doroob: Supporting young entrepreneurs in Egypt to turn their ideas into impact-driven businesses

doroob: Development Incubator Program for Socially-driven Youth in Egypt

doroob Program is an integrated support program for empowering future entrepreneurs to develop practical life skills and create social impact. It aims to identify students and recent graduates with innovative ideas that tackle challenges in three economically and socially crucial sectors and support them in building their impact-driven businesses.

Each edition of the program will focus on one of the following sectors: Creative industries, agri-business, tourism, and healthcare. For each edition, 24 – 40 teams will be selected to pitch their ideas in an on-ground idea competition, through which 6 – 8 teams will be selected to join a three-month pre-incubator to validate their solutions and create the proof of concept (PoC). Up to four teams will then be selected through a pitch competition to advance to a six-month incubator, the final stage of the program. 

The program provides tailored training, dedicated mentoring, network development opportunities, access to workspaces, access to external expertise and technical resources, and direct financial support of 600 Euros/month for each member of the incubator teams so that they are able to dedicate their time, energy and resources to turning their ideas into viable solutions.  

Key stats

  • Duration

    1.5.2023 to 31.01.26

  • Supporting

    1100 young entrepreneurs

  • 600 Euros/month

    direct financial support for each team member participating in the incubation phase.

Objectives

Enabling entrepreneurs and youth who have innovative ideas to establish social impact enterprises in Egypt's most important economic sectors: creative industries, agribusiness, and tourism.

  • Location

    Egypt

     

  • Targeted SDGs

How does the program support you?

Business & technical training

Throughout the entire program, all teams receive training sessions on related business and technical topics, such as prototyping fundamentals, sustainable development, leadership, digital marketing, communications, etc.

Financial support

Each member of the team that advances to the incubation phase will receive direct financial support of 600 EUR/month for six months to support them in turning their ideas into viable solutions.

Mentoring and coaching

Experts from enpact’s and DROSOS FOUNDATION’s global networks will support the participating teams with dedicated coaching sessions and mentoring from the onset of the pre-incubation phase.

Workspaces

Teams will receive access to workstations and makerspaces throughout the program from the onset of the pre-incubation phase.

Regional landing pad

Teams will get the opportunity to connect with international experts and potential partners by exploring the European market through a landing pad program in Berlin after completing the incubation phase.

Networking opportunities

Teams will also get the opportunity to take part in key industry events and pitch their solutions to international ecosystem players and investors.

Find out if doroob is the right program for you

  • You are a university student or a recent graduate who is over 18 years old
  • You are Egyptian, or you have a valid Egyptian residency
  • Your innovative idea tackles one of the four challenges directly or indirectly
  • Your innovative idea has the potential for scalability and can benefit from early-stage startup support

In order to promote equity, applicants from underserved groups* as well as applicants whose ideas have the potential to create sustainable social, economic, and/or ecological impact are given additional consideration in the selection process. 

Underserved groups* are defined within the framework of this program as women, people with disabilities, refugees, or people in remote (in reference to the capital city, Cairo) or rural locations in Egypt.

You can always e-mail us at shc@enpact.org to receive support with your application within 24 hours of your request. Please note that this is the only official support channel for the doroob program and the only way to guarantee a timely response.

Applications are now open for doroob program’s Tourism track. Find out more and apply here. 

doroob program's tracks

doroob is an Arabic word in a plural format, meaning pathways. The name has a powerful meaning which is forging a path or trail into one’s future. For the program, the name metaphorizes the different addressed tracks, where each track – or ‘darb’ – resembles a specific industry with the opportunities for development it holds for young entrepreneurs.

Learn more about the Creative Industries ‘darb’

From ideas to MVPs, teams El Quseir, Re-fur and WAJDI have started their six-month incubator experience where they access tailored training, direct financial support, and workstations in our hub in Zamalek. By the end of this phase, the three teams will travel to Berlin as part of a landing pad, provided by the program.

Learn more

Learn more about the Agriculture ‘darb’

Following a nationwide open call for applications, 40 teams have been selected to participate doroob program’s first phase, the idea competition. Eight teams will be selected through the competition to join to the 3-month pre-incubation phase to further develop their ideas’ Proof of Concepts.

Learn more

Apply now for the Tourism ‘darb’!

We have launched a nationwide call for applications, looking out for socially driven youth with innovative ideas to tackle challenges in Egypt’s tourism sector. The challenges focus on sustainable tourism and creating more visibility for tourism potential in Egypt.

Learn more

Program partners

The program has been developed by the non-profit organization enpact and is implemented with the support of DROSOS FOUNDATION.

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