Sunday evening, Mar. 3, saw a full house packing 3 sections of the Marriott Hotel’s Aida ballroom, including the overflow standing area at the back, for the official launch of the NU100 Initiative. This complex and promising project is the “brainchild” of a forward-looking team at Nile University with generous support from MEPI and the ASRT [Academy of Scientific Research and Technology] as partners. A host of sponsors has also been enlisted. The nationwide initiative, which emphasizes regional participation and the inclusion of women, combines a technology-based, team-driven business competition to address major development challenges combined with a rigorous and comprehensive training program for the 100 teams selected, to enable them to translate their technical ideas into the reality of sustainable business enterprises, creating jobs and moving the nation forward. It will also provide facilities, funding, and coaching for prototype development and starting up, as well as opportunities for match-making with potential investors.
The atmosphere on Sunday evening, starting in the reception area outside the hall where registration, networking, and viewing of sponsor exhibits took place, was electric and contagious. This ambience was sustained through the event’s program with a panel of various experienced, distinguished speakers, and including a successful young entrepreneur, addressing the need to change the prevailing culture around generation of new ideas and enterprises, and promoting the engagement and encouragement of young people in particular in building a brighter future for all segments of the society. The panel also educated the larger-than-anticipated audience in common obstacles and pitfalls encountered in turning unique ideas into sustainable businesses, and strategies for overcoming these challenges.
The explanation of the competition guidelines by Eng. Heba Labib, founder of the NU100 Initiative, was met with enthusiasm and insightful questions by the more than 300 attendees, many representing more colleagues from back home in Benha, Pt. Said, Mansoura, Assiut, and Qena, to name a few, in addition to the participants from greater Cairo. Both young people and experienced elders, some of them mentors, were an active part of the energized audience. Eng. Nezar Sami of Nile University, the moderator of the evening’s program and co-Founder of NU100, suggested the 3/3, [Mar. 3] date become an annually recognized “Day of the Entrepreneur” throughout Egypt. It is already foreseen that the NU100 Initiative may become an ongoing program rather than a one-off project, as the response to the initial communication about the Initiative has been huge.
The period for application of competitors will extend to the end of the month, and kick-off events outside of greater Cairo will continue through mid-March. At least 100 wonderful ideas are expected to emerge.
by Nile University