Mr. Hassan Serag El Din, Managing Director of Crédit Agricole Egypt Foundation for Development, Dr. Salma El-Bakry, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Education First Foundation and Prof. Dr. Mohamed Lotfy, President of the British University in Egypt have signed a cooperation protocol to launch the Social Innovation Competition. It comes under the umbrella of “Ebhar Misr” program to discover and nurture talented students in science, arts and technology.
The cooperation protocol aims at reinforcing “Ebhar Misr” program towards supporting young talents, along with allowing the program students to join the British University in Egypt through providing a number of scholarships. Moreover, the university participates in the judging committee of the Social Innovation Competition with the help of several professors in this field, selecting the students who develop the most innovative projects.
Building on the protocol, the British University in Egypt will share its business incubator to promote the events of “Ebhar Misr” program inside the university. The university will Leverage its plentiful assets to enhance the skills of the program’s students, offer professors’ supervision in the science and technology program as well as announcing the Social Innovation Competition. In addition, it will encourage the students to participate and provide the academic supervision for the competition and all contestants. As part of the cooperation, the three parties will form a committee to plan, supervise and implement all the relevant activities.
Prof. Dr. Mohamed Lotfy, President of the British University in Egypt, stated that this protocol complies with the university’s strategy, which strives to graduate responsible students who serve their community. It will also contribute to developing and inspiring the youth to innovate fulfilling the community needs, along with offering all the technical support they need. He indicated that the university will provide extensive training on entrepreneurship for the selected participants, providing them with the necessary business skills to realize their goals and operate their projects on ground.
Dr. Lotfy added that the British University believes in the pivotal role played by entrepreneurship subsidizing economic and human development. Therefore, the university pays special attention to this field through backing students and scholars towards innovation and offering various guidance programs. It also provides several programs and solutions such as start-up mentorship, training and workshops, seed box, manufacturing lab and prototyping facilities, corporate office spaces, co-working spaces, meeting rooms, patent writing, and access to funds and investors.
Dr. Salma El-Bakry, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Education First Foundation, emphasized that discovering talented individuals is one of the main pillars of the foundation’s vision and mission. It is the drive force behind its cooperation with Crédit Agricole Egypt Foundation for Development in implementing “Ebhar Misr” program. It also aligns with the state’s direction to discover talents among Egyptian youth nationwide, as they are the hope for a better future.
Mr. Hassan Serag El Din, Managing Director of Crédit Agricole Egypt Foundation for Development, commented: “Dedicated to discovering and nurturing young talents, “Ebhar Misr” program represents a story of joint success between Crédit Agricole Egypt Foundation for Development and Education First Foundation, the program’s executive partner. The Social Innovation Competition comes as a new initiative to consolidate this fruitful cooperation between the two entities.” He added: “The British University in Egypt ensures the theoretical and practical guidance that the qualified contestants need to win, boosting the competition success.”
This trilateral agreement is a further step towards equipping the talented youths with prominent opportunities to excel, in addition to shedding light on their innovations through a specialized and comprehensive program to nurture innovators in science, technology and art.
