Today the British Council launched its Creative Economy programme which drives collaboration between the UK and Egypt in the field of creative industries. This three-year initiative will work with Egyptian government, industry organisations, and businesses to support entrepreneurship, increase employment and grow demand for Egyptian creative products.
The launch event, held at the Creative Egypt store, began with a keynote speech by renowned jeweller Azza Fahmy, who talked about how she grew her business from a one person company to a widely recognised international brand. This was followed by a panel discussion on the importance of the creative industries to a country’s economy, featuring speakers from Egypt and the UK.
“The UK creative industries are a real UK success story and one we are eager to share. Apart from their intrinsic value in adding beauty, style and enhanced functionality to our world, they also provide employment for many people. In Britain, the creative economy employs 2.8 million people, equating to 8.8 per cent – that’s one in 11 of all UK jobs”, said Jeff Streeter, Director British Council.
The British Council will focus on bringing together Egyptian and UK policy makers and practitioners to share experiences, building capacity for creative entrepreneurs, and developing an Arabic-language resource bank to support people working in the creative economy.
Starting this month, the British Council is cooperating with the Industrial Modernisation Centre and UK organisation Nesta to train a cohort of trainers to use Nesta’s Creative Enterprise toolkit, an established resource for starting a creative business. This toolkit has been translated into Arabic, and in 2016 and 2017 the trainers will deliver workshops to creative entrepreneurs across Egypt.
In March a group of key stakeholders in entrepreneurship will visit the UK to observe the UK’s strengths in the creative economy, particularly around the development of creative cities and creative hubs. The visit will also encourage discussion on possible government-to-government collaboration and raise awareness of the increasing importance of the creative sector to the creation of jobs and the generation of wealth. Participants in the study tour are from the Industrial Modernisation Centre, RiseUp Summit, Drosos Foundation, Media & More and Studio Emad Eddin.