for Management Development, and Sherif Kamel is a Professor of Management and Dean of the School of Business at The American University in Cairo.
24 February 2024
Issue #37
What I like about this article is that it lays down a path of success for young entrepreneurs away from Government in any of the countries that ever participated along the journey. It gives hope across borders in our region.