Even though you may find more funded startups in the United Arab Emirates, Egypt is the country where most of the startup founders in the Middle East and North Africa come from. According to a report released by Wamda, MENA region’s leading venture capital firm investing in exceptional entrepreneurs as well as a leading startup research platform, Egyptians are the true leaders of startups and the entrepreneurial spirit in the MENA region.

‘‘As support for entrepreneurship has grown over the past few years, so too has the quality of the startups that are beginning to emerge in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena). Entrepreneurship is no longer just a means out of unemployment, but a challenge for the most tenacious looking to provide solutions for gaps in the local, regional and increasingly, global market.’’ the report notes. 

Here Is All You Need To Know

• According to Wamda, the UAE and Egypt lead the region in startups, with 35% and 26.5% of startups founded in the UAE and Egypt respectively.
• Both of them also lead all other MENA countries comfortably, with only Jordan reaching the double digits with 10.4%, followed by Lebanon’s 5.9%, and Saudi Arabia with 4.7%.

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• However, Egypt leads the UAE in the nationality of a startup founder. According to reports, despite being a leading country in startups, UAE nationals are not the founders of their companies. 
• Indians, Pakistani, Palestinian, Syrian, and British nationals have founded more companies in the MENA region than Emirati nationals. However, by far Egyptians lead, with 25.7% of all startups founded by an Egyptian citizen.
• The report also shows that Egypt also leads as the country with most startup incorporation and registrations indicating a lot of institutional and governmental support for making a business. This is in line with the government’s strategy of providing an ecosystem where the private sector has backing to develop and lead in economic growth.

Leading Industries Where Investments In The Region Go To

• Leading industries in the startup scene are E-commerce, marketplaces, and financial technology are the leading fields. However, the growth of educational, healthcare technology, and software are picking up quick.

Read also:African Female Startup Founders Get A Chance To Apply For Les Margaret Award

 Gender Diversity Among Founders

• The gender split is heavily in favor of men, with only 25% of founders being female. So far youth are ready to make the leap than the older generation as more than 60% of founders are under 35.

Read also: Egypt is Investing Heavily to Grow World Class Tech Start-up Ecosystem

The Earning of the Founders

The report found that the almost half of founders earn a salary between $10k-$20k. 20% earn between $20k-$40k, and only 10% earn more than $100k meaning that startups tend to be at a small and medium level. This is maintained by the number of people on a team, with 30.5% just composing the founder, an additional 26% who are run by a duo, and 99.5% of startups have less than 20 people on a team.

Sources of Finance Available To Startup Founders

When looking at financing, despite all the talk about venture capitalist founders helping startups, only 6.3 get their initial investment this way. 46.3% are funding their own startup, with 23.8% depending on friends and family for their initial investment.

Key Take-Aways

What can we gather from all this? With good managerial experience and education, institutional support and desperation for the Egyptian youth to escape unemployment or traditional employment paths, Egyptians are standing out from their neighbors in creativity, risk-taking, and the hard work needed to be your own boss.

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions.
He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance.
He is also an award-winning writer.
He could be contacted at udohrapulu@gmail.com