Elham Inspire Was Just Crowned As Libya's Best Startup And Won A Chance At Seedstars World

Seedstars World, the largest seed-stage startup competition for emerging markets and fast-growing startup scenes, closed its Libya round during Seedstars Tripoli. The event took place this Monday, at The Radisson Blu Hotel, where seven selected startups were invited to present their companies in front of the local jury panel. 

Elham Inspire was crowned as Libya's best startup this year and has won a place at Seedstars Summit in Switzerland next April to compete against more than 65 startups for a cash prize of $1 million. The educational startup provides a healthy environment to enhance the character of teens and raises their competency using technology-based education. "We entered the Seedstars not expecting to win, but expecting to raise funds, and now being part of the Seedstars global family has opened many doors for us to do so," explains Founder and CEO of Elham Inspire, Mallek Ajaj.

Seedstars Summit is a weeklong training programme gathering startups from other fast growing economies, as well as investors and mentors from around the world. The final day of the Summit is dedicated to pitching in front of an audience of more than 1000 attendees, with the possibility of winning up to $1 million in equity investment and other prizes.

Out of over 80 applicants, seven of Libya's brightest startups pitched in front of Tripoli's jury, including Naaman Elbouri, founder of Tadawul Financial Group, Intissar Rajabay, Country Director of MEDA, Mounia Attiga, Founder of Gemstones. Attended by over 450 individuals, Seedstars Tripoli also gathered a number of Ministers and Embassy representatives and leading businesspeople from Libya and abroad, aiming to showcase the hunger for change and support for local entrepreneurs. 

The second runner up was She Codes, a startup aiming to empower women and children with coding and computational thinking, while third place went to Yummy, which brings women’s home-based businesses to the formal economy and helps them expand their business from home.

“I was overwhelmed with the huge amount of support coming from both the public and private sector for entrepreneurs in Libya," says Omar Barakat, Regional Associate for MENA at Seedstars. "The talent is there, the resources are there, what is left is structured programmes  in order to take these entrepreneurs to the next level and that's why at Seedstars we’re committed to establishing long term programmes for Libyan entrepreneurs in order to have a sustained impact on the local ecosystem.”

Seedstars World’s next stop is Sharjah to select the best startup in the UAE. Seedstars World is looking for smart startups that solve regional issues and/or develop profitable products for the global market.

If you are interested, apply before August 16th.

Main Image: Elham Inspire's CEO and Founder holding their prize ticket to Seedstars Summit. Courtesy of Seedstars Tripoli.