The Commercial International Bank (CIB) and Nile University recently celebrated the graduation of the first cohort from the Sustainable Finance Programme, an initiative developed with CIB’s support under the auspices of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE).
This programme is part of CIB Egypt’s ongoing collaboration with leading educational institutions committed to innovation and academic development. Designed to align with labor market needs and national economic priorities, the initiative emphasizes digital transformation and sustainable development in accordance with Egypt Vision 2030 and the CBE’s Financial Inclusion Strategy (2022-2025). The partnership has laid the foundation for future joint programmes focused on retail banking and sustainable finance.
The graduation ceremony marks a milestone for students who have gained cutting-edge knowledge and practical tools to support SME owners, fostering both economic and societal growth. The event underscores the importance of institutional collaboration in bridging the gap between education and industry, demonstrating how private sector involvement can elevate Egypt’s educational landscape. By equipping a new generation of professionals with expertise in sustainable development and SME finance, the programme strengthens the financial and banking sectors while aligning with national strategic goals.
In 2022, Nile University and CIB signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to launch this first-of-its-kind academic programme in Egypt, specializing in sustainable finance for SMEs. Under the patronage of the CBE, the initiative reflects CIB’s commitment to nurturing young talent and supplying the job market with highly skilled professionals capable of navigating Egypt’s evolving economic landscape. The collaboration reinforces the CBE’s dedication to investing in the development of banking professionals, beginning with training and education to shape future leaders in finance.
Habiba Hussein, an Egyptian graduate of architecture from Nile University, is not just building structures; she’sconstructing a creative empire, one carefully crafted design at a time. Her journey is an inspiring narrative of how a childhood passion, nurtured by supportive family and teachers, can blossom into a thriving business. From a young age, Habiba found herself drawn to the world of art, a fascination that developed with the encouragement of those around her who recognised her innate talent. Rather than relying on formal instruction alone, Habiba honed her skills through a dedicated approach to self-learning, navigating online resources and workshops to refine her artistic voice.
The turning point in Habiba’s artistic trajectory arrived in 2019. A simple request from a relative – the desire for a custom artwork on everyday items – set the stage for her entrepreneurial endeavour. This pivotal moment saw the birth of her current venture, a business built around the creation of distinctive designs on products ranging from mugs to tote bags. Her bespoke approach infuses a personal touch to the quotidian, transforming ordinary objects into cherished items of expression.
However, the path to success hasn’t been without its challenges. Navigating the complexities of time management, alongside a commitment to continuous learning and artistic development, has required dedication and resilience. Despite these hurdles, Habiba’s venture has achieved notable success, a testament to her skill and determination. Now, she has her sights set on further expansion, aspiring to share her unique designs with an increasingly wider audience. Her story serves as an empowering example for other young creatives, underpinned by her own motivational mantra: “Start with what you have, and don’t fear failure. Every step is part of the journey to success.”
Habiba Hussein’s narrative is a potent demonstration of the transformative power of passion combined with unwavering effort. Her artistic entrepreneurialism exemplifies that, with the right vision and drive, remarkable achievements can indeed be forged.
One of the top qualifiers from the second edition of the “FinTech Got Talent” competition, organized by “FinTech Egypt”—an initiative by the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE)—has secured first place at the “Arab FinTech Challenge” for the second consecutive year. The competition took place in Dubai as part of the “GITEX North Star 2024” exhibition.
This remarkable achievement reflects the CBE’s unwavering dedication to empowering and supporting youth in the FinTech sector. The winners and runners-up of “FinTech Got Talent” received comprehensive backing to represent Egypt in the “Arab FinTech Challenge.” This year, a team from the Faculty of Economics and Political Science at Cairo University won first place with their innovative project, “EZRAALI.” The digital platform connects suppliers, farmers, and traders in a streamlined ecosystem, emerging victorious in a fierce contest among Arab universities.
Ayman Hussein, First Sub-Governor for the Information Technology Sector at the CBE, commented on the victory: “The Egyptian team’s consecutive triumph in the ‘Arab FinTech Challenge’ highlights the CBE’s continuous efforts to nurture and develop young talent through the ‘FinYology’ initiative. This success underscores the richness of the Egyptian market with promising FinTech innovators and reinforces our commitment to equipping university students with the skills and resources to drive innovation, aligned with the FinTech and Innovation Strategy launched in 2019.”
The second edition of the “FinTech Got Talent” competition kicked off this month, in collaboration with the Egyptian Banking Institute (EBI), alongside several universities and banks operating in Egypt. The competition’s finale saw exceptional projects presented by teams from 10 public, private, and national universities.
First Place: Nile University’s business administration students.
Second Place: Cairo University’s Faculty of Economics and Political Science team.
Third Place: Zewail City of Science, Technology, and Innovation’s business administration students.
