A thriving entrepreneurial economy depends on more than ambitious founders. It requires policies that make it easier for people to start businesses, innovate, and create jobs. That’s the vision behind Egypt’s National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Strategy (NEIS), a groundbreaking initiative led by the Liberal Club of Cairo that has earned them the 2026 Middle East and North Africa Liberty Award from Atlas Network.

The award will be presented at Arab Liberty Forum recognizing the Liberal Club of Cairo’s leadership in developing a comprehensive national strategy to promote entrepreneurship as a driver of economic freedom, sustainable growth, and opportunity.

Regional Liberty Awards, part of the Templeton Freedom Award Prize Program and supported by Templeton Religion Trust, honor think tanks and civil society organizations that are advancing liberty through innovative ideas, measurable impact, and locally led solutions.

For years, Egypt’s entrepreneurship ecosystem faced challenges like overlapping government responsibilities, burdensome regulations, limited access to financing, and an unclear institutional framework for supporting entrepreneurship. Rather than focusing on a single reform, the Liberal Club of Cairo developed a long-term strategy that addresses these structural barriers through a coordinated, system-wide approach.

The National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Strategy (NEIS) provides policymakers with a practical roadmap to improve the regulatory environment for entrepreneurs and small businesses, expand access to finance, strengthen education, encourage technology and innovation, and build stronger networks across the entrepreneurial ecosystem. By clearly defining the roles of ministries and public agencies while promoting market-oriented reforms, the strategy creates the conditions for entrepreneurship to flourish.

The initiative has already achieved significant milestones. After being presented during Egypt’s National Dialogue in 2022, the strategy received parliamentary approval in December 2024 and now serves as part of the country’s long-term vision for economic development. Its framework aligns with Egypt’s Vision 2030, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, and Africa Agenda 2063, with the goal of expanding economic opportunity, reducing unemployment, and empowering young people and women through entrepreneurship.

Because the framework is built around adaptable principles rather than country-specific prescriptions, it also offers a model that can be replicated in developing economies facing similar institutional challenges.

About the Liberal Club of Cairo

The Liberal Club of Cairo is an independent Egyptian think tank dedicated to advancing individual liberty, free markets, and good governance through research, public policy, and civic engagement. Working with policymakers, academics, entrepreneurs, and civil society leaders, the organization develops practical reforms that strengthen economic opportunity and expand freedom.

“This leadership from Liberal Club of Cairo demonstrates the power of locally led policy organizations to paint a compelling vision for a better future,” said Atlas Network Executive Vice President of Programs Casey Pifer. “The team’s ability to bring stakeholders together in support of an economically free and prosperous Egypt is a critical step toward achieving culturally resonant, lasting policy change that expands opportunity and respects the dignity of every person.”

The Regional Liberty Awards celebrate organizations that are turning the principles of liberty into practical reforms that improve lives. Through research, coalition-building, and policy leadership, this year’s winner shows how local solutions can have big impacts, not only within their own countries, but as models for others around the world.