By ; Nahla Makled – Nelly All
The 2020 Global Startup Ecosystem Report (GSER) by Startup Genome and the Global Entrepreneurship Network has been launched today at The Ecosystems Couch Conference.
This year, Cairo, the capital of Egypt, is highlighted in the largest global report that ranks the best regions for startups and tackles how regions can develop thriving startup ecosystems.
According to GSER 2020 report, Cairo provides a perfect test bed for innovation and an attractive market for scalability, like expansions of Amazon’s Souq and Uber’s Careem thanks to the large customer market of 20 million young, and tech-savvy consumers.
“Egypt enjoys a strong and successful startup ecosystem. The country has seen a surge in technology innovation support programs and synergetic movements by the public and private entities that triggered an entrepreneurship boom and led startups business to thrive,” commented Hala El-Gohary, CEO of ITIDA. “With the availability of qualified talent and 500K annual graduates, Egypt has earned its position as one of Top 10 Global Ecosystems in terms of the “Affordable Talent.”
Startup Genome has benchmarked Cairo's performance against more than 250 startups ecosystems globally in the report where Cairo’s standing in the GSER 2020 as follows Top 10 Global Ecosystems for Affordable Talent in 2020 , Top 10 Africa & Middle Eastern Ecosystem in Funding ,Created $1.2 billion in Ecosystem Value over the last 2.5 years and Regional sub-sector strengths are Fintech and Transport
With an expanding footprint, the 2020 GSER provides insights and guidance to public and private leaders about how to foster thriving startup ecosystems, particularly forwarding the conversation on how governments can support and leverage tech ecosystems to restart stalling economies recovering from the COVID-19 lockdowns.
“This is the time for policymakers, community leaders, and foundations to double down on their support of local startups — the #1 engine of job creation and economic growth,” said JF Gauthier, Founder & CEO of Startup Genome. “The Global Startup Ecosystem Report is the foundation of global knowledge where we, as a network, come together to identify what policies actually produce economic impact and in what context.”
Cairo attracted the largest number of investment deals in MENA, with Fintech at the top. The report highlighted that the opportunity is immense in Egypt with 95M mobile users (highest penetration in EMEA), 14M wallets, a young population, and financial inclusion government-led initiatives. Transport came as the second strongest sector witnessing the highest growth in startup investments across MENA, according to Magnitt's Investment latest report.
The GSER is the world’s most comprehensive and widely-read research on startups with 250 ecosystems studied, a ranking of the top 30 and 10 runner up global ecosystems, and a top 100 ranking of emerging ecosystems. The release is at a critical time when four out of every 10 startups globally have three months or fewer of cash runway in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
