Al Ahram Beverages Company has marked two years of collaboration with Orange Corners Egypt by hosting more than 50 entrepreneurs at its manufacturing facility in Sharkia Governorate on October 29, 2025. The visit reinforces a partnership focused on youth empowerment, private sector mentorship, and building commercially viable startups across multiple regions in Egypt. The program supports national economic priorities under Egypt Vision 2030 and advances several UN Sustainable Development Goals by promoting inclusion, sustainability, and entrepreneurship.
Deepening a Private Sector Partnership for Youth Entrepreneurship
The partnership between Al Ahram Beverages Company, known as one of Egypt’s leading multi-category beverage producers, and Orange Corners Egypt is designed to give young founders access to tools, networks, and exposure that they cannot typically access at an early stage. Orange Corners is an initiative of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and in Egypt is implemented by Outreach Egypt under the auspices of the Ministry of Planning, Economic Development and International Cooperation. The program targets university graduates and early-stage founders across Egypt and aims to turn ideas into scalable businesses through mentorship, technical guidance, and funding readiness.
On-Site Mentorship and Exposure to Industrial Operations
During the Sharkia visit, participants took part in focused mentorship sessions led by Al Ahram Beverages Company executives from supply chain and production, finance and procurement, sustainability, safety, logistics and planning. Founders were able to directly question senior leaders, discuss operational challenges, and understand how large-scale companies structure procurement, quality, compliance, and distribution. The day also included a guided tour of the plant, which gave participants an inside view of manufacturing processes, sustainability practices, and the discipline required to operate at national scale.
Reaching Founders Across Egypt’s Regions
The entrepreneurs who attended the Sharkia visit represented a wide geographical spread, including Upper Egypt governorates such as Qena and Luxor and Delta governorates such as Alexandria, Behira, Dakahlia, Menoufia, and Kafr El Sheikh. That regional reach reflects one of the stated priorities of the partnership, which is to decentralize access to opportunity instead of concentrating all support in Cairo. According to the company, the event was designed not only as exposure but as an invitation for long-term engagement, with ABC positioning itself as an industrial partner to emerging businesses from underserved regions.
Building Local Value Chains and Industrial Capacity
Nikolay Mladenov, Managing Director at Al Ahram Beverages Company, said the company views this collaboration as a practical way to build more resilient local value chains and community-level economic activity. He highlighted that nearly 90 percent of the company’s raw materials are sourced locally, which he framed as proof that Egyptian suppliers can meet demanding quality and volume requirements. He added that empowering founders is ultimately tied to long-term competitiveness, since stronger domestic suppliers strengthen national industries and reduce exposure to external shocks.
Scaling Impact, With a Focus on Women Founders
Al Ahram Beverages Company’s Head of Corporate Affairs, Cherine Aidarous, said that more than 250 entrepreneurs have been supported over the course of the partnership, with nearly 140 startups graduating from Orange Corners Egypt programs to date. She noted that almost half of participants have been women, and described that result as evidence that inclusive innovation is already happening in practice rather than being treated as an aspirational talking point. Aidarous also pointed to the launch of a new cycle in the Delta and the expansion into Luxor as proof that the program is widening national reach instead of repeating the same pilot in the same location.
Expansion of the Orange Corners Model in 2025
The partnership is scaling at the same time the Orange Corners Egypt program itself is expanding its national footprint. In 2025, Orange Corners Egypt onboarded 100 new startups from the Delta into its second cycle and launched a new cohort in Luxor to reach additional founders in Upper Egypt. Earlier in the year, 30 startups from Upper Egypt received grants from the Orange Corners Innovation Fund after a competitive process that drew more than 1,200 applications, signaling rising demand for structured entrepreneurial support outside traditional hubs.
Private Sector Involvement Beyond CSR
Dalia El Nazer, Programme Manager of Orange Corners Egypt, said that the model is intentionally built around direct private sector participation rather than traditional corporate social responsibility. She said that when companies open their facilities, share networks, and transfer operational knowledge, they accelerate the path from concept to revenue and job creation. She described the ABC partnership as part of a broader shift in which established companies position themselves as active contributors to Egypt’s innovation pipeline instead of occasional sponsors.
Long-Term Industrial Investment and Sustainability
The Sharkia plant showcased during the visit is one of Al Ahram Beverages Company’s largest and most advanced production hubs, and it has been the focus of recent capital investment. The company, which has operated in Egypt for more than 120 years and employs around 1,500 people across its headquarters, four production facilities, and nationwide warehouses, invested more than €30 million in 2023 to reinforce its local operations and expand exports. At Sharkia specifically, two new high-efficiency production lines were added in 2023, increasing capacity, creating new jobs, and cutting water and energy consumption by 50 percent while maintaining more than 100 percent PET circularity for two consecutive years.
Al Ahram Beverages Company is positioning its collaboration with Orange Corners Egypt as part of a long-term industrial and social strategy that ties national manufacturing strength to entrepreneurial development. By opening its Sharkia facility to early-stage founders from Upper Egypt and the Delta, the company is signaling that supply chain resilience, gender inclusion, and regional access are not side initiatives but core elements of future growth. Both partners frame this effort as aligned with Egypt Vision 2030, arguing that broadening who gets to build companies is inseparable from building a more competitive, export-capable economy.