How investments help young entrepeneurs
Amr Fawzi founded GoodsMart: a platform and delivery company that brings groceries to Egyptian households. When he received an investment he was able to expand his business, which benefits a lot of people especially during the Covid-19 pandemic. The support came from the Sawari Ventures North Africa Fund, in which the Dutch Good Growth Fund (DGGF) invests.
Youth entrepreneurship is at the heart of the Dutch Good Growth Fund (DGGF). DGGF is committed to stimulate young entrepreneurial talent across Africa.
DGGF4Youth creates oppportunities
In 2018, the Dutch Good Growth Fund (DGGF) launched DGGF4Youth, an initiative to boost opportunities for young entrepreneurs and youth employment across Africa. DGGF4Youth has been targeting investment funds that stimulate local entrepreneurship through offering capital, coaching, networking and other forms of support.
Investing in young and technologically savvy entrepreneurs
Among these funds is the Sawari Ventures North Africa Fund which focuses on supporting local innovative SMEs from Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco by providing early stage and growth capital. Sawari Ventures sees a clear need for these types of investments: North Africa has a growing base of young and technologically savvy entrepreneurs with good business ideas, often overlooked by traditional investors.
Entrepreneur Amr Fawzi received investment
An innovative local company that received investment from DGGF investee Sawari Ventures is GoodsMart in Egypt – led by Founder and CEO Amr Fawzi. As Cairo is home to millions of people, access to fresh food and supplies is a necessity. However, the logistics of easily getting access thereto is rather complicated. GoodsMart therefore established a grocery delivery system for households. A box is installed next to the front door where people who make the deliveries can simply leave the groceries. This innovative solution has many benefits to it, especially now during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Watch the video about DGGF and Amr Fawzi's story: : Enabling youth entrepreneurs in Africa
Watch the virtual forum on YouTube
Do you want to hear more stories from youth in Africa and the Middle-East? The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs organised the virtual forum Youth at Heart. Here young people from the Middle East and Africa discussed their experiences and thoughts about education, work and participation.
All sessions of the Youth at Heart virtual forum that was broadcasted on 2 November 2020, can be watched on our YouTube channel: Livestream 4 studio's on YouTube