“Champions of development”: Egyptian employers serving the economic recovery

Egyptian companies have contributed to fight the social and economic consequences of Covid-19.
Activities ranged from direct donations and gifting of medical supplies to skilling initiative, solidarity programmes for workers affected by the pandemic, youth empowerment.

The Federation of Egyptian Industries (FEI) launched the second volume of a publication on the role of “Champions of Development” in Egypt, showcasing how the private sector contributed to reduce the burden of losses of Covid-19 pandemic on the economy and on the society and its cooperation with the Egyptian government.

FEI Vice Chairman, Tarek Tawfik, said “we are delighted to see companies and banks acting jointly with the government to minimize the socio-economic effects resulting from the pandemic, by providing direct donations, in kind support, and using their whole resources to meet the negative impacts of the pandemic”. FEI highlights how important have been those “champions” in developing products, services and alternative solutions to respond to the crisis. “We believe that the private sector is essential in supporting economies and societies to recover efficiently and positively”, it said.

Among the activities reported in this publication, worth of mention are:

A donation campaign, to assist university hospitals and Egypt’s healthcare personel, supported by a donation of EGP 10mn (National Bank of Egypt); a donation of EGP 10mn to support the Ministry of Health (Vodafone Egypt); 51.46 mn EGP in direct support of the relevant ministries and governmental agencies (Sawiris Foundation for Social Development).
Solidarity towards 10.000 families (Astrazeneca, in collaboration with the Egyptian Food Bank NGO) and public awareness campaigns through university professors and the Ministry of Health and Population for citizens (Astrazeneca).
Direct assistance to families affected by the loss of jobs of irregular employment (at an amount of EGP 80 million – Banque Misr and for thousands of day workers – Dettol, Orange, for tourism sector workers – Professional Development Foundation, Vodafone Egypt).
Roads and facilities disinfection, transport of Egyptians stranded abroad (Cemex).
Support of young freelancers through the “Maa El Shabab” competition (EG Bank).
Gifting of medical supplies (Cemex, Egmed, ExxonMobil, Henkel, Fine Hygienic Holding (FHH), Orange, Qaala Holdings, Shell).
Gifting of 1500 mobile lines and 1600 mobile devises to facilitate communication of the front-line workers (Telecom Egypt).
Providing fellowship as part of the programme “L’Oreal UNESCO For Women In Science program” (L’Oreal Egypt).
Launching medical convoys to the underprovided neighborhoods in Egypt (Lafarge Egypt).
Support local communities by providing “One Million Free Medical Consultations” via a digital healthcare platform (Telecom Egypt).

In addition, to contribute to the upskilling, Microsoft “launched a skills initiative aimed at bringing more digital skills to Egyptian citizens by the end of the year. This initiative brings together every part of our company, combining existing and new resources from LinkedIn, GitHub, and Microsoft. It’s grounded in three areas of activity:

The use of data to identify in-demand jobs and the skills needed to fill them;
Free access to learning paths and content to help people develop the skills these positions require;
Low-cost certifications and free job-seeking tools to help people who develop these skills pursue new jobs.

So far, we have impacted over 82,000 learners across Egypt”.