Google announces today the completion of the first phase of ‘Startup Expedition’, a new program to help startups boost their growth using effective marketing strategies in the Middle East and North Africa. The 6-month program is joined by 13 startups at their growth stage from the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt representing FinTech, Retail, HealthTech and FoodTech.
Startups were exclusively selected and invited to join the program based on their growth plans as well as their commitment to experimenting and achieving results during and after the program. The first phase of the program included a series of workshops presented by 14 experts at Google, covering key areas in digital marketing such as generating leads and driving sales on YouTube and Search, creative best practices, measurement, product, amongst others. The startups also participated in 1:1 conversations with teams at Google to help address businesses challenges and find sustainable marketing solutions to fuel their growth.
Commenting on the launch, Hisham ElNazer, MENA Startups Lead: “We’re very excited about launching our exclusive digital-marketing-first program in MENA to help rising startups in their growth stage benefit from available marketing tools and techniques to scale their businesses and expand successfully. Startups are core contributors to boosting local economies and we’re committed to increase our support to the wider ecosystem through mentorship, training and bespoke offerings.”
The selected startups are BitOasis (UAE), Breadfast (Egypt), CoinMENA (UAE), Eyewa (UAE), Homzmart (Egypt), Jahez (Saudi Arabia), Nana (Saudi Arabia), Okadoc (UAE), Rain (UAE), Sarwa (UAE), Syarah (Saudi Arabia), Tamara (Saudi Arabia/ UAE) and Thndr (Egypt).
Startup Expedition is a series of many upcoming digital marketing initiatives at Google, aimed at supporting the most promising startups in the region through tailored programs. More details about the program’s schedule and how to express interest will be shared later this year.
