Nestlé Egypt Launches ‘Sustainability 101’ Summit to Drive Regional Innovation

Last updated 1-10-2025

4 min

Nestlé Egypt is launching the Sustainability 101: Think Business Summit this December.

The summit aims to redefine sustainability as a genuine business driver, focusing on grassroots innovation.

Key discussions highlighted collaboration among governments, corporates, and communities for tangible regenerative models.

Nestlé seeks to share its vision, involving engazaat and People of Now for broader impact.

The summit promises actionable projects that may shift sustainability from "nice to have" to "must do.

Nestlé Egypt has teamed up with People of Now and engazaat to roll out what’s being billed as the Sustainability 101: Think Business Summit, set for December. The launch took place at the Swiss Residence in Cairo with H.E. Dr. Andreas Baum, Switzerland’s Ambassador to Egypt, hosting the evening. Senior government figures, private sector leaders, and NGO representatives gathered for what felt less like a stiff diplomatic event and more like a much-needed call to action.

The idea behind the summit? To shake up how we in the region look at sustainability—not as a box to tick but as a proper business driver that can fuel revenue, regeneration, and resilience. The organisers framed it around the Water–Energy–Food nexus, but what really stood out was the focus on grassroots innovators and how their small-scale solutions could reshape climate resilience and community impact.

Dr. Baum struck a warm note in his welcoming speech, pointing out how Nestlé had gone beyond token sponsorship to show genuine partnership. And to be fair, he was spot on—too often these “green” initiatives feel like PR fluff, but Nestlé Egypt seems intent on backing it up with substance.

A flagship panel followed with Tarek Kamel, Nestlé Egypt & Sudan’s Chairman and MD, Amr Mansi, the driving force behind People of Now and its Egypt Entrepreneur Awards, and Muhammad El Demerdash from engazaat. Their discussion, titled *Beyond Sustainability: Business, Innovation, and the Future of Regeneration*, revolved around the need to get governments, corporates, and communities working in sync. Cross-sector collaboration usually sounds like a bit of a faff, but here it was presented through tangible stories of farmers, startups and factories already testing regenerative models.

Kamel was blunt in pointing out what’s missing: a unified platform to bring all players together under one roof with sustainability front and centre. He explained that Nestlé wanted to share its vision rather than claim ownership, hence bringing in engazaat—the clean-tech outfit making a real dent in water and solar access—and People of Now, who have a knack for turning niche movements into mainstream conversations. Personally, I reckon his candour gave a clear signal that this isn’t just another air-conditioned conference with no follow-through.

Mansi, true to form, linked it back to storytelling. Just as his platform took entrepreneurship out of boardrooms and into the limelight, he now wants sustainability to capture the public imagination in the same way. “When big companies and banks see real momentum,” he said, “they’ll pile in with resources.” And he’s probably right… moves like these often create a domino effect.

El Demerdash added an engineer’s pragmatism, reminding the audience that engazaat began 14 years ago with a simple but radical question: how can farmers do more with less? Today, the company delivers millions of cubic metres of water a year, proving that regenerative business is not just ethical, it’s profitable. His tone was clear—knowledge sharing is the real missing piece, and once that becomes mainstream, regenerative models can scale far beyond niche pilots.

For me, sitting and listening from afar, it hammered home a point we at Arageek often see when digging into startup ecosystems across MENA: the best ideas don’t always come from shiny boardrooms, but from founders who’ve slogged it out in the field and turned barriers—like scarce water—into solutions. And believe it or not, these stories tend to resonate far more with entrepreneurs on the ground than lofty UN declarations.

The summit in December promises to turn this kick-off into something more substantial, with panels and actionable projects planned across sectors. If the current energy holds, it could shift conversations on sustainability from “nice to have” to “must do.” And if that happens, well… I mean, Egypt might just set the tone for the wider region.

I’m not a fan of conferences that over-promise, but this one feels different. If nothing else, it’s already sparked a conversation that’s long overdue. And frankly, Egyptian startups and SMEs will be chuffed to bits if it opens real doors for sustainable partnerships—because these ideas can’t stay stuck in the diplomatic circuit. They need to live in the fields, factories, and households where they matter most.

One small gripe though: too many similar events fizzle out after the photo ops. If the organisers manage to break that cycle, this summit could definately be remembered as a turning point rather than a one-off.

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