CAIRO: The Business Plan Competition has announced on April 30, 2007 the 30 winning teams for its semi-final round.
“We were enthusiastic about the submitted ideas. This rush of ideas is a powerful indicator of Egypt’s flourishing tech industry, said Ahmad Gomaa, CEO of Ideavelopers, which is the advisor to the Technology Development Fund and lead organizer of the competition. “In particular, it’s great to see so many entrepreneurs focusing on current trends that have so much potential to leverage with new business applications.
This year’s competition brought together 300 teams of talented entrepreneurs who provided high-tech business ideas that show great promise for the information technology (IT) sector in Egypt. A panel of top-caliber professionals with IT and business expertise reviewed all submitted ideas and short-listed the number of teams to 30 to move to the semi-final round. The successful teams were chosen on the basis of their ideas that were well-researched and innovative. Some of the winning projects were pure technology products and services, while others were applications of IT concepts for use in other fields, such as tourism, entertainment, and medicine.
These semi-finalists are now receiving professional training workshops at the American University in Cairo to fine-tune their business and marketing techniques and strengthen their business ideas for successful launch and ongoing operations in the Egyptian market. The workshop will be completed by the 3rd week of May, after which each of the teams will develop and submit a full business plan for their proposed project in June. The overall winners will be announced in July and will receive a total prize package of cash and services valued at LE 2 million.