To further support innovation, the “MINT Incubator” will provide all 10 finalist teams with a comprehensive three-month technical support program. This initiative aims to transform their ideas into viable, practical applications.
The “FinTech Got Talent” competition, launched under the umbrella of the CBE’s “FinYology” initiative, debuted last year and continues to empower university students to create cutting-edge digital solutions addressing the financial and banking sector’s evolving needs.
Since its inception in February 2020, the “FinYology” initiative, in partnership with the EBI and various financial institutions, has achieved significant milestones: Collaboration with 30 public, private, and national universities; engagement of over 7,400 students; and implementation of more than 600 FinTech projects.
This initiative cements Egypt’s position as a hub for FinTech innovation, fostering a new generation of talented leaders in the financial technology landscape.
Egypt is set to establish an international green hydrogen centre following an agreement signed between Nile University and the Green Hydrogen Organization (GH2) on the sidelines of the Egypt-EU Investment Conference.
The signing was witnessed by Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly and Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Ayman Ashour.
The centre, a collaboration between Nile University and GH2, aims to strengthen Egypt’s position in the renewable energy and green hydrogen economy.
Key objectives include building capacity in the field, providing technical assistance to Egypt and other African countries, and accelerating financing for relevant projects.
These efforts are expected to contribute to establishing Egypt as a leading hub for green hydrogen production and attracting foreign direct investment.
Wael Akl, President of Nile University, highlighted the main work streams of the agreement, which include accelerating project financing, engaging multilateral development banks, and organising forums to establish a financial advisory group.
The centre will also focus on ensuring compliance with international standards, developing a green hydrogen manufacturing standard in Egypt, and aligning Egyptian standards with global benchmarks.
Furthermore, the agreement aims to support market access strategies, facilitate regional cooperation through the African Green Hydrogen Alliance (AGHA), and enhance cooperation with major export markets.
The development of training programs will strengthen partnerships with local industries, create jobs, and enhance technical skills in the green hydrogen sector.
“This centre represents a significant step forward in Egypt’s commitment to the green hydrogen economy,” said Ashour. “It will foster innovation, collaboration, and growth in this critical field, ultimately contributing to a more sustainable future for Egypt and the region.”
Egypt’s Nile University (NU) is preparing to launch two investment opportunities for the construction, development, marketing, operation, and maintenance of two projects. The first is for residential buildings and the second is a sports complex through a build-operate-transfer (BOT) system.
Under a BOT contract, an entity grants a concession to a private company to finance, build, and operate a project for a period of 20-30 years.
During a press conference held on Sunday, Tarek Khalil, NU president and acting dean, of the School of Management of Technology (MOT) said that the booklet of conditions will be offered for developers early next month and the university will decide on offers and choose the wining company within 6 months.
Kalil elaborated that NU to offer projects in ato developers as it believes that investors and developers,should be involved in the university’s development plans and programmes, adding that the winning companies of the two projects will complete them within three years of the start of construction.
On the other hand, Fathallah Fawzi, consultant of the two projects, said that the BOT mechanism means that a selectedinvestor or developer has to plan the design, financing, construction, development, marketing, operation, and maintenance of the two projects for a specified period .
Afterwards, the facilities are to be transferred under the management to the university at the end of the contract free of charge.
Fawzi elaborated that the project’s development takes place without any financial burden on the government.
Essam Roushdy Industrial Program Director and NU Business Development Director said that the university has a land area of 38,600 sqm for residential purposes, and another 42,400 sqm for the construction of a sports complex.
The Ministry of Planning, Monitoring, and Administrative Reform signed a tripartite cooperation protocol on Saturday with Qalaa Holding, and Nile University, to maximise the renewable energy sector, through cooperation between the public and private sector.
The protocol was signed by Osama Madi, head of the Central Administration for Financial and Administrative Affairs, representing the Ministry of Planning, Heba Labib, head of Innovation Sector, Nile University, Qalaa head of Marketing Communications, and CMO, Ghada Hammouda in the presence of Nada Massoud, advisor to the minister of planning for economic affairs.
The Minister of Planning, Monitoring, and Administrative Reform, Hala Al-Saeed, said that the signing of the protocol came within the framework of the ministry’s efforts to implement the “Sustainable Development Strategy: Egypt Vision 2030” goals to maximise the renewable energy sector’s share in energy production, and achieve energy security, through the participation of the private sector.
Furthermore, Hammouda emphasised the importance of cooperation between the public and private sectors in order to achieve sustainable development.
Egypt aims to diversify its energy mix by increasing reliance on renewable energy, especially wind and solar energy, by increasing the contribution of solar energy from the current 8% to 16%, wind energy from the present 1% to 14%.
