British Ambassador congratulates the winners of the Hackathon
British Ambassador John Casson congratulates the winners of the British Embassy Hackathon.
On Tuesday 6 September, British Ambassador John Casson welcomed three teams of Egyptian social entrepreneurs at the Embassy to congratulate them on winning the British Embassy’s Hackathon contest, held on 23-24 August in association with Flat6Labs. This contest aimed to find the best aspiring social entrepreneurs in Egypt, and included two days of workshops and mentoring from top Egyptian social entrepreneurs including Cleantech Arabia, Tagaddod, Reform Studio and Egyptian Hydrofarms.
The winning three teams met Ambassador Casson to discuss their hopes for their business. Each business idea is solving an environmental problem in an innovative way, turning a waste product into something new and useful. The winning team, Not Just Peels, consists of three students (f) making plates out of potato peel. In second place, Recycilzer is a group of young men and women making fertilizer out of plastic bags. Finally, in third place, Enviromanagement aims to build houses out of rice straw. The financial prizes they received from the British Embassy will fund further Research & Development to help them perfect their products, and kick-start their business.
Ambassador John Casson said:
Creating and supporting entrepreneurs is crucial for any country’s economy to flourish. Not only will entrepreneurship help build a strong and stable economy here in Egypt, but ideas like this could one day help the whole world recycle more effectively. Egypt is full of innovative ideas, and the UK is here to help Egyptians build these ideas into sustainable businesses.