Mastercard and INJAZ Egypt unveil five new startups as part of the women entrepreneurship program
After a long journey that lasted six months since the launch of the program and a day full of excitement, creativity, talent and top class competition, Mastercard and INJAZ Egypt announced the five winning teams of the “Mastercard Women’s Entrepreneurship Program”.
In addition to providing participants with the necessary business skills and fostering their confidence throughout the program, the winning teams will receive the necessary seed fund through Mastercard sponsorship to the program as well as business, legal and financial consultations to register their companies.
Mastercard – INJAZ Egypt significant partnership was established to empower and ensure that Egyptian women entrepreneurs have the opportunity to develop their skills and pursue their dreams. The intensive business program ran for six months and provided participating teams with the necessary tools to turn their business ideas into successful startups.
“At Mastercard, we understand the importance of helping young entrepreneurs realize their business ideas with an aim of financially including them in the business society. Encouraging women to participate in their local communities is not only a social cause, but has tremendous economic implications for these markets. . That is why many of Mastercard’s community outreach programs across the globe aim to support women and girls”, commented by Tamer Kashef, Country Manager of Mastercard Egypt. “We are proud of our ongoing commitment to help Egyptian women realize their business visions through our partnership with INJAZ for the first time in Egypt. I would like to congratulate all teams and wish them the best of luck in taking charge of their own future.”
“At INJAZ Egypt, our main focus and goal is to empower young entrepreneurs, support them in every aspect to reach their aspirations, from the business prospective through financial needs and targets. We also have a focus to empower young Egyptian female entrepreneurs which aligned perfectly with the vision of Mastercard, our valued partners in this very vital program. We came together and shared ideas, ideologies and objectives, spent much time designing the program, selection criteria, training duration and details through the incubation process and competition. We believe that all teams participating in this program are winners as they definitely gained and grew throughout the process of building their business. The final winning teams have earned their prizes due to hard work and commitment. Well done and congratulations to all! And thank you once again to Mastercard”, commented by Rafik Samy, INJAZ Egypt Chief Operating Officer.
On the competition day, the teams presented their ideas, company report and business plan to the judging panel formed of:
Magdy Hassan, General Manager Egypt and North Africa-Mastercard; Dahlia Helaly, Deputy CEO INJAZ; Mohamed Sadek, Co Founder and Partner SME Partners; Mostafa Hemdan, CEO – Recyclobekya; Maye Ayoub PwC Deals Partner; Shahira Diab, Founder and CEO La Poire and Mosatafa Korany Co-founder & CEO at INCA & CO.
Following an inspirational speech by guest speaker Dalia Ibrahim, CEO of Nahdet Misr Publishing House, and careful evaluation by the judges, the teams awarded Mastercard’ seed fund and a two months incubation period at INJAZ’s premises are: “Zaytona” an ecommerce featuring a large selection of garments for veiled women in Egypt; “Wish Vines” the first centralized gift registry application in Egypt, “Entreprenellle” an online platform that aims to enable women to launch their entrepreneurship venture; “Career 180” that provides online and offline career coaching sessionsfor young graduates; and “Asa’osa” that upcycles discarded fabric and leather from factories.
