is a joint initiative of Senghor University and ICCROM through its Youth.Heritage.Africa program, which consists of a training and capacity-building program designed to support young Africans in implementing entrepreneurial projects centered on heritage. In other words, the program aims to provide students, young professionals and retrained professionals living in Egypt with the basic knowledge, techniques and tools they need to make the most of the entrepreneurial potential of heritage.

The Youth Heritage Africa program was launched in 2020 following the recommendation of the General Assembly (GA) of the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM) in 2019. This was in response to the United Nations' Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development and in line with the aspirations of the African Union's Agenda 2063. The program has 4 components:

1. Youth leadership in the promotion of African museums ;

2. Youth leadership in World Heritage in Africa ;

3. Heritage hubs ;

4. Innovative and creative projects.

Thanks to contributions from member states and valuable partnerships over the past three years, the program has been able to train over 3,273 young people and set up Heritage Hubs in various countries. In addition, various cultural entrepreneurship and local community projects have been undertaken to date, and many heritage and training institutions have committed to developing new projects targeting young people in Africa.

As part of the Youth.Heritage.Africa program, ICCROM and  Université Senghor signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on September 15, 2023, to award a grant to set up the Heritage Hub. The Heritage Hub will be housed at the Francophone Entrepreneurship Centre of the Francophone University Agency (AUF), based at Université Senghor.

Specifically, the establishment and operation of the Utamaduni Heritage Hub aims to: 

• create and deploy a creative hub within Université Senghor, focusing on Egypt and other African countries;

• set up a capacity-building and support program for entrepreneurial initiatives around cultural heritage;

• create and run a network of cultural hubs and start-ups. 

Cultural heritage intersects with many pressing issues of our time. It is essential to explore this intersectionality. On one hand, the increasing focus on developing tourism activities in African countries deserves attention, as cultural heritage serves as both a lever and beneficiary in this regard. On the other hand, climate change necessitates drawing on elements of (intangible) cultural heritage to address emerging needs.

From these two orientations, the foundation lies in the ability to transform ideas into projects to create added value destined to become sources of income and social well-being for young people. The main cross-cutting theme is Cultural Entrepreneurship. The three application themes are:  

1. Discovery of cultural and nature heritage ;

2. Tourism and cultural heritage;

3. Climate change and cultural heritage;

4. Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Cultural Heritage ;

5. Cultural and creative industries.

The hub's activities will be deployed in Egypt and the North African region, with a focus on :

• young entrepreneurs interested in cultural heritage, in general, and young students, in particular;

• young players (professionals or members of associations) in the cultural heritage field.

Thanks to Université Senghor, which welcomes 200 students from some twenty African and Haitian countries to Egypt each year, and which has a campus in 12 African and European countries, the project also targets at least 100 young Senghor students and alumni as secondary beneficiaries.