Alexandrian Craft-Entrepreneurs Are Celebrating IceAlex's Craftsmanship Incubator "Craft Pioneers"

IceAlex and GIZ are joining forces to launch the opening ceremony of "Craft Pioneers" incubator focusing on creative industries in Alexandria on Saturday 22^nd of September at The Jesuit Cultural Centre. Creative entrepreneurs, crafters, artisans and supporting organisations will be all celebrating the kick-off of Craft Pioneers as a sector-specific incubator and the announcement of 15 creative-industry startups who will enroll in a full-fledged incubation programme.

"We empower high-tech as well as low-tech home-grown innovations; we’ve incubated startups that manufacture 3D printers and laser cutters and also those who produce locally manufactured products,"  IceAlex's Managing Director and Founder Ahmed Bastawy tells Startup Scene. "These integrations and approaches are the main way to support bottom-up communities and help better tackle local challenges."

Craft Pioneers is a sector-specific support-programme focusing on local creative industries and dedicated to support startups and SMEs not only in Alexandria but also the Delta Region. The programme comes under the support of The Egyptian Ministry of Trade and Industry in cooperation with GIZ on behalf of BMZ and implemented by IceAlex, a hub for innovation and entrepreneurship.

During the incubation, the creative startups will receive support in finding marketing and sales opportunities to scale up their ventures, technical qualification, and standardisation for their production processes and facilities as well as the chance to meet potential investors and investment firms. The programme will offer two main tracks; Business, Entrepreneurship, and Technical Capacity Building. These will be provided through a blended methodology of intense training, mentorship and dedicated consultancy, to increase the competencies of the projects to be investable and inclusive.

IceAlex is designing and implementing a full-fledged incubation programme to build tractions for the incubated ventures through applying Lean Startups’ "Get Out of The Building" and other approaches that are tailored to produce a viable purpose-driven enterprise.

Co-organised with Alex Angels, a pool of investors and investment firms will be present at the ceremony. "An investment matchmaking event will be organised closer to the end of the incubation cycle when creative-industry startups are more ready with their business models," Bastawy says.