I am currently the director of EPIC (Entrepreneurship, Professional Services and Innovation Center) at Nile University, and the executive director of NilePreneurs, a nationwide initiative to support entrepreneurs and SMEs. Over the past 11 years, I have managed to lead the entrepreneurial activities at NU, making it one of the leading entrepreneurial universities in Egypt and the region. I have built one of Egypt’s strongest entrepreneurship and innovation centers, which is currently employing 80 professionals working in project management, product development, company support and technology transfer. And through NilePreneurs, I have led a team that supported more than 270 startups and over 700 SMEs, as well as helped 170+ product development projects, in addition to building capacity for thousands of young men and women.

My leadership advice to aspiring leaders is to be the intrapreneur within their organizations. They should work on acquiring the necessary resources. Also, establish excellent connections with the university leadership to acquire buy in and support. At the same time, empower their team in order to be able to grow and scale operations.

My plans for the upcoming period include continuous improvement and expansion of entrepreneurship support at NU. Also, offering NU’s services to other universities in Egypt and the region in a variety of means (partnership, paid consultancy, implementation services, etc…)

Finally, I would like to sincerely thank my team who have been working hard to achieve what we reached, and exhibiting entrepreneurial traits as they continuously improve, expand and come up with new ideas.

Heba Labib
Director
EPIC, NilePreneurs,  Nile University



Ahmed Saleh
Head of Strategy and Innovation
EPIC, NilePreneurs,  Nile University



Mohamed Abbas
Head of Entrepreneurship
EPIC, NilePreneurs,  Nile University



Asmaa Ahmed
Head of Project Management
EPIC, NilePreneurs,  Nile University



Yomna ElNahhas
Intellectual Property Manager
EPIC, NilePreneurs,  Nile University



Duaa Nassef
Head of Learning and Development
EPIC and NilePreneurs,  Nile University



Mohamed El Katatny
Head of Compete Program
EPIC, NilePreneurs,  Nile University



Mireille Barsoum
Head of Growth and Marketing
EPIC, NilePreneurs,  Nile University



Elarion Magdy
Head of Operations
EPIC, NilePreneurs,  Nile University



Dr. Tarek Khalil
Founding President and Dean
School of Management of Technology,  Nile University



Dr. Wael Akl
President
Nile University

I would like to acknowledge the entities that have supported the entrepreneurial journey. The Central Bank of Egypt had been instrumental as a strategic co-founder in NilePreneurs initiative. Also, the Academy of Scientific Research and Technology and Ministry of Planning have strongly contributed to NU’s Entrepreneurial Activities. In addition, the EU through Erasmus+ capacity building program has supported knowledge and resources, while the US-Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) has paved the way for NU to establish its entrepreneurship activities. Not to forget, the Baking sector in Egypt through Banque Misr, QNB, E-Bank, SCB, HDB, IDB, UB, BDC and HSBC.

Furthermore, I would like to extend my appreciation to our different partners for success: from UN organizations - ILO, UNDP, ITU; the various export councils: Engineering, Chemicals, Furniture, Printing and Packaging; partner universities Egypt: Ain Shams, Cairo, Fayoum, Arab Academy for Science and Technology, Azhar; as well as in Europe: University of Turku, Finland, Frei Universitat Berlin, Germany, University of Oviedo, Spain, and many more.


And of course I would very much like to thank the university leadership who have believed in our mission, provided support and availed the necessary resources to establish this activity.

But mostly, I would like to sincerely thank my team who have been working hard to achieve what we reached, and exhibiting entrepreneurial traits as they continuously improve, expand and come up with new ideas.