The Initiative
Since 2024, Borders & Gates has been working on economic opportunity for communities affected by displacement in Egypt, particularly Sudanese refugees. We didn't treat this as a CSR checkbox. It's work we do because we're good at it. Business consulting. Operations. Structure. These are things we do with every client.
The real barriers aren't about capability. The entrepreneurs we work with are skilled. They have business ideas. Market demand. What's missing is access. Information about how to formalize a business. How to navigate local markets. How to access financing. How to turn a skill into something that actually scales.
Our tools are the same whether someone's scaling a tech company or formalizing a micro-business. People need clarity. Structure. Practical know-how to grow.
The Event
May 22, 2026. Alexandria. Education For Employment – Egypt (EFE-Egypt), the International Labour Organization (ILO), Alexandria Businesswomen Association, and Borders & Gates brought together micro-entrepreneurs for the Employment Matchmaking Event. Most were women entrepreneurs from the Sudanese community. People with real skills and products who wanted to formalize and grow.
The event wasn't about fixing anyone. It was about bringing people together. Mentors. Business experts. Each other. To talk about what it actually takes to move from running a skill-based operation to running a business that can scale.
What Borders & Gates Delivered
We ran a workshop on the real challenges entrepreneurs face when they're trying to grow. Simple question: how do you build a business that doesn't depend on you being in every transaction?
We covered:
- Understanding business fundamentals. Reading your numbers. Knowing what's actually happening.
- Making decisions based on data, not instinct.
- Building structure that can scale.
- Getting ready for financing.
- Building a community where entrepreneurs support, encourage, and learn from one another because lasting growth doesn't happen in isolation.
What We Found
The entrepreneurs who came weren't lacking capability. Many had years of experience. Strong products. Real market demand. What they needed was help with formalization. Understanding how to manage a business instead of just running a skill.
The workshop gave them tools to:
- Look at their business objectively. What's working. What needs attention.
- Figure out where they need to develop skills or add structure.
- Understand what the next stage of growth actually looks like.
- Have better conversations with mentors, advisors, and investors.
Who Came
Mostly women entrepreneurs from the Sudanese refugee community running small businesses. Some formal. Some not yet. Some just starting. Others had been running things for years but wanted to move forward. All were serious about their businesses and looking for real support.
Who We Worked With
This wasn't a Borders & Gates event. It was a collaboration.
EFE-Egypt knew the community and coordinated on the ground. ILO brought international expertise and standards. Borders & Gates contributed business consulting and training. Alexandria Businesswomen Association brought local networks and peer support.
Why This Matters
Opportunity doesn't mean much if people don't know about it, can't access it, or don't have the skills to act on it. That's the reality for many entrepreneurs from displaced communities. They're entrepreneurial. Skilled. Ambitious. But information gaps and lack of business structure get in the way.
When you bring entrepreneurs, business experts, mentors, and organizations together, you create something hard to build alone: access to knowledge. Real relationships with advisors. Peer networks. Proof that formalization and growth are possible.
How This Fits Into What We Do
We don't see this as separate from regular work. Consulting skills. Training design. The approach to business problem-solving. It's the same expertise we use with every client. We applied it in a different context, to people working on something fundamental: economic stability and growth for themselves and their families.
We stayed because the work mattered. Entrepreneurs in Egypt building sustainable businesses need the same thing as any organization trying to scale. Clarity. Structure. Practical business guidance. That's what we do.
Sustainable Development Goals
What's Next
Events like this show what happens when organizations actually contribute what they know. We'll keep looking for opportunities to do it again. Where business expertise makes a real difference in people's ability to build sustainable livelihoods.