Image: Minister of Small Business Development, Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams and the Minister of Knowledge Economy, Start-ups and Micro-Enterprises of the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria, Yacine El Mahdi Oualid/Supplied/ Taung Daily News
The agreement signed by the ministers in charge of entrepreneurship in Algeria and South Africa signifies a commitment to enhancing collaboration and sharing knowledge in the realm of startups and innovation.
Yacine Oualid, the Minister of Knowledge Economy, Startups, and Micro-Enterprises in Algeria, and Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams, the South African Minister of Small Business Development, formalized this memorandum of understanding. This significant development took place during Minister Oualid’s visit to South Africa, coinciding with his attendance at GEC+Africa in Cape Town.
“This memorandum will strengthen cooperation and the exchange of expertise between the two countries in the field of startups and innovation, as well as open up investment opportunities for entrepreneurs from both countries,” communicated by Syndigate.info.
Within the framework of this declaration, the two countries will establish formal institutional arrangements to promote cooperation in the fields of entrepreneurship and innovation.
“It also seeks to foster partnerships among relevant government agencies, regulatory bodies, industrial or business organisations, as well as academic and professional spheres, as part of promoting and strengthening the level of knowledge in start-ups. The two parties will jointly facilitate knowledge-sharing and capacity-building programmes in the fields of entrepreneurship and innovation.
“The two countries will create platforms that will bring together innovators, entrepreneurs, and stakeholders from both countries. Both will contribute to international events held in either country in the field of entrepreneurship,” said Ndabeni-Abrahams.
As part of the continuation of his visit program to South Africa, Mr. Oualid participated in the meeting of African ministers who took part in this World Congress, on the opportunities to strengthen cooperation between the countries of the continent in matters of entrepreneurship.
Within the framework of this declaration, the two countries will establish formal institutional arrangements to promote cooperation in the fields of entrepreneurship and innovation.
The declaration will promote collaboration and partnership in the areas of policy, institutional, regulatory and operational levels with the aim of developing the start-up ecosystem in both countries. It also seeks to foster partnerships among relevant government agencies, regulatory bodies, industrial or business organisations, as well as academic and professional spheres, as part of promoting and strengthening the level of knowledge in start-ups.
In this context, Mr. Oualid recalled the achievements made at the continental level, such as the Algiers Declaration for the development of startups, adopted during the 36th ordinary session of the AU Assembly.
He also underlined the importance of facilitating the circulation of talents in Africa, and the access of African entrepreneurs to African markets, and the creation of an African fund, capable of opening up great prospects for entrepreneurship on the African continent.
Addressing delegates at the GEC, Minister Ndabeni-Abrahams said, “To effectively co-ordinate the eco-system, government must also provide strategic leadership. Here we have recently developed the country’s third iteration SMME Strategy, the National Integrated Small Enterprise Development Strategic Framework.
“The challenge I would like to put to entrepreneurship support organisations today is can we think scale, and how can we practically work together to achieve this scale? Is it reasonable to conceive a partnership to grow 1 million new SMMEs by 2030?
The World Entrepreneurship Congress, which was held on Wednesday, March 13 and Thursday, March 14 brought together more than 1,500 participants from 43 African countries and 15 African ministers responsible for entrepreneurship.
