Cairo Angels, Egypt’s first formal network of angel investors has announced the launch of an incubator in partnership with EGBANK, one of the fastest growing banks in the country. Called MINT, the incubator has a three month program for product-ready startups.
MINT won’t be taking any equity from the startups and would help them with their growth by offering different perks and tools including office space at EGBANK’s co-working in Cairo’s downtown.
The startups in the program will also be provided with networking opportunities where they will have a chance to meet different stakeholders from the startup ecosystem. At the end of the program, all the selected startups will participate in the demo day and pitch their startups to regional investors.
Every startup in the program will be paired with a mentor who will provide support and guidance throughout the program. MINT aims to conduct a series of workshops as well, powered by EGBANK and its partners, to help startups learn more about sales & marketing, growth hacking, accounting basics, finance, legal & governance basics, and talent management.
Zeina Mandour, the Program Manager of MINT has told MENAbytes that the criteria for selection will be based on team, the idea itself, target market and its size, business model, sales and video pitch of the startups.
Aly El Shalakany, Chairman of Cairo Angels, said: “We are very pleased to have partnered with EGBANK to introduce this unique program to the Egyptian ecosystem. We have leveraged our know-how as active investors in startups to identify where startups need help and we have worked with EGBANK to bring in best in class partners, mentors and advisors to address these gaps head on. The program is designed to give selected startups the best opportunity to accelerate their business and attract future funding”.
Suzanne Wardani, Head of Youth Banking at EGBANK, said: “Our motivation to launch MINT Incubator is to give startups access to the right tools to build great companies. Combining our resources with Cairo Angels, the program will provide technical knowledge, expertise, networking opportunities and an inspiring environment to push selected startups to the next level. Partnering with Cairo Angels to create an on-going program gives us confidence that we will be able to provide real value, impacting not only selected startups but the market at large”.
The applications are currently open and last date to apply for the program is Feb 8, 2018. You can apply here.
