Government Achieves Legislative and Regulatory Breakthrough to Support Entrepreneurship

Dr. Mohamed Farid, Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade, participated via video conference in the fourth edition of the “Disruptech Sharm 2026 – Fintech and Beyond” conference. This marks his first official appearance since assuming office.

The event brought together 16 global, regional, and local investment funds, alongside CEOs and representatives of Egyptian and regional investment banks.

Investment Opportunities

The conference aims to explore investment opportunities in Egypt, highlight developments in the fintech sector, and examine the role of startups in driving economic growth. This aligns with the ministry’s central role in boosting investment, trade, production, and exports, in accordance with the directives of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

Modernizing Legislative and Regulatory Frameworks

The Minister emphasized that Egypt has witnessed significant progress in modernizing legislative and regulatory frameworks supporting innovation and entrepreneurship, particularly through the efforts of the Financial Regulatory Authority and the Central Bank of Egypt.

These reforms have contributed to creating a more flexible and competitive business environment. He also noted the substantial growth in the number of companies operating across various financing and investment sectors, including consumer finance, microfinance, and trade finance through factoring activities.

Beyond Fintech: Expanding into Suptech and TradeTech

Dr. Farid stated that the next phase requires moving beyond fintech by advancing emerging sectors such as suptech and TradeTech. These fields are expected to enhance market efficiency and competitiveness while strengthening their capacity to support investment and trade.

He highlighted TradeTech as a key pillar in supporting both domestic and export trade by improving data collection and analysis, enhancing supply chain and logistics management, and connecting exporters and traders with service providers. These efforts will help reduce costs and improve the competitiveness of Egyptian products.

Integrated Government Efforts

The Minister underscored the government’s integrated efforts through regulatory frameworks issued by the Financial Regulatory Authority and the Central Bank of Egypt, as well as recent decisions by the Ministerial Committee for Entrepreneurship, including the adoption of the Startup Charter. These measures reflect a clear commitment to strengthening the innovation ecosystem.

Regulatory Sandboxes to Foster Innovation

He also revealed plans to study the establishment of regulatory sandboxes within the Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade, in cooperation with relevant entities such as the General Organization for Export and Import Control.

These sandboxes aim to facilitate exporters’ operations, enhance investor confidence, and connect importers and exporters with logistics platforms and commercial services more efficiently. They will also serve as testing environments for innovative solutions designed to advance Egypt’s foreign trade ecosystem.

The Minister emphasized that digitizing trade policies and programs is a key priority in the coming phase, with a focus on building accurate and integrated databases to support decision-making and enhance the competitiveness of the national economy.

Facilitating Startup Financing

He added that upcoming measures will focus on facilitating access to financing for startups that have moved beyond the idea stage, in collaboration with investment funds, enabling them to scale and grow sustainably.

Strengthening Global Integration

Dr. Farid concluded by affirming his personal commitment to overseeing the implementation of these initiatives and strengthening engagement with the business and investment community, supporting Egypt’s deeper integration into regional and global value chains.

Source: Press Release