Egypt’s Taskty and Forasna Selected as Regional Finalists for MIT Inclusive Innovation Challenge

Cairo-based Taskty, online marketplace for home services and Forasna, a platform for blue-collar jobs in Egypt have been chosen as regional finalists for the MIT Inclusive Innovation Challenge (IIC), announces the MIT Initiative in a statement.

The Egyptian startups are the only organisations representing the MENA region among the final 60 for MIT’s 2019 global cohort. Both Forasna and Taskty have been selected as finalist in the skills development and opportunity matching category for the African region. Additionally, NaTakallam, a New York-based, founded by a Lebanese founder, is also among the finalists for the US and Canada region.

The 60 regional finalists now move forward to the regional events in five regions; US and Canada, Latin America, Europe, Africa, and Asia – where they will be provided the opportunity to pitch their solutions to a live selection panel of innovation experts. Four teams from each region will then proceed to the Global Grand Prize Gala at MIT on November 21^st, where the top four finalists will be awarded a grand prize of $250,000.

“Over 500 judges from across the globe selected 60 exemplary inclusive innovation organisations representing the best future of work solutions on the planet, from a field of nearly 1,900 registrations from 116,” says MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy statement.