Qalaa Holdings Chairperson and Founder, Ahmed Heikal, explained the size and diversity of the company’s investments in the energy sector such as the Egyptian Refining Company with investments of $4.3bn, which is the largest project implemented in cooperation between the public and private sectors, as well as the contribution of TAQA Arabia, one of its subsidiary companies in the construction of a solar power plant capacity of 50MW in the Benban solar power complex in Aswan.
Moreover, Hisham El-Khazindar, co-founder and managing director of Qalaa Holdings, said that the company’s management has taken a decision over the years to focus on a number of key sectors that are of strategic importance, rather than maintaining a portfolio of large projects representing many sectors.
El-Khazindar expressed his pride in participating in the preparation of the research study, which is expected to play a key role in the development of the renewable energy sector in Egypt during the coming period.
For a patient with high blood pressure, drugs to fight off stroke and heart attacks are a vital element of a daily routine. Taking a fake drug is the last thing such a patient needs.
Now patients have a tool to protect themselves.
A group of young Egyptian programmers, who call themselves GENU, have developed a smartphone application that can differentiate between genuine and fake drugs.
Ten percent of Egyptian pharmaceuticals are fake, including mostly cancer, diabetes, and hypertension drugs, according to former minister of health Hatem El Gabaly.
It is almost impossible to identify the ingredients of a fake drug, which is often completely devoid of the active substance, said Janice William, a pharmacist at El-Deiry Pharmacy in Heliopolis.
“It all comes down the pharmacist’s ethics,” William said. “Unlicensed dealers coming with a wide variety of drugs offering to sell them to the pharmacy is a very common thing.”
The app, the first of its kind in the Middle East, will be “free, quick and simple”, said Ahmed Rashaad, CEO and general manager of GENU. After the application is approved for use, the manufacturers will put a special barcode on the box with medication. When the patient takes a photo of the barcode, they will be able to see if the drug comes from major companies’ factories, or if it is just a random, smuggled substance from China or India, he said.
The programme not only detects fake drugs, but also reminds the patient of the dosage required and the places selling the drug, Rashaad added.
It could also help bring corrupt pharmacists to justice, William said.
If the syndicate of pharmacists ever finds out that fake drugs are being sold at a certain drug store, it will charge penalties against it and issue a warning, she said. If the store issues fake drugs again, the government will shut the place down permanently.
Rashaad and his colleagues spent two years studying Egypt’s pharmaceutical market and six months working on the app.
They developed the app as part of Microsoft Student Partners, a worldwide educational programme that sponsors undergraduate and postgraduate students studying computer science, computer information systems and information technology. Microsoft provides students with software, hardware and training opportunities to support the development of new apps.
The project, funded by Irish investors, cost EGP 50,000, Rashaad said. It has won three awards, including first prize at the Nile University NU100 competition in June.
The demo version is now being tested by multinational pharmaceutical companies Sanofi and Roche Pharmaceutics to assure its liability.
Nile University students holding a protest in January, 2013, calling for being reinstated in the contested buildings (Photo by Hassan Ibrahim\File)
Nile University will officially take ownership of two buildings Tuesday that have been the centre of a three-year dispute with Zewail City, the school’s student union announced Monday.
Interim Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb will attend a ceremony marking the occasion at 7.30pm, according to a student union statement.
Mehleb enforced a court verdict granting the land to Nile University 4 May, following an order from Interim President Adly Mansour on 6 April.
Nancy Mustafa, a member of the Nile University Student Union, said the university will host Zewail City students “until their educational building is built on a nearby campus in Sheikh Zayed City,” according to the agreement between the government, Nile University and Zewail City.
The conflict between Zewail City of Science and Technology and Nile University started in 2011 after former prime minister Ahmed Shafiq ordered that Nile University land be granted to Egyptian Nobel Laureate Ahmed Zewail to create a university under his name – a project that was initially supposed to take place in the early 2000s.
The Supreme Administrative Court denied Zewail City’s appeal on 22 March, upholding a court verdict issued in April 2013 that ordered the return of the disputed land to Nile University, and declared the school a civil university.
The university was recognised under the designation after a law was issued in 2009 governing civil universities. [es1]
Since the Supreme Administrative Court’s 2013 decision, Nile University students have not been granted access to the disputed buildings. Nile University students currently attend their classes at the Smart Village; which they describe as inadequate, lacking laboratories and workshops. Zewail City accepted 300 students into the contested buildings at the beginning of its first academic year last September.
Members of the Student Union have previously lamented that executive power did not implement the court decisions.
Sixty-eight year old Nobel Laureate and Zewail City founder Ahmed Zewail (AFP Photo)
Sixty-eight year old Nobel Laureate and Zewail City founder Ahmed Zewail released a statement Tuesday from California informing the Egyptian public of his health and his desire to return to Egypt to continue his “scientific renaissance”.
Zewail, who founded Zewail City of Science and Technology, said in his statement that he was confident in the support of millions of Egyptians in Zewail City as a national project that will contribute to Egypt’s prestige.
