Rania Ayman empowers Egyptian women through Entreprenelle, providing training, resources, and platforms to build sustainable businesses.
In Egypt, the gender gap in business is staggering. Women receive barely 1.2 percent of total venture capital funding, and many are excluded from digital learning, mentorship programs, or even basic access to resources that could help them start and grow businesses. For millions, entrepreneurship remains out of reach, not for lack of talent or ambition, but because cultural barriers, structural inequities, and societal stereotypes make it almost impossible to move forward.
It is against this backdrop that Rania Ayman launched Entreprenelle in 2015. What began as a response to her own frustrations with limited opportunities has become Egypt’s leading women-focused entrepreneurship network. Her mission was to build a sustainable platform that equips women with practical business skills, connects them to resources, and enables them to claim their place in the economy.
Ayman’s own journey revealed the depth of the problem. As a student at Ain Shams University, she noticed that entrepreneurship received little attention, especially for women.
As time went on, her social enterprise began to work with marginalised women in Cairo who relied on sewing or recycling to survive but lacked the training or networks to expand. Alongside this, she faced constant skepticism: relatives who assumed she would abandon her career after marriage, cultural bias against women’s ambitions, and widespread doubt about whether a social enterprise could ever be financially sustainable in Egypt.
Despite these challenges, Entreprenelle grew. Today, the organisation has reached more than 500,000 women across nine governorates, including rural and underprivileged areas where opportunities are most scarce. They have supported 100,000+ women entrepreneurs, built EGP 100M+ in economic value, graduated over 10,000 women from structured programs and supported the launch of 10,000 sustainable businesses. Its partners include UN Women, USAID, Microsoft, Google, Facebook, Dell, the British Council, and the National Council for Women, among others.
At the center of this ecosystem is Entreprenelle’s flagship annual summit, “She Can.” Now the largest women-focused entrepreneurship event in the MENA region, the one-day gathering in Cairo brings together thousands of women for workshops, panel discussions, competitions, mentorship, and networking. Some sessions provide certifications, while others give entrepreneurs direct exposure to investors and funding opportunities. The event has also become a platform for raising uncomfortable truths, from the digital gender divide to the near-total exclusion of women from venture capital in Egypt. Over the last 5 years, SHE CAN has welcomed 25,000+ attendees, with the 2025 edition recording over 8,500 attendees in a single day.
Entreprenelle’s work is structured around four pillars: spreading knowledge, equipping women with tools, connecting them to resources, and fostering growth and sustainability. Its programs, such as “The Fashion Project,” help women in creative industries translate skills into viable businesses. Online, its community has expanded to more than 100,000 subscribers, with over 250,000 followers on Facebook, proving that its message resonates far beyond in-person events.
Her philosophy is as disruptive as it is pragmatic. Rania Ayman She rejects traditional gender roles, insists women be recognised for their achievements rather than appearances, and actively involves men in empowerment initiatives to ensure that change is collaborative, not divisive. Her leadership has taken her from Cairo to global stages, where she has represented Egypt at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit, the World Government Summit, and the Social Enterprise World Forum.Rania Ayman.
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