Founders_Support_2019_Demo_Day

Founders’ Support program concludes pilot cycle with ten tech-enabled startups in Egypt

On Thursday, the 19th of December, enpact Egypt held the Demo Day for the very first cycle of their entrepreneurial support program, Founders’ Support, at Startup Haus Cairo. Ten early-stage Egyptian startups took the stage to pitch their businesses to an audience of investors, entrepreneurs, industry experts, potential partners and customers, and entrepreneurship enthusiasts.

Founders’ support is an entrepreneurial program by enpact that provides financial support and mentoring for entrepreneurs in their first year of business with the goal of allowing the founders to dedicate their full time and energy on their business venture. Founders’ Support 2019 was powered and supported by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) Egypt. The goal of the program was to provide the founders with the real support they need on the ground for their first year across all aspects, from financial needs to personal and business acumen development.

The participating startups were selected out of 300 initial applicants to take part in the Founders’ Support program. They operate in a wide range of diverse sectors, including design, furniture, sports, training, recruitment, telecommunications, sustainable production, e-commerce and healthcare.

The ten startups were Furnwish, Leadership FactoryCUPRaseediPas-sportEsorusTechieMatter, AlMatjar, Clinprime and ElCoach.

Throughout 2019, the founders received dedicated guidance and over 90 mentoring sessions from 5 well-renowned mentors among the top players in their industries and key figures in the Egyptian entrepreneurship ecosystem; Ms. Dina El Mofty, CEO & Founder of INJAZ Egypt, Dr. Khaled Ismail, Managing Partner of HIMAngel, Mr. Moataz Kotb, Founder & Managing Director of Cultark, Mr. Amr Fawzy, CEO & Co-Founder of Goodsmart and Mr. Amir Barsoum, CEO & Founder of Vezeeta. The startups also took part in training sessions and workshops delivered by industry experts, and collectively raised 747 thousand USD throughout the year.

During the Demo Day, Dr. Khaled Ismail delivered a keynote talk, highlighting his experience with being part of Founders’ Support from the start. He emphasized the importance of basing the mentoring relationship throughout Founders’ Support on both the mentor and the founder choosing who they’d like to work with, and how that contributed to a long-lasting relationship.

“Mentoring is an ongoing process. It’s not just a one-off meetup over coffee, but a continuous relationship based on forming a real, human connection and mutual knowledge exchange.” – Dr. Khaled Ismail, Managing Partner of HIMAngel.

Dalia Abdallah, Head of Business Innovation at GIZ Egypt, spoke about the significance of the partnership in supporting the development of the entrepreneurial ecosystem and the impact of providing hands-on, dedicated support that meets the Founders’ needs and enables them to grow both as individuals and business owners.

The Founders’ Support Demo Day took place as part of the Applications of Emerging Tech conference, the 3rd of a series of conferences for empowering and support the Egyptian entrepreneurial ecosystem, held by enpact e.V. and GIZ Egypt.

To learn more about the participating startups or get in touch with the founding teams, check out the project page or reach out to enpact Egypt on info@enpact.org

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