ENTREPRENEURSHIP
BIOGRAPHIES Sherif Kamel is a professor of management and dean of the AUC School of Business. Before joining AUC, Kamel was the director of the Regional Information Technology Institute and managed the training department of the Egyptian Cabinet’s Information and Decision Support Centre. He is an Eisenhower Fellow and holds a PhD in information systems from the London School of Economics, as well as an MBA, an MA in Islamic art and architecture and a BA in business administration from AUC Howard Thomas is an emeritus professor of strategic management and management education at Singapore Management University (SMU) and former dean of the Lee Kong Chian School of Business at SMU; he was previously dean of Warwick Business School and the College of Business at the University of Illinois. He is a highly cited scholar, with fellowship awards from a number of prestigious institutions including the US Academy of Management, the Academy of Social Sciences in the UK, the Institute of Directors and the Strategic Management Society, for which he also served as dean of fellows and president
That same year the school started offering a bachelor’s degree in business and entrepreneurship. The objective is to prepare students with the skillset and knowledge needed to become business‑ready, including responsible business practices and adaptability to complex situations, while unleashing their creativity, innovation and entrepreneurial thinking. It was then that the V-Lab introduced the Start-up Launchpad, an eight-week immersive programme aiming to grow Egypt’s tech-enabled entrepreneurship ecosystem by equipping budding entrepreneurs with the opportunity to develop viable products based on their ideas. In addition, the V-Lab launched Incudev to support universities, governments, non-governmental organisations and corporates that were planning to establish their accelerators and incubators, offering them capacity-building and mentorship. To date, with the support of the Drosos Foundation, Incudev has trained 170 managers in 90 entrepreneurship centres, incubators and accelerators and supported 44 universities in Egypt, Tunisia, Lebanon, Palestine, the UAE, Rwanda, South Africa and Kenya. Building on an impressive record In 2023, the launch piece of the puzzle came to life when a group of ambitious undergraduate students established the Entrepreneurs’ Society, an association to promote entrepreneurial culture among students on campus through workshops, business plans and case competitions. Last year also marked V-Lab’s decade of impact on society and it was recognised as the Best Accelerator in Africa at the Global Start-up Awards. Over the past 10 years it has accelerated 356 start-ups – which have accumulated more than $350 million in investment – and created in excess of 12,000 direct and indirect jobs. Around 3,000 hours of capacity‑building and 2,000 hours of mentorship were also delivered during this timeframe. We are not there yet in terms of creating an entrepreneurial ecosystem at AUC School of Business – and we never will be because it is a journey, not a destination. It evolves, adapts and transforms as innovations advance and the needs of society change. It is important to highlight that throughout the journey, the school maintained visibility and played a leading role at the intersection of academia through content creation, programme offerings and research; the community was present too, through awareness, advocacy, capacity-building and developmental projects. Despite the current dire economic challenges Egypt faces, its tech-driven start-up ecosystem is considered one of the most promising in emerging markets. It has the potential to help transform the economy and possesses a viable starting point in its ability to leverage Egypt’s young and tech-savvy population – 60 per cent are under the age of 30 and there are around 3.7 million students enrolled in higher education institutions – and scale the entrepreneurial culture by establishing incubators and accelerators at different universities. As for AUC School of Business, the next leg of the journey is to strengthen collaboration with its peers by sharing best practices plus lessons learned and helping to scale their impact in the entrepreneurship space.
Ambition | JUNE 2024 | 27
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