How two Egyptian Social Startups Managed to Get 5 Million People Talking about Disabilities

Egypt’s click funding social startup Bassita has hit the cyberzone once again, this time breaking records as it partnered with Helm to gather some of the country’s biggest talents in a viral video to promote accessibility for people with disabilities.

The campaign, titled One click to Move, was crafted in a joint effort with Helm, Drosos and the clickfunding geared towards making the area around Cairo University more accessible. The video, directed by Amr Salama, features actors Menna Shalaby and Ahmed Malek along with members of Helm, as they narrate and showcase the obstacles people with disabilities face in Cairo's streets. 

“The reason behind selecting the Cairo University area is that it is frequented by more than 250,000 people daily; at least 1000 of which are persons with disabilities” explained Amena EL-Saie, co-founder and CEO of Helm. The social startup has already implemented the first model for a sidewalks and crossings according to on the international standards to serve persons with disabilities in the surroundings of the University of Cairo. 

'Ramez Maher', Co-Founder and Managing Director of Helm Foundation has stated that, " Our main goal is to ensure that any new building or facility being built embraces the international standards for accessibility in order to fit everyone. As accessibility paves the way for people with disabilities so that they are able to live their lives fully, and that they are given the means to entirely and equally participate in society,” adds co-founder and Managing Partner Ramez Maher.

The campaign went viral massively viral, reaching over five million views in a little over a week. But the effect, as every video by Bassita does, goes well beyond sparking debate. Following their clickfunding model, the startup partnered with private sponsors, allowing for every view, every share and every like on social media to countabilise as 'points' that then turn into funds for the cause. Partners included Attijariwafa Bank Egypt, as well as Dross foundation. 

“Drosos foundation always looks for partners with passion and dedication to the cause they believe in. Helm reflects lots of energy, conviction and walking the talk. Bassita and its clickfudning model reflects the same passion and so the partnerships worked so well. To me, if a local young organisation can raise awareness and do good for the people they try to serve then we should save no effort to enable that to happen” explains Dr Wessam El-Beih, Country Director of Drosos Foundation in Egypt.

The pioneers of the click-funding model, which was awarded by France's former president François Holland himself, the founders of Bassita once again proved the success of their digital crowdfunding model, which has previously raised awareness and funds for topics like the refugee's situation and Egypt's water crisis. 

“In the first four days, One-Click-to-Move gathered more than 4 million views, 170k shares and 70k comments, organically. It shows that web users are aware of the challenges persons with disabilities face and are eager to contribute to a concrete and positive impact” said Alban de Ménonville, Co-Founder of the Clickfunding. “Another clickfunding campaign to improve accessibility will be launched soon” promised Salem Massalha, Co-Founder of the Clickfunding. In order to ensure that the campaign is inclusive, a Sign Language version of the video is made available on Helm’s youtube channel.