Facebook Selects 11 Egyptian Trailblazers for Community Accelerator Programme
The selected community leaders will have the chance to win cash awards totalling at $3 million, and will go through a customised curriculum that’ll provide insights to their respective industries and communities.
Facebook has selected 11 Egyptian platforms, or as they dub them: ‘communities’, to be a part of their Community Accelerator programme. The participants are all platforms, startups and organisations leveraging Facebook’s community tools like Groups, and are centred around the betterment of their societies and surrounding communities. The list includes Atfal Mafkoda, Bekia, Egyptian Professionals Network (EPN), Entreprenelle, I Make This!, Kiliim, Markazy, Nomads, Rahet Bally, The Hair Addict and VeryNile.
The accelerator, held in partnership with RiseUp, will have the founders and entrepreneurs enroll in a six-month programme that will provide training, one-on-one mentorship and funding to help the platforms scale their efforts.
“The communities selected for Facebook’s first Community Accelerator demonstrate the power of communities to bring people closer together feel more connected - to help female entrepreneurs, support parents through difficult times or change the narrative around mental health,” says Brie Rogers Lowery, Head of Community Partnerships EMEA. “We’ve been so impressed with the calibre of applicants and strength of this group of participants in Egypt and we can’t wait to see what they achieve over the next six months to reach new people, expand to new geographies and scale their impact.”
RiseUp, one of the pillars in Egypt’s startup ecosystem, seeks to help strengthen these communities, and empower their leaders via expert training from world-class coaches in their respective fields that would curate a customised curriculum that aims, by the programme’s end, to help the platforms create actionable ideas to execute.
“Communities - just like start-ups - require nurturing and a strong support system that allows them to reach their true potential. We are proud to work together with Facebook to offer this regional program, and create an environment that drives effective progress for these communities and stimulate practical innovation,” explains Abdelhameed Sharara, CEO of RiseUp.
By the end of the programme, the communities’ founders will gather in a mega event to showcase the milestones accomplished during the programme’s run, with a chance to network with industry leaders and veteran professionals. Each of the selected entrepreneurs will also receive up to $30,000, bringing the total of cash awards to $3 million.
