By David Kirby
CAIRO: What has happened in Egypt in recent weeks is that the Egyptian people, particularly the youth, have taken ownership of their own country. This is important.
In the 21st century we can no longer rely upon “they”. Whether they are the rich nations of the world or whether they are governments or multi national enterprises, we can no longer rely upon them.
For too long Egypt has relied upon development aid from rich countries of the world, especially the US. For too long the government has relied upon foreign direct investment to fuel the economy and create jobs. For too long the Egyptian people have relied upon the government to sort problems — be it poverty, unemployment, healthcare, litter and pollution or traffic congestion.
Clearly, there is a role for the state, but what the revolution has taught us, and what has been known elsewhere for many decades, is that we can no longer rely on others. It has long been known that the Egyptian government was failing, like governments elsewhere, to cope with the many economic, social and environmental problems that the country was facing. However, who would have anticipated the financial crisis facing the US and the economies of the developed world or the downsizing of multi national household names in, for example, the motor vehicles industry.
Accordingly, it has become apparent that in post revolutionary Egypt, the country will have to rely, increasingly on itself and take ownership and responsibility for its own destiny. This is not new and as elsewhere it will need to occur not just at the national level but at all levels — the community, the household and, importantly, the individual.
In pre-revolution Cairo reputedly some 38 percent of the unemployed were graduates. In post-revolution Egypt, it will be important that the youth begin to take ownership of their own destinies and create jobs for themselves by starting and running their own businesses. What Egypt will need if it is to compete in the modern 21st century economy is new knowledge-based businesses — ethical, technology-based businesses that create wealth for the founder and the country, and jobs for people. At the same time, it will need more social enterprises that will address the social problems facing the country which the Egyptian government, like governments around the world, have been unable to resolve.
Under such circumstances, Egyptian schools, colleges and universities will need to prepare their students not just for careers but for self-employment. The country will need more new ventures, and it will be the young graduates who will be required to create them. It cannot be done? Of course it can. It is done elsewhere. Just think of Facebook creator, Mark Zuckerberg. He started his business while a student at Harvard. He is now 26 years old. The business employs thousands of people and his personal worth is reputedly $ 4 billion. Perhaps more importantly, one in 14 people around the world use Facebook and we have seen first hand how it has helped transform society. Think also, more modestly perhaps, of Egypt’s own graduate social entrepreneur, award winning Raghda El-Ebrashi. Raghda graduated from the American University in Cairo (AUC) in 2004 and, after studying for a Masters degree, went on to create Alashanek Ya Balady Association for Sustainable Development (AYB-SD), a venture she initiated in 2002 as a student at AUC.
Hence, in post revolutionary Egypt, students and young people will need to be equipped not just with knowledge but with the ability to see opportunities and harness the resources in order to bring those opportunities to fruition, in the process bringing about change. The youth of Egypt have demonstrated that they have this ability. It is the role of the education system to harness these abilities in order to bring about the economic and social developments that the country needs.
In 1975, Baroness Margaret Thatcher, the first female British Prime Minister, said, it is “… a man’s right to work as he will, to spend what he earns, to own property, to have the state as a servant and not a master… They are the essence of a free country and on that freedom all our other freedoms depend”.
The Egyptian youth have won the country its freedom — but with freedom comes responsibility. It is our collective responsibility, both young and old, to help overcome the social and economic problems facing the country, by creating wealth and an improved quality of life — not just for ourselves but for everyone else.
Professor David A. Kirby holds The Queen’s Award for Enterprise Promotion.
He is Vodafone Chair of Business Administration and Founding Dean of the Faculty of Business Administration, Economics and Political Science at the British University in Egypt. The views expressed in this article are those of the author.
