“The VC University” Program Supports Emerging Venture Capital Fund Managers in Egypt with 100 Million Euros Investment

Endure Capital, The German Development Cooperation implemented GIZ Egypt, MSMEDA and Changelabs just announced their partnership to launch  “The VC University” Program to support emerging Venture Capital Fund Managers in Egypt and to  support potential New Fund Managers through developing and implementing an intensive and bespoke program for them.

This program is designed for current and potential risk capital fund managers to build their institutional capabilities and help them create new investment funds, or help in the later stages of increasing capital for existing funds. The program will focus on addressing the business development challenges and matchmaking them with international investors who are aligned with the funds’ goals and mission, with a total expected investment exceeding 100 Million Euros.

The main aim of the program is to help create the next generation of fund managers. To achieve this, Endure Capital, GIZ Egypt, and Changelabs, will work with the potential fund managers on 2 main aspects; (1) designing and developing a new tailored curriculum to help give them a better grasp of the industry, and (2) by working alongside them to help them implement the learnings mentioned above. This is done due to the collective effort of the partners in this project, such as Endure, who is one of the most active and known early-stage funds in the region already have had an exit (Careem) and one of the first if not the first investor into a number of the most promising companies in the region such as Basharsoft - Maxab - Brimore- Tribal- Mawdoo3.com etc. And MSMEDA who besides other things,  will be focusing on providing technical assistance to potential fund managers, as well as giving an overview of the different investment strategies developed by the agency.

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The Egyptian market is an attractive market for investors given that it is among the top 15 countries whose economy is positively contributing to the growth of global GDP by 2025, according to the International Monetary Fund. In addition, the percentage of youth exceeds 20%, which confirms the existence of a good climate for investment and entrepreneurship in Egypt.

Nevin Jamea’ , Minister of Trade and Industry and CEO of “MSMEDA” said that “The agency works in the framework of an integrated system in cooperation with various state agencies and development partners to participate in achieving the sustainable development goals and Egypt's 2030 vision, whose most important goals are to support innovation and entrepreneurship and open the way for young people to transform their innovative ideas into enterprises with economic feasibility that can generate profits for the owner of the project and meet the actual needs of citizens, whether in the form of advanced products or services.”

Eng. Tarek Shash, Executive Vice President of the Project Development Authority, explained that the cooperation between GIZ Egypt and the partners of the program comes as a continuation of the existing cooperation with various donor organizations and international bodies to provide integrated packages of services to the small enterprises sector in general with the focus on entrepreneurship and Venture Capital in particular.

Tarek Fahim, Managing Partner at Endure Capital said “Endure Capital was established with a firm belief in promoting a healthy ecosystem and we managed to achieve this by investing in early stage startups over more than 5 years and now it’s time to transfer knowledge and help new fund managers to support more young people and entrepreneurs and with our collective efforts we can take the investment scene in Egypt to the next level.”

Andreas Ruepp, Project Manager of Promoting Access to Financial Services for Small and Medium Enterprises at GIZ Egypt added “For GIZ Egypt, the innovation power of start-ups must be used to generate economic growth and employment. Access to risk capital is a key success factor for entrepreneurs .” He went on to say "In line with the Egyptian Government’s Sustainable Development Strategy: Egypt vision 2030, We aim that the VC University program will contribute to the success of venture capital fund managers in the future. We hope this will contribute to the growth of young enterprises and ultimately the creation of new jobs to create better social and economic prospects for the Egyptian people.”

Karim Samra, Founder and CEO of Changelabs, stated “Changelabs believes in bringing a variety of seed and early-stage investment options to Egypt, as this is an essential component of a robust startup and SME ecosystem. These investors take on greater risk and provide capital during the early stages of a company’s life. This new program will help train and launch the next generation of Egyptian venture investors who will help SMEs continue to drive the economy’s sustained growth.”

Fund managers seeking acceptance into the VC University program could be apply using this link.