African Start-up Conference In Algeria Targets Enhanced Youth Role In Sustainable Development
(AWP) - The second edition of the African Start-ups Conference in Algeria aims at enhancing the role of youth in boosting sustainable development, and unifying governmental efforts to aid start-ups in the continent.
The conference witnessed broad African participation in the field of innovation, by emerging companies and innovative entrepreneurs who aim to enhance cooperation between African countries.
Qasimi Fethi, an official in the Algerian Economic Renewal Council, confirmed that the size of participation demonstrates the extent of interest shown by African countries in economic events.
"Today, during our visit to the start-up exhibition, according to the statements of the Ministry of Emerging Enterprises, Knowledge Economy and Micro-enterprises, we recorded the attendance of 250 exhibitors between Algerian and African start-ups. I think it is a good thing for Algeria to host such events with the participation of a number of enterprises,” he said.
“There are more than ten thousand participants, including university students, professors, specialists, experts, and heads of institutions. I believe that these numbers indicate that the knowledge economy in Algeria is on the path to success, God willing,” he added.
Held under the slogan "From Ideas to Impact,” the current edition aims to strengthen government efforts to improve the entrepreneurial environment in Algeria and in the entire African continent, while exchanging best practices and fostering new projects.
The conference attracted start-ups working in various fields from several Arab countries, such as Egyptian participant Khaled Abdel Mohsen, who believes that the current edition is a good opportunity for his organisation to showcase its information security products.
"We are participating in this African conference for start-ups in order to showcase some of the products and services offered by Egyptian companies. Ten Egyptian institutions are participating. We are using all of our own products to display here in Algeria, as this conference is a great opportunity for companies to showcase their work,” he said.
“We work in the field of information security, and offer our services to other companies and institutions so that they can protect themselves from electronic breaches and hacks that threaten their stability. We offer these solutions at very good prices,” he added.
Senegalese participant Cheikh Ahmed Tidiane Dam seeks to take advantage of his foundation’s participation to find better solutions to environmental problems suffered by African countries.
"I am here to exchange ideas and experiences to develop our solutions and also to find partners from the technical, commercial and financial sides. We are here to present one of our solutions to reduce the effects of active carbon in organic waste to limit pollution and its spread,” he said.
“This idea led me to the current situation in Senegal, from which most West African countries suffer: About 90 percent of industries do not have filtration and purification stations, not even through a simple pre-treatment system,” he added.
Emerging enterprises contribute to providing job opportunities for young people, and Boutalebi Ahmed Amin, head of the Arab African Centre for Investment and Development, explains that there is great interest in Algeria in reducing the unemployment rate through small enterprises.
"There is a very great effort to transfer technology and expertise to all African countries, which was welcomed by many of the African countries present. Algeria possesses a wealth of experience, as there are approximately a thousand emerging enterprises in Algeria, and there is very great interest,” he said.
“Today we have invited emerging institutions in the universities. In previous years, graduates were looking for jobs, but today they have other interests, such as entrepreneurial projects and launching start-ups,” he added.