Wherever you are in Egypt, the sight of garbage on almost every street has become the norm. Sewage and industry waste is still dumped in the Nile. With a population closing in on 100 million, the waste problem is not going away soon. While it can be a liability, IWEX turned it into an opportunity and launched the “Leeha 2eema – ليها قيمة” program, a waste management entrepreneurship program that aims at supporting 45 waste management startups, on a nationwide scale. “Leeha 2eema – ليها قيمة”, meaning “it has value”, offers early stage waste management startups, from all governorates in Egypt, the opportunity to build companies that focus on local manufacturing and value addition products or services by offering them sector specific training, advisory and consultancy as well as access to finance, markets and service providers. Egypt is a fertile country for startups in this specific sector. Almost 60% of Egypt’s total waste is organic waste, which can be used for numerous other projects instead of simply left to rot. In 2010, Egypt produced around 20 million tons of Municipal Solid Waste; Cairo alone produced 11,000 tons per day, that’s four million tons per year. Egyptian industries produce around…
Large Hills of Trash on Egyptian Streets are about to Turn into Business Opportunities
April 13, 2017
