El Gouna to host Egypt’s, MENA’s first ever Global Impact Challenge

Egypt will play an integral role in the Singularity University’s Global Impact Challenge (GIC); the event will be hosted for the first time in the Middle East and North Africa in El Gouna this July.

So, what is GIC? The Global Impact Challenges are annual competitions organised by theme and geography. Supposedly, these challenges are an open call to all entrepreneurs, scientists, engineers, and leaders with the most creative ideas for startups and innovations that can impact the lives of millions.

According to the official announcement, GIC is a unique experience that aims to encourage creativity among startups and individuals with innovative ideas to work and try to deal with the challenges of the world nowadays.

This would be carried out through untraditional and premature solutions in fields like health, energy, education, agriculture, transportation, and fintech while using Exponential Technologies.

Egypt’s GIC would be organised in cooperation with Challenge Group and Endure Capital, one the of distinctive corporations that invest in successful startups.

Singularity University is a global learning and innovation cooperation and community using exponential technologies to tackle the world’s biggest challenges and build a better future for all. The collaborative platform of Singularity University empowers individuals and organizations across the globe to learn, connect, and innovate breakthrough solutions using accelerating technologies like artificial intelligence, robotics, and digital biology.

Haider Ghaleb, Singularity University Representative in Egypt said, that the competition is an exceptional idea that would Improve the lives of a billion people is based on choosing 20 startups or teams for the actual participation in the competition.

He explained that afterwards, one team or startup wins a scholarship of $60,000 to enrol in the Global Startup Program (GSP), one of the major programs offered by Singularity University. The competition will be held for 7 days in El Gouna in Egypt.

“One of the most important conditions of the competition is that the winning team or company must return to the Middle East or North Africa after completing the program offered by Singularity University. This is after they obtain the required knowledge and most advanced technologies. This would enable them to work on providing solutions for the most important challenges facing their nations and the region where they live. The winning team or startup would be announced in July 2019 in El Gouna,” Ghaleb added.

Furthermore, Walid Khalil, the Managing Partner of Endure Capital, said, “We have great confidence in the organizers of the competition due to their long expertise in this regard. The competition offers a detailed educational program, which is specifically designed for startups and emerging companies, with the support of the professors of Singularity University. The objective of the competition is to solve the major problems of the world and have a positive impact on the lives of one billion people during the last 10 years.

Endure Capital is an early stage investment VC headed by two entrepreneurs, Tarek Fahim, and Waleed Khalil.