wamda.com - 

Cairo’s third Rise Up Summit proved the pulling power of Egypt’s almost-gravitational force in the region, sucking in investors and entrepreneurs from around the world for the two-day event.

Downtown tech hub the Greek Campus was a riot of trade fairs, speakers on steps and stages, food outlets, and small meeting spaces secreted away in corners for deals to be made over December 12-13.

But this year the three eye-catching takeaways were the investors, the arrival of foreign startups, and the massive popularity of the workshops.

Around 140 sessions overflowed out of the three venues, as 4,000 people shuffled between workshops, association pitching competitions which had their own location, and the main event.

In the three-floored Freres Theatre, site of 71 workshops, room after room was packed with people peering in windows and crouching in doorways to hear speakers walk them through corporate branding exercises, how to understand sales processes, developing networking skills, project management and overcoming business challenges.