Prof. Dr. Mahmoud El-Metini, President of Ain Shams University and Eng. Mahmoud Al-Anani, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Dakahlia Group of Companies and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Anani Foundation for Human Development, signed a joint cooperation protocol between Ain Shams University represented by the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and the Dakahlia Group of Companies and its founder Al-Anani, in the presence of Engineer Khaled Al-Anani, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Dakahlia Group of Companies, Prof. Dr.. Ahmed Galal, Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture, Prof. Dr. Nagwa Badr, Dean of the Faculty of Computers and Information, Prof. Dr. Maged Ghanima, Director of the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Hind Abdul Maged, Executive Director of the Anani Foundation for Human Development, and Dr. Weam Mahmoud, Deputy Director of the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Ain Shams University.

The protocol aims at joint cooperation after Dakahlia group launched the innovation and technology competition in the field of agricultural entrepreneurship in Africa (ATIAC) ​​in cooperation with the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center at Ain Shams University under the auspices of the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Higher Education in cooperation with the University of Nebraska and Yossi Davis University in the United States of America and a group A large number of experts, entrepreneurs, companies, Egyptian and African universities and incubators to support entrepreneurship, the protocol also includes providing support from the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Ain Shams University in the incubation stage and accelerating business to encourage and embrace innovators, entrepreneurs and emerging companies that use new and emerging technologies in the field of agriculture and livestock and fish.

The two parties will evaluate technologies, results, proposals and development projects in terms of their readiness for marketing and the possibility of developing them as projects that benefit the field of agriculture in Egypt and Africa in accordance with the development goals of sustainable development in Egypt and Africa. The two parties are aware of the steps and costs of developing each project before starting its implementation, in order to take into account the nature of each project and its needs.

It is worth noting that the Dakahlia Poultry Group was established more than 30 years ago and has become the largest company working in the field of agriculture and poultry in Egypt and has a global ranking as well, providing nearly 30% of local poultry in Egypt, and today it exports to more than 40 countries around The world is in Western Europe and the Far East.

The competition is the strongest of its kind for a company specializing in the field of agriculture to support entrepreneurship in its field and provide support to all those who have a passion in the field of agriculture in addition to supporting innovation and technology ideas to increase agricultural productivity, provide food and treat the problem of water scarcity in Africa.

The initiative aims mainly to strengthen Egypt's position as an attractive destination for startups and entrepreneurship by attracting the best startups in Africa and the Middle East region.

The Innovation Center at Ain Shams University is the official center for capacity building and entrepreneurship at the university, which works to reduce the gap between the university academic community and industry, since 2013 the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center offers a variety of non-traditional multidisciplinary programs that are designed to encourage young students. Graduates and researchers focus on innovation and entrepreneurship and provide various means of support to successfully deliver their innovations and emerging companies to the market. The center, in cooperation with a large group of strategic partners from the state and industry, focuses on the sectors of agriculture, energy, automobiles, industry and health, in addition to that the center has a design house that includes a large group of specialists who have long industrial experience in designing and manufacturing electronic, mechanical and mechatronic products. The Design House team has been involved in designing and implementing dozens of products for Egyptian and international companies and university research groups.