Craft Pioneers Creative Industries Incubator Celebrates the Graduation of its First and Second Cohor

ICEALEX and GIZ held the closing ceremony of Craft Pioneers Creative Industries Incubator in Alexandria and announced the graduation of the startups that participated in the incubation program along 2 rounds. Creative entrepreneurs, crafters, artisans, and supporting organizations celebrated the closing ceremony on Thursday 5th September 2019, in Alexandria.

Providing expert guidance and professional support for the startups had resulted in boosting their total revenues on an average of 300x in addition to a positive contribution to employment creation with more than 80 opportunities. 

As part of the Craft Pioneers program, icealex went beyond the surface of mapping the sectors within the creative industry that have the largest potential return on investment regarding job creation, filling gaps in the supply chain and boosting innovation in the sector.

This short research of mapping the creative industries in the Delta area had three focus objectives, the first being job creation, with a specific emphasis on the employment of youth and women.

Secondly, an outlook at sectoral or supply chain gaps that could enhance production or efficiency, for instance when it comes to raw materials for leather or cotton production.

Finally, enhancing the creative mindset of the SMEs in the creative industry, in terms of portfolio expansion; increased flexibility or production requirements, or general innovation of the more traditional industries, which could lead to an opening up to foreign markets; sectoral spill-over; SME-corporate co-productions. The opportunity mapping booklet has been implemented towards the end of 2018 and has been re-published and distributed during the ceremony.

Craft Pioneers is a sector-specific support program focusing on creative industries and dedicated to supporting startups and MSMEs not only in Alexandria but also The Delta Region. The program comes under the support of The Egyptian Ministry of Trade & Industry in cooperation with the German Cooperation (GIZ) on behalf of BMZ and implemented by icealex for innovation & entrepreneurship.