Finnish-Egypt Trade Expo draws Finnish firms, offers trade partnerships

Egyptian companies drew the attention of Finnish companies to the Finnish-Egypt Trade Expo in Helsinki, organized in August 12–14 to develop trade partnerships between the countries.

The expo, held at the residence of Egypt’s Ambassador to Finland, Mohamed Ghoneim marking the national day of Egypt.

Sixteen Egyptian companies from sectors including artificial intelligence, technology, renewable energy, agriculture, manufacturing, tourism and consumer products participated in the expo to bring together Egyptian and Finnish businesses to explore opportunities in trade, investment, innovation and long-term partnerships, participants and organizers said.

The participants tried to find direct partnership opportunities with multiple key industries and seek Finnpartnership support for funding.

“Our main target is to connect with Finnish companies and customers to promote our new line of business related to premium agricultural products, starting with essential oils coming from plants, including fresh vegetables and fruit,” Hany Abdel Wahab, Vice-Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the United Group for Engineering and Investment (UGEI), told Daily Finland.

He also said that Finnish companies were happy about the high-quality samples that his company showed at the expo, noting that his company would start communications on forthcoming orders.

Maged Rawash, Chief Executive Officer and founder of Smarter Minds, a software and engineering company, said that he had attended the expo to connect with Finnish tech companies, discover the ecosystem in Finland and understand more about the culture.

“We had a very positive first impression and felt that companies were genuinely eager to explore potential synergies and collaboration opportunities. I would still like to spend more time engaging with the market before drawing a final conclusion,” Rawash said.

Ahmed Ghoneim, Chief Operation Officer (COO) of MARGH Investment & Consultancy said despite having significant prospects lack of awareness remains a challenge as many capable Egyptian companies and manufacturers have good products, technologies, and competitive capabilities but that are not yet well known in the Finnish market.

“At the same time, Finnish companies have expertise, technologies, and business solutions that can create significant value in Egypt. Our expectations went beyond simply showcasing Egyptian products and companies. Our primary objective was to create a genuine platform for Finnish and Egyptian businesses to meet, understand one another, and identify opportunities for long term cooperation,” Ghoneim told Daily Finland.

Terming the outcomes from the expo very encouraging, he said that a couple of hundred visitors including representatives from the Finnish business community and institutions visited his stall over the three days.

Finnish businessperson Mari Moisio, Chief Executive Officer and founder of GloESDE Oy, a company that works to advance sustainability, said that she had attended the expo to connect with people and organizations, but mainly to connect with the Egyptian government.

Moisio said that she talked to different organizations other than the government platform and received helpful information about Finnpartnership for non-profit projects, too.

“The main target of the expo is to establish and boost bilateral trade partnerships between companies in Finland and Egypt as we see huge prospects,” said Mohamed Abdrabou, Chief Executive Officer of the ARU Group.

Suvi Pribilla, business partnership officer of Finnpartnership, pointed out the importance of international business partnerships and expressed her willingness to help with such partnerships.

“Many companies cannot get funding for their business and Finnpartnership tries to help business organizations in this regard,” she told Daily Finland at the expo.

Egypt’s Ambassador Mohamed Ghoneim said that the embassy had invited Finnish companies, startups, investors, entrepreneurs and others to join the expo, meet the visiting Egyptian delegates face-to-face and explore avenues for collaboration.

“We want to build a bridge between the business communities of Finland and Egypt. We have organised the expo as a part of the efforts to mark our national day,” Ghoneim said.

Meanwhile, the embassy hosted a reception programme at the ambassador’s residence on August 14 evening, marking the national day.

Several hundred people from different walks of life, including government officials, diplomats, journalists, cultural activists and professionals, participated in the gathering.

Speaking on the occasion, Ambassador Ghoneim pointed out various aspects of relations between Finland and Egypt and emphasized the establishment of a strong business partnership between the countries.