Venture Lab Expo Highlights Egypt’s Capacity For Innovation
By: Sherif El Hakim
@sherifelhakim2
AUC Venture Lab hosted its annual expo at Bartlett Plaza on March 24 and 25, allowing local entrepreneurs to showcase the innovative spirit of the startup scene in Egypt.
Nour Ibrahim, senior marketing and communications coordinator at AUC Venture Lab, says they support multiple business in a wide range of markets.
“On average, our programs currently support 35-40 startups every year. We support startups that work in e-commerce, energy & environmental sustainability, healthtech, fintech, creative industries and more,” she said.
Entrepreneur Mourad Naseef, owner of Caroline Beauty – a cosmetics startup which has different colored lipsticks made of 100 percent natural materials, believes that Venture Lab allowed his business to come up with a strategic plan for their target market.
“They help arrange the business… From the marketing, to the strategy and up to the business model. They don’t leave out any details,” he said.
Naseef said that the expo allows the business to gain exposure and, through such events, entrepreneurs gauge how responsive their clientele is.
Ibrahim also stressed that Venture Lab does not take any equity from the startups. The programs are completely free and they grant startups with a seed capital award at the completion of the program.
The application process of the Lab is a very competitive one according to Ibrahim.
“We usually receive 400 plus applications and from those, only around 20 startups get selected to join our programs,” Ibrahim told The Caravan.
Ibrahim explained that Venture Lab has two programs, the Startup Accelerator and the FinTech Accelerator, and each program has two cycles a year. The expo happens twice a year, once every semester corresponding with the Venture Lab’s cycles.
Ibrahim believes the AUC community and the entrepreneurs mutually benefit from the expo.
“The expo is a chance for AUC community members to meet the startups, find out about the latest businesses in the entrepreneurial scene and figure out possible ways they can benefit from each startup’s offerings. It is also a great chance for our entrepreneurs to validate their assumptions and get more engaged with the AUC community,” she said.
Monica Maged, CEO of Online Gamaaiya, also attended the expo.
Her business aims to help people purchase their desired items by collecting from subscribers a portion of their pocket money each month, and each month it is given to a different individual to purchase that item.
Maged says that Venture Lab allows entrepreneurs to establish different relationships and networks, a vital utility which helps businesses progress.
“The relations we are exposed to are endless. We are exposed to lawyers, government officials and most importantly banks. I wouldn’t have been able to launch without the support of the bank and that was through the Venture Lab,” she said.
AUC Venture Lab is Egypt’s first university-based incubator and accelerator. The lab enables startups to capitalize on AUC’s world-class facilities and research capacities. It connects innovative startups with AUC’s network that includes alumni, faculty, mentors and investors.
Through this, it nurtures a flourishing network of innovation, education and responsible business.
As of February 2018, AUC Venture Labs had created 534 jobs, 102 startups accelerated, EGP 49 million generated in revenues by startups, EGP 48 million raised in funding by startups, 1,398 hours of mentoring and training by 118 mentors and nine acceleration cycles completed.
Egypt became the fastest growing startup market in the MENA region when it raised $893 million in 2018, according to start-up platform MAGNiTT’s 2018 Mena Venture Investment Report.
Ride-hailing app Careem and Real Estate Website Property Finder lead the pack. The former attracted $200 million in funding in October while the latter raised $120 million in its November ‘growth’ round.
