The Arabian Cement Company (ACC) announced launching the second round of its social startup programme "Khaleeha Suessi", in partnership with Nahdet El Mahrousa, with funds of EGP 1.7m. In the second phase, entrepreneurs will be provided funding of EGP 150,000 for each project in the fields of agriculture, food industries, renewable energy, and waste recycling. During a press conference held on Wednesday, Sergio Alcantarilla, CEO of ACC, said that the results of the first round were promising, which encouraged them to continue the project by providing entrepreneurs with tools needed to successfully establish their own startups. Alcantarilla added that in the first round, the ACC provided funding that reached EGP1.2m for six entrepreneurs. Alcantarilla pointed out that the results of Khaleeha Suessi's first round kicked off in June2015, as the programme received 70 applications, out of which 15 were shortlisted for the validation phase. Furthermore, the first round included 24 hours of training on entrepreneurship offered to the 60 entrepreneurs involved. He noted that 6 startups were awarded with funding to establish their businesses. Three out of six winners were recognised as promising startups during the Entrepreneurship Conference at the Syndicate of Engineering in Suez, while the other three received a grant to attend El Rehla's bootcamp for entrepreneurship, according to Jackie Kameel, the managing director of Nahdet El Mahrousa.
