Kuwait: Zain, Kuwait’s leading digital service provider, announces that the regional accelerator program of its 7th Zain Great Idea tech startup accelerator has successfully reached its third destination in Cairo, Egypt at the RiseUp Entrepreneurship Summit 2023.
Zain’s program reached its third regional stop after the first two in Dubai and Riyadh. Nine Kuwaiti entrepreneurs who have founded tech startups and joined the 7th season of the company’s renowned Zain Great Idea tech accelerator program attended the RiseUp Summit in Cairo, considered one of the largest entrepreneurship gatherings in the MENA region. The event featured over 150 startups, over 250 speakers and experts from around the world, and thousands of visitors and entrepreneurs.
The 9 Kuwait-based startups are Armada: a tech-logistics company, Central Tenders Company: an e-platform that specializes in tenders for the private and public sectors, Droom: a prepaid subscription box provider for fashion and beauty, E-Fly: Kuwait’s first smart e-vehicle sharing app, NOMADS: an e-platform to help digital nomads and freelancers to find clients, Kashcool: an interactive e-learning platform, Staffii: a provider of HR software tools, Trendal: an online shopping and e-marketplace platform, and Business4sale: a digital platform for business exiting and investment.
Zain saw the need and ambition of Kuwait-based startups to expand into the MENA region, and it has selected the RiseUp Summit in Cairo for its third regional destination due to the Egyptian market being one of the biggest and most vital of the region’s markets. This brought a great opportunity for ZGI participants to learn from the vast number of workshops and shared experiences in RiseUp, paving the way for them to prepare their regional expansion plans. The trip also focused on acquiring talent and resources and getting a close-up experience of the Egyptian market’s trends.
Last year, Zain held Super Saturday, an event where ZGI participants presented their startups and outlined their strategic roadmaps to the judges panel that consisted of innovation and entrepreneurship experts, representatives of venture capital firms, investors, and startup accelerators. The panel carefully evaluated all entries and selected startups to take part in the Regional Accelerator Program’s three destinations. 10 startups joined the first destination in Dubai, another 10 joined the second trip to Riyadh, and the above 9 startups joined the third and final trip to Cairo.