The EEA (Egypt’s Entrepreneur Awards) launched back in 2021—organized by Amr Mansi’s ievents—with the purpose of celebrating and supporting Egyptian entrepreneurs who are both successful and positively impactful. Last night, on June 11, they held their second awards ceremony in the attendance of powerful business leaders, entrepreneurial experts, ambassadors, and even Egyptian ministers.
According to a report published by Disrupt Africa in 2021, 82 Egyptian startups secured a staggering $403,562,000 in funding during the same year, a 158% increase compared to 2020. In a country with a buzzing and accomplished entrepreneurial ecosystem that’s this promising and hopeful, an event like the EEA is essential in bringing these achievements under the spotlight.
But what exactly are the benefits provided by the EEA to Egypt’s entrepreneurs? And what is the event’s significance in the big picture? What do some of their top nominees have to say about what makes their businesses stand out? That’s what this piece is all about…
An Audience of Business Leaders & Top-Tier Media: Gaining Exposure and Recognition
Forbes Middle East was among the top-tier media platforms covering EEA’s ceremony last night. Business magnate, Naguib Sawiris; Minister of International Cooperation, Rania Al-Mashat; Minister of Planning and Economic Development, Hala El-Said; and real estate mogul, Samih Sawiris were among the event’s esteemed attendees.
Providing Guidance and a Platform for Intense Business Discussions: EEA Talks
This year, EEA launched the brand-new EEA — Talks; an event that unites EEA’s community, anyone interested in entrepreneurship, experts in trending business topics, and business leaders from various fields in one ballroom.
On June 10, only a day before the awards ceremony, the event brought together Robin Sharma, renowned leadership expert and best-selling author with some of the country’s most prominent entrepreneurs. The list included GM of Amazon Egypt, Omar El Sahy; CFO of Swvl, Youssef Salem; CEO of Valu, Walid Hassouna; and MENA’s Regional Director at Meta, Fares Akkad under one roof.
Besides thought-provoking insights and discussions on hot topics like the metaverse and global acquisitions/exits, the event was also a suitable environment for networking.
More About EEA — Talks: For the First Time in Egypt: Egypt’s Entrepreneur Awards Hosts Robin Sharma
Connecting Startups to Investors and Collaborators: The Startup Exhibition
Keen on supporting young entrepreneurs with young startups, the EEA also launched a startup exhibition at the heart of its most bustling events. Each startup in the exhibition gets to have its own booth in the middle of where the networking happens, giving them the chance to meet with various business leaders, peers, and potential investors.
The Impact of EEA: Fostering Entrepreneurship & Helping Brand Egypt as an Entrepreneurial Hub
In a 2021 report on the Egyptian startup ecosystem by Disrupt Africa, we discovered that Egypt has 562 active tech startups, 39% of which are accelerated, and together they provide jobs for 12,000+ employees!
There are tons of players that are fostering and supporting the startup ecosystem, but none of them are dedicated to giving the country’s entrepreneurs the celebration, recognition, and exposure they deserve. That’s the gap being filled by the EEA.
Additionally—as the EEA grows in popularity—it will play a role in branding Egypt as a birther of successful entrepreneurs, which could potentially attract foreign investments to the country’s ecosystem. And with so many home-grown business success stories garnering exposure, it shall inevitably encourage aspiring entrepreneurs to begin their journey.
An Interview With the Winners of Marcom: Storytelling and Branding
We couldn’t miss interviewing the winners of the Marcom — Storytelling and Branding categories. We wanted to know how they perceive the EEA and what they think makes them stand out. Here’s what they had to say…
Winner of Marcom — Branding: Matter
We had amazing feedback and advice from our panel. It made us rethink where we stand and how to better reposition and push ourselves in a way, to both thank and impress them with what we managed to achieve in a single year.
“As Last year’s winners, we took the opportunity to even push ourselves harder and use this as motivation to go even further.
With our innate drive to always improve ourselves for the past 10 years, we set out to tackle more than 23 unique industries, across more than 11 countries, gaining lateral experience that helped us grow as people and as a company.
We believe that our strength goes beyond experience; it’s being able to create brand stories that touch people’s hearts. In doing so, we manage to turn a brand’s customers into fans that support and connect with the brand on an emotional level, which—in turn—contributes significantly to creating the most impactful brands in the region.
Armed with our unique proprietary methodology and an internationally award-winning team, we were able to integrate this way of thinking across the company, so our team is fueled with passion. This only makes sense, since they understand that the end goal is to make people feel something towards the brand.”
Winner of Marcom — Storytelling: Circus
It’s a great networking experience where we can meet with entrepreneurs from different fields.
“We were actually nominated by some of the jury members last year, and again this year. We couldn’t be part of the awards last year, but after seeing the nominees and attendees, we realized that we had to take part this year.
In the advertising field, we provide a product that stands out for its quality, as well as business results for the client. Even though our ads are very memorable, entertaining, and usually go viral, they also always yield great business results. This combo has become very rare in our field these days.
Want to find out more about EEA’s jury members, evaluation criteria, winners, and more? Just head to their website, Facebook, or Instagram, and all your questions will be answered.“
