Future LabY and Hafithni Win the EdTech Startups Competition

Future LabY won first place in the Growth stage of the EdTech Startups competition, while Hafithni won first place in the Idea stage. A total of six startups won up to $10,000 in in-kind prizes during the final pitch at SPARK’s virtual IGNITE 2021 conference last October.

Startups Without Borders and SPARK concluded the EdTech Startups Competition last October 13th, where six EdTech startups were awarded, three on the Idea Stage and three on the Early Stage. The startups took home up to $10,000 in in-kind prizes provided by the competition prize partners Zoho, Botme, Now Sprint, PyramidBits, Refugee Investment Network, and Forward Incubator. 

Iraq-based Syrian startup Future LabY won first place in the Growth stage of the EdTech Startups competition, in which they presented a simulation system for Dental Science Education. Turkey-based Syrian languages learning App, lisan.app, won second place.

“This was our first collaboration with Startups Without Borders, organising the EdTech competition, and we look back to a wonderful experience. The level of the competing entrepreneurs was high. Their ideas were ambitious and creative. It is important that we keep supporting small and medium-sized businesses in the most challenging circumstances so that they can grow and generate more and better jobs,” says Simon Van Melick, Programme Manager at SPARK.

“Throughout the EdTech competition, we were able to meet each of the startups and witness their growth, together with the international network of mentors that helped them perfect their pitch. We are thrilled to have partnered with SPARK to highlight and support the game-changing solutions they are creating. And we’re very excited to meet them once again, as they finish the mentorship journey in a few months,” says Valentina Primo, Founder and CEO of Startups Without Borders. 

The startups took home a prize bundle that includes $1800 in Zoho Wallet Credits to use Zoho cloud services, fast track to join the Resilient 100 acceleration program by RIN. The startup will also get a server management service for a month along with Zoho applications onboarding and services by PyramidBits. Besides a free monthly consultation meeting on Chatbot optimization by Botme, together with their services and a six months free Messenger pro subscription package.

“We have developed an operative dentistry lab to be the first-ever virtual lab for dentistry students. By using our virtual lab, students are able to decrease the required time to learn and practise by 40%. Since we’re using augmented reality, we are able to provide a completely interactive educational tool with an explanatory system. Therefore, each student has a personal assistant to guide them step by step,” says Hasan Dayoub, co-founder of Future LabY.

The jury members in the Growth stage were Omar Christidis, CEO & Founder at Arabnet, Dave Parker, CEO & Founder of Trajectory Media, Victoria Mehran, Venture Partner at Expert Dojo, John Kluge, Founder of RIN, and Mohamed Al Hadi, Lead Fragility and Resilience Specialist at Islamic Development Bank (IsDB).

On the Idea stage, Jordanian languages learning App, Hafithni, won first place, while Turkey-based Syrian startup, Efkar Design, won second place.

The startup prize bundle includes $1800 in Zoho Wallet Credits to use Zoho cloud services and fast track to join the pre-acceleration program by Now Sprint. The startup will also get two hours of one-on-one consultation on MVP Building along with Zoho applications onboarding and free training by PyramidBits. Besides a free monthly consultation meeting on Chatbot optimization by Botme, together with their services and a six months free Messenger pro subscription package.

“Hafithni helps students memorize information online through scientifically proven spaced repetition flashcards,” says Nouran Hammad, Hafithni’s CEO. Efkar Design specializes in product design and educational tools manufacturing. They launched Efkar Kids, which produces toys for children to improve their sensory and intellectual skills.

The jury members in the Idea stage were Dania Ismail, Co-founder of Jusoor, Fadi Bishara, Founder & CEO of Blackbox, Mariam Kamel, Manager of AUC Venture Lab and AUC Angels, Aleksander Kuczek, Chief Revenue Officer at Contabo, and Nouf Al Kaabi, Manager of Program and project Dept. at QFFD.

A Special Mention prize of a fast track to join the Resilient 100 acceleration program by RIN was given to Electrogami, a Turkey-based educational and robotic startup, in the Growth stage. While another Special Mention prize of a fast track to join the Resilient 100 pre-acceleration program by RIN was given to Hi Deaf, a Lebanon-based Syrian startup that created a sign language teaching App, in the Idea stage.

The competition - organised with high contributions from Qatar Fund For Development, the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), and the Islamic Solidarity Fund for Development (ISFD) - the Tadamon programme - was open to refugee, migrant, and local entrepreneurs based in Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Turkey. 

The jury selected 50 semi-finalists, who were matched with Startups Without Borders’ exclusive network of mentors in the fields of Business Model Canvas, Marketing, Financial Planning, Pitching, and Product-Market Fit. The startups went through a 3-month mentorship journey with international mentors to take their business to the next level.  

The finalists got the chance to pitch on the global stage at SPARK’s virtual IGNITE 2021 conference, as well as a curated mentorship program with top international experts from the corporate and startup landscape in Europe and the Middle East.

About Startups Without Borders:
Startups Without Borders is a global platform connecting migrant and refugee entrepreneurs to opportunities and resources to build their businesses wherever they are. Launched in 2018 in Cairo, with hubs across European and Middle Eastern countries, the platform aims to build the startup ecosystem for entrepreneurs on the move to change perceptions of refugees & migrants and crystallise a growing entrepreneurial trend amongst refugees and migrants.

About SPARK
SPARK provides access to higher education and supports entrepreneurship development in fragile states so that young, ambitious people can lead their societies into stability and prosperity. SPARK provides a variety of full-service business and entrepreneurship programmes in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. We believe that sustainable economic growth is essential for the alleviation of poverty. By offering private-sector development services to young people in conflict-affected regions, we believe that the potential for further conflict is significantly reduced.