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ICSB Sunday Times Editor’s note:
Pour yourself an Americano, because this week’s ICSB Sunday Times comes to you from Cairo, as ICSB celebrates its 70th Anniversary. We open with the proud announcement of the ICSB Fellows Class of 2025, honoring global leaders whose lifelong contributions have shaped entrepreneurship, MSME policy, and human-centered innovation worldwide. We also celebrate Egypt’s growing global impact with the AAST Entrepreneurship Center receiving the ICSB 2025 Entrepreneurship Center Global Impact Award and Dr. Nabil Shalaby being named ICSB’s 2025 Educator of the Year. This edition features fresh research on SME digital transition, reflections on Dandara and ISO standards, highlights Dr. Rico Baldegger’s new book, and looks ahead to the upcoming ICSB Top Ten Global MSME & Entrepreneurship Trends. From history to future-ready innovation, this week reflects the heart of our mission: Entrepreneurship for the World—a Human-Centered Future.
— Dr. Ayman ElTarabishy
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ICSB Announces 2025 Fellows Class in Cairo, Egypt
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As the International Council for Small Business (ICSB) proudly marks its 70th Anniversary, we are honored to announce the ICSB Fellows Class of 2025 a distinguished group of global leaders whose contributions have transformed the fields of entrepreneurship, small business development, MSME policy, and human-centered innovation.
The ICSB Fellows distinction represents one of the organization’s highest honors. It is awarded to individuals who have demonstrated sustained excellence, visionary leadership, and a lifelong commitment to advancing entrepreneurship worldwide. This year’s class embodies these ideals at the highest level. (read more).
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AAST Entrepreneurship Center wins ICSB 2025 Entrepreneurship Center Global Impact Award
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The AAST Entrepreneurship Center (AASTEC), established in 2015 by the Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport (AASTMT), has been awarded the ICSB 2025 Entrepreneurship Center Global Impact Award in recognition of its extraordinary contribution to entrepreneurship development in Egypt, the Arab region, and across Africa. As one of the most comprehensive university-based entrepreneurship platforms in the area, AASTEC has distinguished itself through measurable impact, regional replication, and long-term ecosystem transformation. Read More
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EDUCATOR OF THE YEAR
Dr. Nabil Shalaby wins the coveted Educator of the Year by ICSB
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ICSB announces that Dr. Nabil Shalaby has been named the ICSB 2025 Educator of the Year, recognized at the ICSB World Congress in Cairo, Egypt. This prestigious distinction celebrates a career defined by innovation, dedication, and an extraordinary commitment to empowering the next generation of entrepreneurs.
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CUTTING EDGE RESEARCH
Transition readiness from the traditional to the digitalization economy
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This study examines how small businesses in Serbia use digital tools, drawing on six real company examples. It shows that whether SMEs adopt digital technology depends on their industry, finances, technical capacity, business processes, and overall strategy. The biggest challenges they face are high costs, technical complexity, lack of skilled workers, weak regulations, and uncertainty about the real benefits of digital tools. The study finds that the best way for SMEs to go digital is through small, low-cost steps, starting with simple data collection and leveraging outside experts..
by: Aleksandar Jankulović
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HISTORICAL INSIGHTS
Dandara: One of the Jewels of Upper Egypt and A Gatekeeper of Civilization
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Dandara (Dendera) is one of Upper Egypt’s most important cultural treasures, centered around the remarkably preserved Temple of Hathor near Luxor. With over 4,500 years of continuous religious and civic history—from the Pharaonic era through the Greek, Roman, and Christian periods—it represents one of Egypt’s longest sacred landscapes. Beyond a single temple, the site includes healing centers, sacred lakes, Roman and Byzantine structures, and the famous Dendera Zodiac, highlighting ancient Egyptian mastery in architecture, medicine, and astronomy. Dandara is important because it embodies Egypt’s uninterrupted civilizational continuity and holds enormous potential as a global cultural tourism destination and a cornerstone of Egypt’s modern cultural renaissance (read more)
by: Sherif Kamel
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ISO and SMEs: Can the World Have Both High Standards and Human-Centered Flexibility?
International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has played an extraordinary role in shaping the modern global economy. It has set the universal benchmarks that ensure products and services meet the highest levels of safety, quality, and reliability. This contribution is unquestionable, indispensable, and foundational. ISO standards protect consumers, support international trade, and create common expectations that allow companies to work seamlessly across borders. The world needs ISO. High-quality standards are not optional—they are essential. (read more)
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Management in a Dynamic Environment: Concepts, Methods and Tools
by: Rico Baldegger
In Management in a Dynamic Environment: Concepts, Methods and Tools, Dr. Rico Baldegger introduces a holistic, system-based framework for managing complexity and driving innovation in rapidly changing times. Published by Springer as an open-access book, it bridges theory and practice through real-world case studies and human-centered leadership principles. The work aligns with ICSB’s mission. (Read More)
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ICSB Top Ten Trends are Coming!
ICSB publishes its annual “Top Ten Global MSME & Entrepreneurship Trends” to forecast the most important forces shaping small businesses worldwide, drawing on insights from global experts, policymakers, and entrepreneurs across more than 170 countries.
The Top Ten Trends serve as a strategic guide for governments, universities, investors, and ecosystem builders, helping align policy, education, and innovation priorities with real-world MSME needs.
Each year, ICSB’s Top Ten Trends balance emerging technologies with human-centered themes, such as leadership, resilience, ethics, community impact, and access to opportunity—reflecting ICSB’s unique global and interdisciplinary perspective.
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We are devoted to the interests and advancement of small business globally
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