We don’t want to say that we’re giving refugees an opportunity, we believe they are the opportunity. — Valentina Primo, the Founder & CEO of Startups Without Borders.
The first entrepreneurship summit in Egypt dedicated to enabling migrants and refugees to grow and foster their startups is happening on the 8th of November of this year on the Tahrir Campus of the American University in Cairo (AUC). And Egyptians, as well as people from all nationalities, are invited as well.
Startups Without Borders (SWB), the social enterprise behind the summit, was founded in 2018 by Valentina Primo – an Argentinian-Italian journalist who worked in Egypt for years.
“When we interviewed successful and struggling entrepreneurs who are migrants and refugees, we realized that the biggest obstacle in their way is the lack of networking and connections. Especially in the Middle East where they’re not allowed to register their business without a co-founder who is a citizen of the country they reside in,” explained Primo who is also the organization’s CEO. We recently met Primo and members of the SWB team to learn more about the organization and its upcoming big initiative.
Valentina Primo, CEO & Founder of Startups Without Borders at a team building activity for the organization by the Nile River. Via 925.
The first post I wrote on that page was a call for volunteers. The first people to send in their CVs and say how much they want to be a part of the change were refugees themselves! — Valentina Primo, Founder & CEO of Startups Without Borders
The Purpose
“We had a Facebook page with zero followers, basically,” said Primo as she recalled SWB’s first days on social media. “The first post I wrote on that page was a call for volunteers. The first people to send in their CVs and say how much they want to be a part of the change were refugees themselves!” she continued.
And this shows how the common perception of refugees as passive beneficiaries is an incorrect one in her view. The Egyptian startup ecosystem has been improving at a rapid rate over the past couple of years due to the success of Rise Up Summit and numerous startup incubators and accelerators. These aforementioned organizations managed to connect and nurture the startup ecosystem in Egypt while helping some of Egypt’s most promising startups to take off. But where do refugees and migrants fit in the picture?
A Startups Without Borders event in Rome, Italy. Via Startups Without Borders’ Facebook page.
According to Primo, that’s the issue SWB are laboring to resolve. “It’s great what’s happening with the ecosystem. But refugees and migrants still can’t find a place to build and grow their own startups.
I stumbled upon Startups Without Borders as I was looking for an opportunity in the field of entrepreneurship. I started as a volunteer back in 2018 next to my full-time job and recently, in last September, I became more committed to the organization as a Marketing Manager. — Hadeel Hegazy, Marketing Manager of Startups Without Borders.
The Team
SWB managed to work on enabling refugees and migrants to develop their startups in Jordan and Italy with a small core team and a lot of volunteers. They come from diverse and interesting backgrounds.
One of those volunteers, Sama El Barawi, is a Yemeni migrant who is also an entrepreneur and hence will be one of the speakers at this year’s summit in Egypt! Ammar Wassal, their new Operations manager is studying Logistics and International Trade at the Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport.
Hadeel Hegazy, SWB’s Marketing Manager, studied English literature and interned as a journalist in some of Egypt’s online publications before she transitioned to public relations and communication. “I stumbled upon Startups Without Borders as I was looking for an opportunity in the field of entrepreneurship. I started as a volunteer back in 2018 next to my full-time job and recently, in last September, I became more committed to the organization as a Marketing Manager,” explained Hegazy.
Primo herself, an Argentinian-Italian journalist who comes from a broad background in journalism, has a Masters in Peace Studies, Human Rights and EU policies.
What we’re aiming for is to have a lot more foreign founders in startups. We’re aiming to see them integrate. — Valentina Primo, Founder and CEO of Startups Without Borders
The Summit
Onthe 8th ofNovember, SWB’s first summit in Egypt is taking place on the Tahrir Campus of the AUC.
“What we’re aiming for is to have a lot more foreign founders in startups. We’re aiming to see them integrate. There is the world of NGOs and non-profit organizations serving refugees, and then there is the startup world. And there’s such a wide gap between them. We want to help close that gap. We want to see startups being formed, teams being formed right there,” elaborated Primo when asked about what her hopes are for the summit.
The Startups Without Borders Summit’s poster. Via Startups Without Borders’ Facebook page.
With speakers and workshops in three different tracks alongside amusing networking gigs, the SWB summit is committed to connecting migrants and refugees to the resources they need to become successful entrepreneurs. And this means it also connects investors looking for a promising startup to opportunities and talents they might have not heard about otherwise.
You can follow Startups Without Borders on their Facebook or Instagram for updates about the summit or head to the summit’s event page on Facebook to get tickets here. Stay tuned for more!
