Boeing and INJAZ Al-Arab youth Start Up programme is a success

Nearly 700 students across the region have worked with INJAZ Al-Arab’s Boeing-supported Start Up program to establish 60 businesses since the programme’s inception in 2009. Just this year, Start Up has supported 23 businesses through incubation and acceleration across the MENA region. 

The Start Up programme was designed to bridge the gap between entrepreneurship education and economic success by supporting the creation of startup ventures. With Boeing’s support, INJAZ Al-Arab embarked on creating a Start Up program for youth, accelerating their entrepreneurial talent into registered, operational ventures within an intense six-month period combining funding, training, mentoring and business operations. A pilot program was operationalized by INJAZ Egypt and an evaluation of this programme was completed in 2014. Due to its success in Egypt, the programme has been rolled out to in Algeria, Kuwait, Morocco, Oman and Qatar.

The INJAZ Start Up programme is a source of pride for Boeing in the Middle East, as this is an initiative that assists in directly addressing unemployment in the region,” said Bernard Dunn, president of Boeing Middle East, North Africa and Turkey.

“The number of businesses established this year demonstrates the ongoing success of this program and its roll-out across the region will help create a sustainable economic environment. By working with established incubators and partners, Start Up has nurtured a wide range of innovative ideas from students across the region and helped them to take the crucial step in launching a company.”

The programme has not only encouraged entrepreneurship but also ensured that innovative ideas are promoted and brought to life across the region. Egypt, the first market to launch has demonstrated how successful this programme can be, with a range of forward-thinking businesses opening in Egypt, including RecycloBekia, an electronic waste recycling company serving the entire region that won the Start Up program in 2011. The company is the first in the Arab world offering green recycling of electronic waste and safe data destruction services. KIJAMII, founded by Bassem Elhady through the Start Up program in 2009, is a social media agency that aims at realizing social experiences for their partners, customizing creative solutions and strategies on social media. The company now generates approximately 5 Million EGP in annual revenue. 

“Boeing has helped us to bring the Start Up programme to life and transform student business ideas into fully-fledged companies that create jobs and new economic opportunities,” said Akef Aqrabawi, President & CEO of INJAZ Al-Arab. “Boeing’s corporate incubation model defines a new method of corporate social responsibility in the region, one that must be learned from and replicated in the interest of the region’s young people.”