As the seventh week of the coronavirus continues, Egyptians are taking stricter measures to stay safe at home. In line with this, more startups have come up with diverse initiatives to support citizens with their daily lives and help them move forward. Other stakeholders are trying to find more innovative solutions to navigate the uncertainty of the future. Here are some highlights from the current technological ecosystem: 1. StartEgypt, powered by Flat6Labs, launches "Corona Hackathon" with the Egyptian Red Crescent, IFC, and others Flat6Labs-backed incubator StartEgypt announced a "Corona Hackathon" in partnership with the Egyptian Red Crescent, Yomken, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the British Embassy in Cairo. The hackathon calls on Egypt's innovators, entrepreneurs, scientists, engineers, and product designers to hack three timely challenges faced by society today. The best solutions will get the chance to win a symbolic award of up to EGP 10,000. The challenges are safe public transport, myth-busting day-labourers and safe banknotes. Applications are open until 30 March 2020. 2. Forasna allows companies to announce vacant job opportunities for free To encourage Egyptians to stay at home in the current period whilst supporting companies looking for employees, recruitment platform Forasna is dedicating a new filter for work-from-home jobs. Job seekers will be able to secure a source of income while working safely from home. The move is also to encourage companies that have similar opportunities to announce them on the Forasna website for free. The recruitment platform is also collaborating with Almentor.net to provide Egyptians with a chance to learn new skills from home through online courses, with a 100% discounted Promocode "Forasna-19". 3. ElCoach offers 30-day free premium body transformation programme Arabic-language fitness and nutrition app, ElCoach, is offering its 30-day premium subscription plan for free, which includes workout classes, nutrition plans, and connections to personal trainers and nutrition specialists. Using the Promo-code "StaySafe", users can access AI-powered fitness programmes that are prepared by local coaches, as well as nutrition plans prepared by local chefs. ElCoach has more than 50,000 monthly active users and helped over 6,000 people get in shape through its personalised body transformation programmes. 4. Vezeeta launches free medical consultations by telephone In efforts to support the stay at home measures, Vezeeta has launched health consultations by telephone in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan. The move is to ensure that the health and well-being of its patients remain uncompromised amid the current global healthcare crisis. Users can now consult with a doctor through a ‘Call-Back' feature available on the Vezeeta app and website, free of charge. This will also enable users to search for doctors by speciality, book a consultation, and rate and review their telehealth experience. They will also receive directions to refer to a hospital or medical centre if needed. 5. Homzmart provides "Work from Home" kit, discounts To help employee productivity from home, online furniture shopping platform Homzmart has dedicated a section on its website to "Work from Home" furniture items. Customers are eligible for discounts of up to 30%. The items include desks, chairs and lighting units. Homzmart is an end-to-end online furniture shopping platform, providing consumers with professional home designers' expertise, products and ideas to furnish their homes. 6. Turbo One sanitises cars at customers' homes Automotive services company, Turbo One, now offers car cleaning and sanitisation services at the convenience of their customers' homes. In line with the #StayHomeStaySafe movement, the company allows users to order car sanitisation service through the app or hotline. Turbo One will send a professional service provider with full equipment to the user's address to conduct the sanitisation. Turbo One offers a variety of automotive services through a qualified network of service providers. 7. eddyPay lowers payment transaction fees to 2% Fintech startup eddyPay announced that it would reduce the transaction fee on any payment through its application to 2%, down from the usual 2.5%. The effort comes as part of encouraging contactless and cashless payments, as well as to help businesses using the service navigate the current circumstances. eddyPay is a mobile application that allows businesses to receive their payments from home using their mobile phone.
