• Egypt has launched the "Egypt Startup Charter," the country’s first government-backed framework dedicated to startups and entrepreneurship.
• The charter follows year-long consultations with 15 government entities and 250+ ecosystem stakeholders under the Ministerial Group for Entrepreneurship.
• It introduces Egypt’s first official definition of a startup, enabling access to incentives and facilitation measures.
• A unified financing initiative aims to mobilise $1 billion over five years through government funding, guarantees, and co-investment with the private sector.
• The framework targets supporting 5,000 startups and creating around 500,000 jobs over five years.
• It includes a scale-up programme to help late-stage startups attract large investments, pursue IPOs or exits, and create new unicorns.
• A Unified Startup Guide will consolidate all government services, permits, and procedures in one reference.
• An Entrepreneurship Policy Observatory will monitor implementation and measure impact.

Press release:

For the first time, and following  over a year of consultations between 15 national entities and more than 250 representatives of the startup community, entrepreneurs, and members of parliamentary councils, under the umbrella of the Ministerial Group for Entrepreneurship, the Arab Republic of Egypt launched “Egypt’s Startup Charter”. This represents a qualitative shift, the first of its kind, in the government’s approach to dealing with startups, entrepreneurs, and innovators, in implementation of the directives of H.E. President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, President of the Republic, to provide all forms of support to startups.

The launch took place in the presence of H.E. Dr. Mostafa Madbouly, Prime Minister, H.E. Dr. Rania Al-Mashat, Minister of Planning, Economic Development and International Cooperation and Chair of the Ministerial Group for Entrepreneurship, the ministers who are members of the Ministerial Group for Entrepreneurship; and members of the Technical Secretariat and working groups representing startups, venture capital funds, and supporting entities. The event coincided with the convening of the 13th annual edition of the “RiseUp” Summit for Startups.

“Egypt’s Startup Charter” represents a strategic roadmap to bolster the capacity of startups and the entrepreneurship ecosystem to achieve sustainable and accelerated economic growth based on competitiveness and knowledge, and to contribute to the creation of decent job opportunities. This will be achieved through strategic objectives to be implemented over the next 5 years, including: coordinating policies that support entrepreneurship to enable up to 5,000 startups; maximizing the economic impact of startups to help create approximately 500,000 direct and indirect job opportunities; accelerating expansion and access to international markets while developing local talent to reduce brain drain; encouraging venture capital and attracting startup investments through a unified financing initiative; and linking pressing challenges across various state sectors with innovative solutions provided by startups.

H.E. Dr. Rania Al-Mashat, Minister of Planning, Economic Development and International Cooperation, emphasized that “Egypt’s Startup Charter” is not merely a theoretical document, but rather a flexible, executable tool that evolves continuously. It is also a first step that lays the foundation for updating startup-related policies and legislation in Egypt in line with technological developments and market needs. She noted that the priorities included in “Egypt’s Startup Charter” were determined based on extensive consultations between relevant entities and the entrepreneurship community to enhance a motivating and sustainable business environment, based on practical steps and clear objectives to support innovation and encourage investment.

Unified Definition of Startups

“Egypt’s Startup Charter” includes a unified definition of startups as newly established companies characterized by rapid growth, flexibility, and innovation, aiming to offer or develop an innovative product, service, or business model in the market. This unified definition enables startups to leverage a range of incentives and facilitation measures by obtaining a classification certificate from small and medium enterprise authorities.

Unified Financing Initiative

Dr. Rania Al-Mashat added that “Egypt’s Startup Charter” includes a unified financing initiative aimed at coordinating available financing resources among government entities and activating innovative mechanisms to maximize their impact by up to fourfold. The initiative targets mobilizing USD 1 billion in financing for the startup sector over five years through government resources, guarantees, and co-investments with venture capital funds and other private-sector investment and financing entities.

Unified Startup Guide

The Ministerial Group for Entrepreneurship has also prepared a comprehensive guidance manual that includes all government services, permits, and licenses required by startups, detailing applicable fees, required documents, and issuance procedures. This aims to facilitate startups’ understanding of legal and regulatory requirements, enhance their ability to enter the market and scale more quickly, help them avoid violations and improve compliance levels, enable them to benefit from available government incentives, and strengthen Egypt’s entrepreneurship ecosystem through regulatory clarity and transparency. The charter was prepared in cooperation with Intilaaq company and UN Women.

Measures and Policies to Improve the Startup Business Environment

“Egypt’s Startup Charter” includes a set of measures being implemented to bridge procedural gaps and enable startups to benefit from government incentives, in addition to measures already implemented to introduce financing mechanisms such as CrowdFunding. It also includes other short- and medium-term measures to improve the startup business environment, including facilitating tax procedures for startups, easing liquidation and exit procedures, conducting a comprehensive study to identify regulatory and procedural challenges facing priority sub-sectors, and proposing facilitation measures and practical solutions aligned with the nature of their activities.

Startup Scale-Up Empowerment Program

Emphasizing Egypt’s Startup Charter’s focus on startups across all stages of growth, it was noted that a program will be launched to empower startups in the scale-up stage. This program aims to enhance their growth and enable them to expand their investments through stock market listings or strategic exits, attract investments from major international institutions, and strengthen their capacity for regional and international expansion through multiple government tools, with the goal of creating new billion-dollar “unicorn” companies in the Egyptian market. 

Monitoring Observatory

H.E. Dr. Rania Al-Mashat pointed out that “Egypt’s Startup Charter” includes an Entrepreneurship Policy Observatory responsible for collecting and analyzing data related to the implementation of policies supporting growth and investment, as well as challenges facing startups. The Observatory will issue periodic reports to support decision-making, with the participation of representatives from the entrepreneurship community to monitor implementation, assess progress, and submit recommendations to the Ministerial Group for Entrepreneurship. The Observatory includes a Council of Elders comprising representatives from the entrepreneurship community to ensure direct oversight of implementation and evaluation of progress.

It is worth noting that H.E. Dr. Mostafa Madbouly, Prime Minister, issued a decree in September 2024 to establish a specialised ministerial group for entrepreneurship, aimed at fostering the capacity of startups and the entrepreneurship ecosystem to achieve sustainable and accelerated economic growth based on competitiveness and knowledge, and to contribute to the creation of decent job opportunities.