Zewail also made various remarks about the struggles currently facing the progress of Zewail City. “I have a long way to go and a very arduous journey since I received the Nobel Prize fifteen years ago,” he said, adding that he had dealt with “ten heads of government and heads of four or systems for managing the country,” during which he was met with bureaucracy and political jealousy.
As for the allegations surrounding the land dispute with Nile University, Zewail promised that he is not trying to receive “any material or trading privileges” nor is he trying to “broker land”. The state “gave us everything” for Zewail City, he said. “It was the state that called me after the revolution of January 2011.”
Stressing the importance of Zewail City, which he called a “scientific renaissance”, Zewail noted that as soon as the doors were open for the school, “6,000 students of the highest level” applied for 300 total positions. “We are attracting the best sons of Egypt in order to build a modern scientific country,” he added.
Zewail stressed the importance of the scientific renaissance in creating a great civilisation unique to Egypt without the help of the west.
“Egypt can have a great and civilized history spanning thousands of years,” he said. “We have said this a lot, but I firmly believe that Egypt can and will rise and progress.”
Zewail City has been in discussions with Nile University over a piece of land both schools claim as their own for three years. The Administrative Court ruled in April 2013 to give Nile University students the right to the disputed lands and buildings.
The ruling contradicted a December 2012 decree from ousted President Mohamed Morsi issued, granting Zewail City apportionment of the land, which is public property, which cannot be given to a private university.
Zewail City, a non-profit, independent “learning, research and innovation” institution, was founded 11 May 2011. It also features a university, which specializes in “state of the art science and engineering.”
Protests at Nile University campus. (DNE / FILE PHOTO / Hassan Ibrahim)
Nile University students rejected the newly formed committee of ex-ministers that is set-up to look into the University’s conflict with Zewail City.
Nile University has been fighting with Zewail City, established by Nobel laureate Ahmed Zewail, for more than two years over a piece of land that both universities claim to be their own.
Nile University students and faculty staff held a press conference on Sunday outside the contested buildings. They criticised the formation of a new committee, questioning whether it can achieve what previous committees have failed to achieve.
On Saturday, Ashraf Hatem, secretary of the Supreme Council of Universities, announced the formation of the committee upon the request of interim Minister of Higher Education Hossam Eissa. The committee members reportedly include, alongside Hatem: former Ministers of Higher Education Amr Ezzat Salama, Moataz Khourhsid and Hussein Khaled.
The committee is tasked with reaching a solution to the conflict between both universities. It is expected to submit a report to Eissa within two weeks.
Eissa told private satellite channel Al-Nahar that the only solution currently available is one that both parties agree on.
There are two contesting verdicts at court, Eissa said. He added that until the Supreme Constitutional Court rules on which of two the verdicts is binding, there is no legal solution.
“It’s impossible for me not to implement a binding verdict, should it exist,” Eissa said.
The Nile University Student Union released a statement on Saturday condemning the new committee’s formation. The union pointed out that another committee was recently formed, comprising of Eissa alongside other ministers, to look into the conflict.
Representatives from both universities met with Eissa and interim Minister of State for Local Development, Adel Labib, and interim Minister of Housing, Ibrahim Mehleb, two weeks ago. At the end of the meeting, most parties except the Zewail City representatives agreed on granting students of the Nile University access to one of the two contested buildings until a final court ruling is issued regarding the matter.
The next day, Zewail City released an official statement saying it had turned down the proposal. Hanan Ezzat, the city’s communication director, said the legal team feared that it would be illegal to give Nile University students the right to use one of the buildings for an unannounced period of time, since the city would be disposing of public property, which it is not authorised to do.
“All the former ministers forming the committee have been unjust to Nile University during their time in the government,” Nile University’s statement read. It questioned the goals of the new committee, given that the decisions of the previous committee were ignored.
Zewail City, meanwhile, welcomed the formation of the new committee. Sherif Fouad, spokesman and media advisor of Zewail City, said: “[Zewail City] welcomes any efforts made by the government to help the students of Nile University,” as long as they are legal and it do not harm Zewail City.
“We are keen on preserving Nile University students’ future,” Fouad added.
The Supreme Administrative Court ruled in April on the dispute, giving Nile University students the right to the disputed lands and buildings.
Zewail filed an appeal to the verdict to the Supreme Constitutional Court, stating that the Giza Court ruled in favour of Zewail City in 2012. He called for stalling the Administrative Court’s decision, since it was appealed and going forward with the Giza court’s decision, because it was not appealed. He also called for a ruling on the two conflicting verdicts.
Since the Supreme Administrative Court’s decision, Nile University students have not yet been granted access to the disputed buildings. Zewail City accepted 300 students into the contested buildings at the beginning of its first academic year on Sunday.
