Orange Corners Entrepreneurship Programme
Orange Corners Upper Egypt initiative in collaboration with ALEXBANK
Orange Corners is an initiative of the Kingdom of The Netherlands that provides young entrepreneurs across Africa the MENA region and Asia, with the necessary training, networks and facilities to start and grow their startups. The specific focus goes to entrepreneurs contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals.
In Egypt, Orange Corners is implemented under the auspices of the Ministry of International cooperation with ALEXBANK a main private partner. The Orange Corners programme is implemented in Upper Egypt by Outreach Egypt Consultancy for Development.
Orange Corners Upper Egypt supports young entrepreneurs and startups with innovative solutions to local challenges so they can contribute to a more sustainable, inclusive and prosperous society. Orange Corners Upper Egypt workspace is located in Assiut.
The Orange Corners Upper Egypt program is based on providing support to build the skills of young people and motivate them to start creative and innovative projects and transform ideas into successful projects. The program supports Egypt’s vision 2030 in providing equal opportunities for youth by providing trainings, workshops and a strong network to strengthen the ecosystem to increase business in Upper Egypt.
The incubation programme targets youth between 18-35 years with startup ideas in the agriculture, handicrafts and creative sector. It is a six-month incubation programme that aims to support up-to 20 Egyptian young entrepreneurs per cycle with a dynamic, state-of-the-art facility.
As part of the entrepreneurial ecosystem development in Upper Egypt, Orange Corners Upper Egypt conducts a series of community events including special workshops for female entrepreneurship, a student awareness program, and an entrepreneurial tour in the cities of Upper Egypt.
Orange Corners and ALEXBANK Achievements in Upper Egypt...
Female Entrepreneurship Sessions
During recurring sessions, we invite inspirational female entrepreneurs and role models to talk about their challenges and their entrepreneurial journey. During these interactive online sessions, we open discussions between the startups and the speaker develop a network of powerful, ambitious women who can support and inspire each other.
Student Awareness Program
As part of our commitment towards raising awareness and enhancing the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Upper Egypt, a series of Student Awareness Events are organized. The objective of these events is to engage with students to inform them of the Orange Corners Upper Egypt program as potential applicants, raise awareness on what is entrepreneurship and how to start a successful business through interactive learning methods, drills and exercises. Orange Corners engages with the students to understand how to turn their smart ideas into sustainable businesses and support the students in finding solutions to local social and economic challenges they face in their communities through creative and sustainable business models.
Female Skills Workshops
In a form of a skills-lab, every cycle two sessions are held to build the skills capacity of the women to learn new techniques, designs and manufacturing of items to be an income generating activity for them. Examples of skills workshops are: turning plastic bags into functional items, heat transfer technique on fabrics, modern embroidery techniques, polymer clay products and accessories.
Orange Corners Upper Egypt's Tour
A special tour in the cities of Upper Egypt to reach out to startups and entrepreneurs in their local communities through trainings and bootcamps. The objective of the tour is to increase visibility of Orange Corners programme in Upper Egypt and to provide opportunities of business linkages and networking to the startups in the region through the community events of Orange Corners Upper Egypt.
Orange Corners Egypt Festival
On the 20th of March 2022, the Orange Corners Egypt Entrepreneurship Festival was held in Assiut to celebrate the one year of Orange Corners in Egypt and to showcase the impact of the Orange Corners Egypt programme and the work of the entrepreneurs who graduated from the programme. With VIP guests in attendance including H.E. Minister of International Cooperation Dr. Rania A. Al-Mashat, Governor of Assiut General Essam Saad, H.E. Ambassador of the Kingdom of The Netherlands to the Arab Republic of Egypt Mr. Han-Maurits Schaapveld, and Managing Director and CEO of ALEXBANK Mr. Dante Campioni.
You can apply through Orange Corners website once they are calling for applications.
Eligibility Criteria:
- At least one of the startup founders is aged 18-35 years old.
- Commitment to attend the full activities of the program, with maximum excused absence of 20%.
Target Applicant Persona:
- Recent university graduates but may also only hold a secondary education certificate.
- Living in Assiut or in a nearby governorate in upper egypt.
- Interested in creativity, design and technology.
- Interested in addressing social challenges and problems.
- Have ideas related to the programme target industries: agriculture and handicrafts/creative sector.
- 50% of the programme participants will be female entrepreneurs.
Business idea criteria:
- Scalability of the business idea
- Team competence and commitment
- Progress to date
- Potential market size
- Innovation
- Impact potential
- Degree to which the team will benefit from the programme
The proposed programme includes the following benefits for the participants:
- A 6-months programme in which the best startups are progressively identified over 3 stages.
- An intensive 2-day bootcamp to prepare startups to pitch to continue after the first stage of the programme.
- A 5-day masterclass to kick start the beginning of the main stage of the programme.
- 8 bi-weekly half-day entrepreneurship training workshop sessions.
- 4 inspirational and experiential guest speaker discussion sessions (Spark and Ideacircle).
- 6 Masterclasses opened for entrepreneurs from Orange Corners and opened for public once a month.
- Access to a network of more than 200 industry Mentors during 8 workshops and as needed.
- Shared office space for the duration of the programme.
- Consultancy on legal, financial, branding design and communications.
- Exposure to potential investors at the Nova event and throughout the programme.
You will be notified by email or phone about the outcome of your application, following the application deadline.
Calling for applications starts in July and December.
Participation is free of charge.
