Egypt entrepreneurs see new dawn post-Revolution
CAIRO |
CAIRO (Reuters) – Two months after mass protests ousted Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak last February, Ahmed Essam resigned from his job at a well-established software company to set up a six-person venture developing applications for smart phones.
The economic turmoil which engulfed the country after Mubarak was overthrown played a part in his decision, says Essam, 28. With many firms freezing investments and shedding jobs, his salaried post no longer looked as stable.
“I felt the current situation might not continue after the Revolution. Most of the old companies will not make it in the new era,” he said.
But the euphoria of the Revolution was also a factor. With the end of 30 years of rule by Mubarak, during which much of Egypt’s economy was dominated by state-run companies and businessmen linked to the Mubarak regime, Essam thinks hard work and commercial vision have a greater chance of succeeding.
“People had lost hope — you would walk along the street and nothing was yours, nothing was under your control. The Revolution created a feeling that people can change the world for the better.”
In a 1920s apartment building across the street from the Giza Zoo outside Cairo, Essam now works 15-hour days to develop an application which rearranges social network feeds such as Facebook and Twitter according to their relevance to the user. He hopes the application will be used not just in Egypt or other Arab countries but around the world.
FLOWERING
A year after Mubarak’s ouster, economic conditions in Egypt remain grim. The risk of a currency devaluation, and continued uncertainty over how much power the military is willing to hand over to a democratic government, are deterring new projects by many large businesses, including foreign investors.
Unemployment officially stands at 11.8 percent, according to the latest data from the second quarter of 2011, but this figure understates the problem as it does not include people struggling in part-time jobs outside the formal economy. Economists estimate unemployment among young people at around 25 percent.
At the same time, the new political landscape is encouraging a flowering of entrepreneurial activity among some Egyptians. Around the country, thousands of young people are developing ventures based on original business ideas or laying plans to do so — efforts that could, if they prove successful, eventually help to solve Egypt’s unemployment problem.
There are no comprehensive statistics for the number of new ventures but Abdelrahman Magdy, chief executive of Egypreneur, which helps entrepreneurs
Article source: PRNewswire
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