V-Lab
Summit

The 2022 V-Lab Award for outstanding entrepreneurial endeavors and efforts in supporting the ecosystem was received by Ahmed Zahran, CEO and co-founder at KarmSolar and the KarmSolar team. Following the award ceremony, Zahran joined AUC Venture Lab Director Ayman Ismail for a discussion around the growth and innovation of KarmSolar and the founder's entrepreneurial journey.

This panel discussion brought entrepreneurs from different sectors to look at their professional experience and entrepreneurial journey as they attempt to build their startups. They discussed the learnings from their paths and what does it take to build an ‘investable’ startup. Each panelist also provided a snapshot of their sector, the biggest lessons they have learnt over the years and the challenges that are often underestimated. The panel featured Pylon's Co-Founder & CEO Ahmed Ashour, Orcas' Founder Hossam Taher, Flextock's Co-Founder & COO Enas Siam, Koinz' Co-Founder & CEO Hussein Momtaz and was moderated by Vezeeta's Director of Strategy Mohamed Rahmy.

Corporations often see opportunity and risk in the startup world but they also hold a variety of resources that can pave the way for many startups. Entrepreneurs often bring disruptive ideas and agility that can shake the corporate space. Where do they both meet? What opportunities are there? And what is Microsoft doing about it? These were the questions and discussion points raised in this fireside chat that featured Microsoft Egypt's General Manager Mirna Arif and was moderated by AUC V-Lab's Associate Director Lina Zalat.

In spite of the global economic challenges, the past few years have witnessed a massive increase in VC investments. The panelists discussed whether this trend was going to continue? How do investors assess startups and decide on their investments? And gave us an overview of their decision making process and predictions for the coming period. The panel discussion featured Cubit Ventures' Founding Partner Rafeh Saleh, Nclude's Founding General Partner Eslam Darwish, Raed Ventures' Partner Wael Nafee, Khwarizmi Ventures' Partner Ameer Sherif and was moderated by Endeavor Egypt's Director Amr El Abd.

As one of Egypt’s high-growth startups, PayMob has been on a mission to digitize payments for SMEs by offering easy-to-use and customer-centric solutions. In this fireside chat, we bring PayMob and their latest investor NClude to the table to dive into PayMob’s journey, how they tapped the fintech market and the story of their latest investment round. This fireside chat featured Paymob's Co-Founder & CEO Islam Shawky, Nclude's Managing Partner Basil Moftah and was moderated by AUC V-Lab Director Ayman Ismail.

This fireside chat addressed the staggering problems in our modern time, highlighting startups' innovation and their impact on the environment. The speakers discussed the policy-making and innovation around the topic, opportunities in the green economy space and how can startups solve the big problems in that scene. The discussion featured Sarah El Battouty, UNFCCC Ambassador and founder of ECOnsult and MuBun Sustainable Furniture and our own Yasmine Nagaty, AUC V-Lab Acceleration Manager.

Between payments, infrastructure, savings, financing and regulations, fintech is taking over the Egyptian market with hopes of offering a growing population an improved user experience, empowering financial tools and financial inclusion. Our panelists discussed the real opportunities and trends in this space and how did each of them take it from idea to an actual solution! The panel featured Klickit's Co-Founder and Managing Director Saeed Talaat, Valu's Founder and CEO Walid Hassouna, Khazna's Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer Fatma El Shenawy, ElGameya's Founder and CEO Ahmed Mahmoud Abdeen and was moderated by Banque Misr's Fintech and Open Innovation Program Manager Mohamed Hamza.