The Flat6Labs-Powered StartEgypt Hosts Its 2020 Forum Cairo, Egypt

Event Starts: Wednesday, 29 Jan 2020, 10:00 Program Ends:Wednesday, 29 Jan 2020, 8:00

StartEgypt, the pre-acceleration incubation program, established to inspire and support thousands of Egyptian entrepreneurs in the field of social impact enterprises, held its second annual forum to showcase its 45 graduating startups, from all over Egypt incubated in Cairo, Assiut, and Alexandria during 2019.

StartEgypt Forum is an annual showcasing event that presents the incubated startups culmination of efforts during the previous year. The startups get the opportunity to present their businesses to investors, leading business professionals, government officials, press, and coaches & mentors to expand their business connections in order to take their ideas to an even more advanced stage.

The four-month incubation program, funded by the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID), supported by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, and powered by Flat6Labs, provides training, educational mentorship, and coaching by industry leaders. As well as, technical and business support to social impact startups in the fields of Education, Agriculture, Healthcare, Renewables, Environment, Transportation, Financial Inclusion and Marginalized Communities.

The program had originally launched in Cairo in 2017, with the first cycle starting in June, 2018. After their launch in Cairo, StartEgypt recognised the potential that entrepreneurs in non-centralized cities had. Therefore in 2019, the program has expanded to Assiut and Alexandria, graduating 45 social impact startups over the course of two cycles in Cairo, two cycles in Assiut, and one cycle in Alexandria, with entrepreneurs coming from all over Egypt, and startups working across various industries offering innovative solutions to disrupt the market.

Hassan Mansi, StartEgypt Program Director, said: “I am extremely proud of the efforts exerted in this program, we have undergone an amazing journey with amazing achievements. To date we have executed more than 45 events, reaching out to over 15,000 participants, partnering with caliber community partners in the ecosystem, receiving over 4,000 applications, and finally incubating 72 competitive startups from across Egypt. Moving forward, the whole team is excited and ready to increase the efforts to excel and reach out to more entrepreneurs across Egypt and inspire them into this new promising futuristic market in Egypt.”

The Forum is designed, along with showcasing the incubated startups, to provide an outstanding experience for over 1,000 guests interested in entrepreneurship, starting with a morning Startup Huddle, engaging activities like the Fight Club Competition and Ecosystem Activation Game, exceptional panel discussions about Female Founders and Impact Investment, and different hands-on workshops provided by Google, Dell Technologies, Cleopatra Hospitals, and Shell.

Eleven startups, out of the 45, have been qualified to end the day with a thrilling pitch competition in front of a judging panel for a chance to win EGP 200k in total, awarded to the following top 5 startups:

1st Pyro awarded EGP100K
2nd Biofeedx awarded EGP50K
3rd Mycelium awarded EGP20k
4th Banalistic awarded EGP10K
5th Shalta awarded EGP10k

The eleven social impact startups come from a variety of industries and use different technologies, including:

Mycelium: A biotechnological company that grows eco-friendly biodegradable bio polymer (mycelium) on agriculture waste to make sustainable products that can replace the plastic in the field of packaging, construction, and furniture.
Shetla: A mobile application that assists farmers in agricultural operations, irrigation and fertilization and the detection of diseases.
Smart Farm: Utilises unused roofs across urban areas to make way for a small roof garden that provides food for the tenants.
Hadotopia: Hadotopia offers a plethora of content including stories and information for all ages. Content is offered in traditional arabic, slang arabic, and english. The platform targets parents in an effort to help them educate their children.
Mashro3i: A website platform that connects student’s graduation projects with entities that helps them to commercialize it.
Banlastic: Banlastic introduced the eco-friendly shopping bag(cloth): an alternative to the plastic shopping bag, which will be a strong starting point for people to stop consuming single use plastic bags which has a very adverse impact on the environment as each Banlastic bag is reusable.
Ero: Ero is a waste management startup that was initiated to create innovative solutions for paper leftovers. We collect, recycle and produce paper commodities to substitute environmentally irresponsible materials. Ero is a Finnish word for difference, which is what we plan to create.
Pyro: Pyro offers an on-site customized Pyrolysis system which works on any agricultural waste to generate bio-charcoal. The system takes in the cellulosic agricultural wastes and produces bio-charcoal as briquettes.
Biofeedx: A wearable gadget that accurately measures the muscle’s electrical activity during workout. The measured data is visualized on the user’s mobile app in a gamified visual feedback (mobile phone game). The app sends a report to the coach/doctor about the user’s performance with the ability of the coach/doctor to modify the user’s training parameters. It also allows current physiotherapy access and monitors a larger number of patients, reduces the cost of rehabilitation on patients and offers a more efficient and objective way of remote patient monitor rather than home care which accelerates the healing process.
i-Sew: A mobile app that connects the disabled community with fashion designers who want to make their designs in a professional, cost effective manner in a short time. We help involve people with disabilities in our society while providing a reliable income they could live off. SDS offers a workshop space where disabled people assist designers in creating their products.
Naql Misr: A digital online platform for providing logistics transport services to serve individuals and commercial and industrial institutions through the operation section to management and operate a fleet of different transport trucks.

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