As part of the INJAZ Egypt Company Program in 2011, over 1000 university students from across Egypt have formed start-up companies. On Saturday, September 24th, the top 500 of those students, organized in 22 teams from 11 Egyptian universities, will be taking part in a trade fair and will be competing for 10 seed funds plus incubation from corporations such as Mobinil, Exxon Mobil and Abraaj at “Dare to Dream: Empowering Egypt’s Young Entrepreneurs 2011“.
The “Dare to Dream” competition is an annual one that is organized by INJAZ Egypt; This year’s edition is sponsored by Mobinil, and will be held at the American University of Cairo.
The 10 winning teams/companies will receive a share of the 285,000 LE (around $US47,000) contributed by the adopting companies. The startups will also be mentored by their adopting corporation to get legally registered and become financially sound, profitable and sustainable.
The event is the culmination of INJAZ’s Company Program, during which students form small start-up companies over the course of the semester, helped by volunteer mentors from the private sector. They think of a product, assign roles like CEO, marketing, finance, human resources, sell shares to raise capital, manufacture and sell their product.
INJAZ also provides students with other courses on entrepreneurship, work readiness and financial literacy for every age level; all aiming towards equipping young people with practical experience, character and skills to drive Egypt’s economic future.
INJAZ Egypt is an education NGO, headed by Dina Mofty as its Executive Director, that addresses the gap between the education system and the needs of the job market by training business professionals and entrepreneurs to deliver INJAZ curriculum and serve as mentors to classes in schools and universities.
Since Its establishment in 2003, INJAZ Egypt has impacted a cumulative of 147,813 students. During the past academic year 2010-2011, INJAZ impacted 61,080 students in more than 167 schools and 11 Universities in 19 governorates with the help of 400 Volunteers from 16 private sector companies.
[Source: Bikya Masr]
