CAIRO: On Sunday at the INJAZ Egypt “Dare to Dream: Egypt's Young Entrepreneurs Competition,” sponsored exclusively by Mobinil and held at the American University in Cairo, 10 student teams from Egyptian universities won a total of 350,000 LE in seed funding for their start-up companies from corporations such as Mobinil, Exxon Mobil, Abraaj and Boeing. In 2011, over 1000 university students from across Egypt formed start-up companies as part of the INJAZ Egypt Company Program. On Saturday, 24 September, the top 500, in 21 teams from 11 Egyptian universities, presented their start-ups in a trade fair to Mobinil, Exxon Mobil and Abraaj. To encourage and strengthen these young entrepreneurs and contribute to building a strong economic and social future for Egypt, Mobinil, Exxon Mobil and Abraaj selected 10 start-ups to receive seed funds plus incubation to make them financially sound, legally registered, profitable and sustainable. Judging the student teams were: Mr. Ashraf Halim, Vice President Commercial, Mobinil; Mr. Zeyad Mourad Head of Media & Sponsorships, Mobinil; Mr.Ahmed Mohy, Direct Marketing Expert, Mobinil; Mr.Amr El Sabahy, Head of Legal Affairs, Mobinil; Ms. Reem El Saady, Executive Director, GAFI; Dr. Hadya Hamdy, Advisor to the Chairman and Professor of Entrepreneurship, GUC; Mr. Nader Eskandar, CEO, MIT; Mr. Ashraf El Khatib, Manager, Price Waterhouse Coopers; Ms. Nihad Shelbaya, Public & Government Affaires Manager, Exxon Mobil; Mr. Alaa Hafez, Chairman, Max; Mr. Andy Wells, Chairman, Exxon Mobil Egypt; Mr. Seifallah Zoghby, Prinicpal, Abraaj. The event was MCed by Mohamed Safi and concluded with a performance by Cairokee. INJAZ Egypt is grateful to Mobinil, Exxon Mobil and Abraaj for their generous support of this year's competition winners. INJAZ also thanks our social media sponsors, Egypreneur, and media sponsors Al Masry Al Youm. INJAZ Egypt also thanks Boeing for providing further financial support for seven of the student startups. Boeing has partnered regionally with INJAZ to develop a comprehensive mentorship program to aid startups coming out of the INJAZ Company Program which will benefit young entrepreneurs in Egypt. The event is the culmination of our top program – the Company Program. During the CP, students form small start-up companies over the course of the semester, helped by a volunteer mentor from the private sector. They think of a product, assign roles like CEO, marketing, finance, human resources, sell shares to raise capital, manufacture and sell their product. “INJAZ Egypt congratulates the winning student teams and is happy to have to contributed to helping them build a stronger economic future for Egypt through Dare to Dream: Egypt's Young Entrepreneurs Competition,” said Dina Mofty, Executive Director INJAZ Egypt INJAZ Egypt is an education NGO that addresses the gap between the education system and the needs of the job market by training business professionals and entrepreneurs to deliver INJAZ curriculum and serve as mentors to classes in schools and universities. Since Its establishment in 2003, INJAZ Egypt has impacted a cumulative of 147,813 students. During the past academic year 2010-2011, INJAZ impacted 61,080 students in more than 167 schools and 11 Universities in 19 governorates with the help of 400 Volunteers from 16 private sector companies. BM
