Cairo, November 29, 2023 – The final round of “Rowad Domiat” competition, sponsored by Methanex Egypt in partnership with the International Labor Organization (ILO) and in cooperation with the Damietta Governorate, was held in Damietta on November 28. Twenty-six ideas and projects competed in the event, with nine receiving awards for Best Idea, Best Startup, and Best Existing Business. In the Best Idea category, the winners were LAZ project, PVT project, and “The difference between us is not by appearance” project (الاختلاف بينا مش بالشكل). As for the Best Startup category, the winners were Zan Company, Noxed project, and El Serafy Magic Wood and finally the winners in the Existing Business category were Nabolia, Kitzoom, and Marly publishing agency.
The event was attended by H.E. Governor of Damietta Dr. Manal Awad, Director of the International Labor Organization office in Cairo Mr. Eric Oechslin, and Managing Director of Methanex Egypt Mr. Mohamed Shindy, in addition to representatives from key ministries and local authorities and a jury panel of experienced entrepreneurship experts and consultants.
The second round of the competition was launched in August 2023 as part of the “Decent Jobs for Egypt’s Young People: Tackling the Challenge Together in Damietta” project. Around 300 young women and men with project ideas or existing projects competed, going through four rounds of eliminations. Throughout the various competition stages, candidates were provided with intensive entrepreneurship, pitching and presentation knowledge sharing sessions to empower them along their journey leading up to the competition finale. This ensured the innovation, market potential, feasibility, social impact and sustainability of the presented projects.
Commenting on the event, Methanex Managing Director Mohamed Shindy said: “This is the second year we sponsor Rowad Domiat competition, an activity that complements our long partnership with the ILO to empower young entrepreneurs in Damietta. Congratulations to all the winners, whose innovation and hard work have paid off.”
Eric Oechslin also commented saying: “The ILO promotes self-employment and enables Youth with entrepreneurial management skills through capacity building and training resources that strengthen their skills to start news business and become more entrepreneurial. The Rowad Domiat Competition is a means to support young people, women and men who harbor ambitions of expanding their existing businesses or creating news businesses.”
Rowad Domiat 2023 builds upon the success of the inaugural round launched in 2022 as part of the agreement signed between Methanex Egypt and the ILO in 2019 to create decent employment opportunities for youth in Damietta. The project is key to Methanex’s social responsibility strategy to support the community through sustainable development approaches that align with Egypt’s Vision 2030 and UN SDGs 2030. The four-year partnership program resulted in over 2,300 training opportunities and the creation of 725 jobs. Both partners have recently signed a new five-year agreement to support the Decent Jobs for Egypt’s Young People (DJEP) program. This new agreement aims to further promote entrepreneurship, facilitate job matching and build the capacity of local service providers to help youth in the Damietta ensuring Methanex Egypt’s continued alignment with Egypt’s Vision 2030 and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.