Facebook hosted its first ‘Boost Your Business’ event in Cairo, welcoming 400 small and medium business (SMB) owners to learn from businesses that have used Facebook to grow, establish connections, meet with Facebook experts, and participate in training events.
On behalf of Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Amr Talaat, Hossam Othman, advisor to the Minister for Innovation and Entrepreneurship delivered the keynote speech highlighting the role of start-ups and SMBs in driving growth. Nashwa Aly, Facebook’s head of Public Policy for MENA, covered Facebook’s role in helping SMBs.
“We are fully aware that SMBs are a vital element in the growth of any economy or market, and we consider them our essential partners in our efforts to shift towards a digital economy, and build a knowledge-based society,” Talaat said.
“We want to play a bigger role in taking that success to even higher levels. We believe that SMBs have transformational potential and we are here to help them unlock that potential.” Aly explained.
Today tens of millions of businesses around the world have harnessed the power of Facebook and Instagram to get started, connect with customers to grow, trade, and hire. In Egypt 23 million people actively use Facebook daily, while 37 million actively use Facebook each month via mobile. The majority of these – 71% – are connected to at least one local SMB.
Aly said that SMB owners provide products and services that impact everyone’s life, all over the world, and local businesses create over 60% of new jobs.
