As the majority of youths continue to search for local alternatives and options to help improve social issues, social impact enterprises or SMEs have become increasingly popular. The youths of today’s search for the ability to improve their environment and lives as a whole has a lot of momentum as 60%+ of the population is 25 or under and it doesn’t look to be stopping.
To encourage young socially conscious entrepreneurs, StartEgypt and its forum was established to inspire and support social impact SMEs.
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, StartEgypt is a pre-acceleration incubation program, established to inspire and support thousands of Egyptian entrepreneurs in the field of social impact enterprises.
The program will be holding its 2nd annual forum on the 29th of January at the Greek Campus to showcase the 45 startups incubated in Cairo, Assiut, and Alexandria during 2019.
StartEgypt Forum Encourages Young Entrepreneurs to Help With Social Issues
Alongside its 4-month incubation program, StartEgypt holds an annual forum displaying the culmination of the incubated startups’ hard work during the year, as well as other entrepreneur-related activities.
The 45 startups will have the opportunity to present their businesses to investors, leading business professionals, coaches, and mentors. However, only 11 out of the 45 have qualified to end the day with a special pitch competition in front of a judging panel for a chance to win EGP 200k in total, awarded to the top 5 startups.
It will also provide opportunities for other entrepreneurs and stakeholders to enjoy a startup huddle, pitches, engaging activities and panel discussions on entrepreneurship and the Egyptian ecosystem.
The Top Social Impact Startups at StartEgypt 2020
The 11 social impact startups that will compete in the pitch competition come from a variety of industries and use different technologies.
- Mycelium: A biotechnological company that grows eco-friendly biodegradable biopolymer (mycelium) on agriculture waste to make sustainable products that can replace the plastic in the field of packaging, construction, and furniture.
- Shetla: Mobile application that assists farmers in agricultural operations, irrigation and fertilization and the detection of diseases.
- Smart Farm: A system that depends on AI technologies and data science to provide food security and to automate the greenhouses system and solve agricultural problems. It supplies the plants minerals as needed and observes greenhouses through a mobile application that lets you stay updated every moment without having to be physically there. This technology will enhance the quality of the corps and will increase production.
Some of this year’s startups - 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 offspring.
- Mashro3i: A website platform that connects student graduation projects with entities that helps them to commercialize it.
- Banlastic: Banlastic introduced the eco-friendly shopping bag(cloth), which is an alternative to the plastic shopping bag and 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 that 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 device that accurately measures the muscle’s electrical activity during a workout. The measured data is visualized on the user’s mobile app in 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 monitor 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 manage and operate a fleet of different transport trucks.