10 Syrian-led Startups To Pitch At the Startup Roadshow in Amman
The second edition of the Startup Roadshow will give startups the chance to win $15,000.
After touring the Middle East from Lebanon to Iraq, Turkey and Jordan, the Startup Roadshow is taking 10 finalist startup teams to pitch at the finals in Amman.
The event will be held on November 4th, at the Zain Innovation Campus in Amman’s Business Park, and will host high-profile speakers, entrepreneurs, investors and development strategists.
The 10 startups that will be heading to Jordan for the finale are: Smart Budget and Jellyfish from Beirut, Tdallal and LeftSaver from Erbil, Therapy House and Spermly from Gaziantep, Uders and Salt and Sugar from Istanbul, and Medicine Box and Sufha from Amman.
Organised for the second year by Jusoor and SPARK, in partnership with Startups Without Borders, the Startup Roadshow is the world’s first competition kicked off in September 2019, to search for and train startup teams in 5 key cities in the Middle East.
The competition included a series of live digital mentorship sessions, and will conclude in a final pitching competition where the 10 finalist startups will battle it out for cash prizes of $15,000 in the first place, and $10,000 and $7,000 for the second and third place, respectively. The 3 winners will also get the chance to travel to Amsterdam and showcase their startups on the global stage during SPARK’S Ignite Conference 2019.
The final demo day is a public event, and will feature panel discussions, mentorship sessions, and a networking event. The event will kick-off with an educational session by Patrick Bosteels, co-founder of CoderDojo Türkiye, who will discuss what success looks like for a startup: from incubators, to funding, to accelerators.
Several studies show that refugees are more likely to start businesses than locals, given the fact that taking the risk moving to a new country and starting a new life is an entrepreneurial endeavor in itself. Seeking to empower their attempts to thrive, the event will feature a panel of refugee-lens investing and impact investment, featuring prominent figures in the startup landscape in Jordan and the Middle East including Khaleel Najjar, from Mercy Corps and Rasha Manaa. The panel will delve into how investment firms and individuals can create a positive impact by investing in refugee-led startups and help them secure a stable life as well as having a direct effect on the local economy.
The panel will also invite key players in the Jordanian and Middle startup ecosystem, including Oasis500, Flat6Labs, Shamal Start, Propeller, Badia Impact Fund, Silicon Badia, Rimal Capital, 17 Asset Management, and Tech Wadi. The panel will be followed by a fireside chat with Karim Samakie, trainer and advisor of Jusoor Syria and Saleem Najjar, a Syrian entrepreneur and one of the winners of the Startup Roadshow 2018.
