Travel Tech 4 Good Accelerator - Egypt

Travel Tech 4 Good (TT4G) Accelerator, powered by TUI Care Foundation (TCF) and enpact e.V., and supported by UNWTO, is a 3-month coaching for entrepreneurs, during which local and international mentors help them innovate their business models, research potential investors and clients, and bring their business pitches to the next level.

The TT4G accelerator focused on startups with business models that have a social or environmental mission to better the Egyptian society. 5 companies were selected for the intensive acceleration program, which took place at Startup Haus Cairo.

Throughout the program, the startups participated in 3 intensive bootcamps, 6 deep-dive sessions and 95 mentoring sessions from TUI mentors, TUI experts, enpact international mentors, locals mentors & experts, and UNWTO mentors.

At its core, TT4G was about connecting the founders and experts on a personal level and providing intensive sessions on all aspects of the business and the industry. By doing so, the accelerator provided a space for the founders to develop innovative approaches to shaping the way tourism is conducted in Egypt.

Travel Tech 4 Good (TT4G) Egypt startups: 

GeoTravel

Geo Travel provides journeys for travelers seeking nature exploration to educate them about the geography of places and to connect them with the local heritage by visiting unique destinations and developing local communities.

Geo Travel was founded by Reham AbuBakr. Reham’s passion for migration, and geography led her to establish Geo Travel in August 2016, the first company specializing in geographical tourism in Egypt. She also founded a non-profit ”Rahala Foundation for Sustainable Development” which aims to develop remote desert areas in Egypt.  

Conictus

Conictus is developing Sina, a chatbot that helps dive centers easily find appropriate diving instructors while providing the instructor with a job opportunity and an automated diving accident health and liability insurance.

Conictus was founded by Amir Gerges. Amir specialized in diving medicine and during the past 11 years he got involved in different projects around the world. He is also a Dive professional who loves to take people on their underwater experience and was awarded a Marie Curie Fellowship to research how extreme environments affect the human body.

Blue Odysea

Blue Odysea provides experiences that help high performing employees reduce their stress level through interacting with the water element. By using the water element as a healing tool, Blue Odysea aims to enhance the quality of people’s lives and spread a mindful nature-connected world view.

Blue Odysea was co-founded by Raghda EzzDin. Raghda has 5 years of work experience in the financial services industry and passed the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) I, II and III consecutively at first attempt. Raghda is fluent in Arabic, English and French, and is a four time Egyptian National Record holder in freediving.

HallaTravels

Hallatravels is a multi-sided platform, connecting small and medium travel agencies with the local travelers, promoting the agencies readymade and customized travel packages while giving travelers the chance to compare and book offers from different verified travel agencies.

Hallatravels was founded by Amir Abdullah. Amir has more than 8 years of work experience in the tourism industry in Egypt, UAE and Oman. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business/Commerce from Mansoura University.

ToBadaa

ToBadaa is a mobile application directly connecting travelers to tour guides who are using their own cars to book affordable tours and experiences while enabling the tour guides to make more profit than by working for tour operators. 

ToBadaa was founded by Ahmed Hamed. Ahmed is a full time entrepreneur and a software engineer by training, with over 15 years of work experience in the travel industry. He is exceptionally skilled in sales, communication, and loves driving fast cars.

Travel Tech 4 Good (TT4G) Egypt Demo Day:

On the 4th of December, 2019, the accelerator program closed with a Demo Day at Startup Haus Cairo. 

The 5 startups exhibited their businesses and pitched their work to an audience of investors, mentors, experts, international journalists and ecosystem enthusiasts.  

The event featured a panel discussion on the learnings of the Accelerator program, which highlighted the importance of forming people-to-people connections among program participants and program experts, and how it reflects on the development of the business, the entrepreneur, and the mentors.

The day ended with a winners’ announcement, with HallaTravel and Blue Odysea winning a cash prize of 5000 Euros, and an opportunity by UNWTO to pitch at the MADRID TRAVEL FAIR and participate in UNWTO’s upcoming regional Tourism Tech Adventure.

The Demo Day was a RiseUp 2019 satellite event.