Thursday, February 18, 2021
Orange Sponsors and Honors the Winners of the French-Egyptian Startup Competition 2021
Orange Egypt has announced the eight winning startups of the first French-Egyptian Startup Competition, which was officially launched by France and Egypt on November 6, 2019, under the sponsorship of Orange Egypt and 14 other French companies. The Competition was supervised by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, the Central Bank of Egypt, and the French Embassy in Cairo.
The eight winning startups were announced and honored during an award distribution ceremony held at the headquarters of the French Embassy, in the presence of the Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Dr. Amr Talaat, the French Ambassador to Egypt, Stéphane Romatet and Orange Egypt CEO, Eng. Yasser Shaker.
Orange Egypt’s sponsorship of this competition, which was held for the first time as a joint initiative between the French and Egyptian governments, came as part of its keenness to empower Egyptian youth and their startups. This cooperation contributes to achieving Orange’s goal of promoting society’s transformation from consumption to production, in support of the Egyptian economy.
The "French-Egyptian Startup Competition" was launched with the aim of identifying Egyptian startups that have high potential for growth and have sufficient ambition to be among the leading entities in the digital transformation process in Egypt.
The competition included three main sectors that carry the priority of cooperation between France and Egypt, namely Health, Fintech and Sustainable Cities, as well as the Coup de Coeur Prize in addition to the Community Award presented by Orange to honor entrepreneurs for their resilience in the challenging 2020 year.
The competition has achieved widespread popularity in Egypt, with the participation of more than 157 Egyptian entrepreneurs, including 62 startups in sustainable cities category, 54 startups in Health category, and 41 startups from in Fintech category.
The competitors went through several stages to determine qualifiers. In the end, 10 startups reached the final round in each category, and eventually, only two winners were chosen for each category. Meanwhile, one winner was chosen for the Coup de Coeur Award and another for the Community Award presented by Orange.
El Gameya, the winner of the first-place prize in Fintech, received its award for its idea of a mobile application that is used to organize and manage micro-savings and credit (ROSCA model). While Ocra (أجرة), the winner of the second-place prize, was awarded for creating a micropayment solution that would target all small cash in Egypt by 2030.
In the Health category, 3elagi won the first-place prize as an integrated startup that facilitates research, evaluation, and delivery of health and beauty products through one platform connected to pharmacies. While Bypa-ss won second-place as a specialized startup, aimed at digitizing the exchange of healthcare information through its HealthTag network and platform, aiming for better-quality healthcare in Egypt.
In Sustainable Cities, Transport for Cairo (TfC) won the first-place prize where it provides data, tools, and research to improve urban mobility in emerging cities, primarily in Africa. Hood came in the second-place, with its platform providing insurance companies with data on drivers’ behavior and their response to external factors, such as road type and speed limits.
The Coup de Coeur Award was awarded to NanoEbers, a detector of toxic metals in water using optical chemical sensors.
Finally, the Community Award was awarded to Tink, a ridesharing chatbot that connects users heading in the same direction from similar communities in a cashless gamified user experience.
The Community Award was presented by Orange Egypt which was added by the end of the competition to demonstrate Orange’s continued commitment to support entrepreneurship and innovation in Egypt, especially during year 2020, which was full of challenges for Egyptian entrepreneurs.
The winners of the abovementioned awards will also enjoy many benefits to support their businesses’ acceleration alongside exclusive privileges provided by the best French companies and sponsors. Furthermore, they will be presented with distinct opportunities to contact international markets, get a strong push to penetrate the local market, and receive training and consulting.
On this occasion, Hala Abdel Wadood, Head of Public Relations & Corporate Social Responsibility at Orange Egypt, expressed her sincere wishes for further successes to the winners of this leading competition, which was held for the first time in Egypt and actively encourages its participants.
“Orange sponsors this competition as part of its constant keenness to support the creative ideas of the youth, financially and morally, and turn them into real projects. We do this in light of the company's endeavor to support Egyptian startups as an essential part of the social responsibility strategy which aims to back the aspirations and dreams of our youth”, she added.
Abdel Wadood concluded, “Orange has previously supported many competitions that aim to empower Egyptian youth, support their projects, and urge them to compete strongly in the Egyptian market. Moreover, Orange will continue to work in this direction, as it is one of the best approaches for discovering innovators in Egypt and encouraging them to achieve their ambitions, ultimately for the benefit of Egypt's economy and the development of its society”.