Our new partners come from the mobility sector and from the food and beverages industry
Meet our two new partners: With our support, the Ghabbour Foundation for Development will invest in a training programme for the maintenance of electric vehicles and environmentally friendly painting techniques. Dara’s Ice Cream will increase its production and open 35 new ice cream parlours in several cities across the country.
The Ghabbour Foundation for Development and the company Dutch Ice Cream, which is selling its products under the brand name “Dara’s Ice Cream”, had successfully applied for grants by the Facility Investing for Employment. The Facility is part of Invest for Jobs. The signing ceremony took place in Cairo on 9 March 2023 in the presence of Mr Stefan Zeeb, Director Central Africa Department of KfW, Mr Rauf Khalaf, Managing Director of the Facility Investing for Employment, Ms Dara Ghosheh, cofounder of Dutch Ice Cream, and Mr George Sedky, Secretary General of the Ghabbour Foundation for Development.
Mr Rauf Khalaf congratulated the grantees: “We are very pleased to have two more project partners in Egypt. The training programme by the Ghabbour Foundation will make a lasting contribution to the just transition of the Egyptian car industry and will create jobs in a high-tech industry. Our second partner company Dutch Ice Cream has presented a convincing plan for its expansion strategy. The food sector has a high employment potential, and the fact that the company is buying from local producers instead of importing their raw materials, will create benefits that go beyond this individual enterprise. Taken together, the two projects aim to create around 1,200 new jobs.”
Dutch Ice Cream was founded in 2017 by Dara Ghosheh and her husband Ahmed Khalil. The ice cream comes exclusively from the company's own production. “Dara’s Ice Cream” is well established as a premium brand in Egypt. The company is planning to increase its production to 4,100 tonnes of ice cream and biscuits per year, open new ice cream parlours and use new distribution channels such as supermarkets, hotels, and restaurants. This will create 345 new jobs in production and sales, and another 350 jobs at franchisees who will operate the majority of the new ice cream parlours. Ms Dara Ghosheh said during the ceremony: “We are thrilled to cooperate with IFE. The grant of 5.55 million euros will allow us to cover around 43 per cent of our planned investment. We will continue to produce ice cream without artificial flavourings or colours and buy our ingredients from local suppliers. We also want to reduce packaging material, especially plastic.”
The Ghabbour Foundation for Development was founded by the Ghabbour Group, one of the most important players in the Egyptian automotive industry with licenses for the assembly and distribution of passenger cars and trucks of major international brands. As part of this investment project, a consortium led by the Ghabbour Foundation is offering training on the maintenance of electric vehicles and modern commercial vehicles as well as on environmentally friendly painting techniques. It will set up state-of-the-art workshops with modern equipment. The market for electric cars and commercial vehicles with more efficient combustion engines is steadily growing. But the lack of skilled workers is slowing down the mobility revolution. The consortium plans to invest a total of 1.34 million euros to equip the workshops and roll out the trainings. The Facility Investing for Employment granted a subsidy of 1 million euros. Within three years, 709 people are to participate in the trainings. Ghabbour Group will employ 100 of them, about a quarter of whom will be women. Other companies committed to employ almost 400 of the graduates.