MBSC Chairs Second Entrepreneurship Research Conference in Cairo

Prince Mohammed Bin Salman College of Business and Entrepreneurship (MBSC) chaired the second International Entrepreneurship Research Conference, held October 26–28, 2026, at the Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport (AASTMT) in Smart Village, Cairo. The Jeddah-based school co-founded the conference series with the Babson Global Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership (BGCEL) and used the Cairo edition to stake out a wider regional role in entrepreneurship research.

The theme of IERC 2026 was "Entrepreneurship, Family Business, and Sustainable Innovation." Organizers ran the event together with MBSC, BGCEL, AASTMT, the Saleh Kamel Organization for Sustainable Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development, and the Global Entrepreneurship Network – Egypt.

What did the academic program cover?

The program split into six main tracks:

• Entrepreneurial behavior and opportunity discovery
• Social, sustainable, and inclusive entrepreneurship
• Women's entrepreneurship
• Digital entrepreneurial ecosystems
• Family business
• Public policy and other research topics

Dr. Adnan Maalaoui, MBSC Professor of Entrepreneurship and Conference Chair, framed the event's purpose plainly. "The conference brings together researchers and experts from around the world to advance knowledge in entrepreneurship, family business, and sustainable innovation," he said. He stressed the need to strengthen international research collaboration and to address the opportunities and challenges facing emerging economies.

BGCEL's leadership tied the conference to Saudi Arabia's broader economic agenda. Kim Stanhouse, Director of BGCEL, said: "The Babson Global Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership (BGCEL) has a vision and purpose to promote the entrepreneurial ecosystem of Saudi Arabia and the surrounding region. We do this by supporting initiatives for entrepreneurs, policymakers, educators, and researchers—and are proud founding sponsors of the IERC." She added: "Initiatives like the IERC enable the entrepreneurial ecosystem by elevating research about and by academics in the region, and ensuring policymakers are equipped with resources to ground agendas in high-quality data."

How did the three days unfold?

The conference opened on October 26 with participant registration and a welcome reception. October 27 brought the official opening, keynote addresses, a session on entrepreneurial ecosystems, academic research presentations, and a session with journal editors. The day closed with a gala dinner on the Nile.

October 28 featured specialized research sessions, a panel discussion on women's entrepreneurship, and a family business session moderated by Eng. Ahmed Othman. The closing ceremony presented the Best Research Paper Awards and announced the conference's future editions.

Where does the conference go next?

The third edition, IERC's organizers confirmed, will take place in Istanbul, Turkey, on April 29–30, 2027. The fourth edition follows in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on March 12–14, 2028. The rotation puts MBSC's home market back at the center of the series within two years and signals a sustained institutional commitment to the field rather than a one-off event.

Organizers acknowledged the pressures on the region. Despite the challenges facing the region and the wider world, they said, IERC remains committed to moving forward through collaboration, knowledge exchange, and research-driven dialogue that brings together researchers, entrepreneurs, educators, and policymakers. The stated goal is supporting sustainable economic development in Egypt and the wider region by strengthening dialogue between academic research and the business community.

MBSC itself operates from King Abdullah Economic City, a modern urban center built for students and faculty, and also teaches in Riyadh. The school positions itself as offering world-class education from Saudi Arabia for Saudi Arabia, built on practical, hands-on experiential learning aimed at developing what it calls a new generation of transformative leaders. For the school, IERC's growing footprint — Cairo this year, Istanbul next, Jeddah in 2028 — doubles as a running demonstration of that regional ambition.