RiseUp’s Summit of the Decade: Everything You Need to Know

Can you believe the MENA region’s largest entrepreneurial summit is 10 years old? RiseUp is making history and celebrating its summit of the decade this weekend, and it’s doing so at the world’s most anticipated museum: the Grand Egyptian Museum. The three-day summit weekend kicks off today and runs until Saturday, March 19 – here’s what to expect:

#StayReal at RiseUp ‘23

For the past 10 years, RiseUp has played a pivotal role in MENA’s ecosystem, daring entrepreneurs to dream, develop, and deliver incredible innovations. But dreaming big and doing bigger isn’t just about the hype – it’s about staying rooted in reality and addressing the real-life trials and triumphs of entrepreneurship that aren’t necessarily glamorous. #StayReal – RiseUp’s theme for the summit of the decade – leans into the reality that entrepreneurs are formed in the trenches and that reality yields more fruit than fantasy.

How?

With over 260 invited speakers giving over 50 scheduled talks across six different tracks covered on three main stages.

RiseUp ‘23’s Tracks and Stages

This year’s talks will be given on three stages set against the backdrop of the stunning Grand Egyptian Museum: The Capital Stage, The Tech Stage, and The Creative Stage. 

The Capital Stage: The summit’s main stage is dedicated to all things capital and its power in boosting innovative solutions.
The Tech Stage: This stage explores the ever-evolving world of technology, and how emerging tech transforms the human experience.
The Creative Stage: This stage explores how creative industries have evolved, their latest trends and innovations, and how to monetize your creativity.

Talks, panels, and fireside chats across the three stages will focus on this year’s tracks: smart capital, creative economies, emerging tech, tech x society, sustainability, and 10 years.

Smart Capital: All things capital from the perspective of both the investor’s journey and the startup’s journey. This track is where you want to be if you’re looking for talks on investment, valuation, bootstrapping, alternative funding, scalability, and the economics of venture capital. You can find this track happening on The Capital Stage.

Creative Economies: Is art still art if you monetize it? Join the conversation on the role of business in the arts and turning arts, culture, and creativity into a functional economy. This track is where you want to be if you’re looking for talks on the trends and innovations in creative industries, incorporating media and creativity in your business, fashion and design, marketing and advertising, and media and PR. You can find this track happening on The Creative Stage.

Emerging Tech: What role does technology play in developing the future? Everything related to upcoming trends and the revolutionizing potential of emerging technologies is happening on this track. This track is where you want to be if you’re looking for talks on Web 3, AI and machine learning, 5G new technologies, and designing technology for humans. You can find this track happening on The Tech Stage.

Tech X Society: Tech-enabled is the new normal, so how do you enhance people’s lives with tech? This track is where tech and society meet, and it’s where you want to be if you’re looking for talks on HealthTech, FinTech, PropTech, EdTech, E-commerce, and the integration of tech into people’s day-to-day lives. You can find this track happening on The Tech Stage.

Sustainability: How do you develop and implement sustainable practices in a way that generates both growth and stability? This track is where you want to be if you’re looking for talks on sustainable products, growth economies, sustainable development, and climate change. Addressing sustainability is a necessity across all fields and industries, so you can find this track happening across all three stages.

10 Years!: Reflecting on the past decade and looking at the future of the ecosystem, this track covers the ups and downs, the trials and the triumphs, and the evolution of every industry in the MENA region’s ecosystem. This track is where you want to be if you’re looking for talks on the evolution of tech and investment, the evolution of art and its future, and startups that made it for 10 years. You can find this track happening across all three stages.

Speakers and Speaker’s Circles

RiseUp Summit never fails to draw renowned speakers from Egypt and across the globe; now, the summit of the decade is kicking it up a notch. This weekend’s speakers include notable names from 500 Global, Google, Vice, Amazon, LinkedIn, Walt Disney Animation Studios, and NEOM.

At The Tech Stage, you’ll find industry experts such as Hisham El Nazer, the Egypt Country Director and the MENA Startups and Geo-expansion director at Google; Ashley Kennedy, Managing Staff Instructor at LinkedIn; Ayumi Moore Aoki, Founder & CEO AT Women in Tech® Global, and Ronaldo Mouchawar, Vice President of Amazon Middle East and North Africa.

At The Capital Stage, you’ll find The Minister of International Cooperation, H.E. Dr. Rania Al-Mashat; Dubai Future District Fund CEO Sharif El-Badawi; 500 Global Partner Amal Enan, as well as its Africa Lead, Mareme Dieng; NEOM Investments Director Hashim Nabulsi; AUC Venture Labs Director Ayman Ismail, and Rain Co-Founder Yehia Badawy – just to name a few.

At The Creative Stage, you’ll find all sorts of creatives including Egyptian film directors Amr Salama and Mohamed Diab, Cairokee frontman Amir Eid, LinkedIn’s Manager of Content “Socially Nina” Thomas, Digital and Savvy CEO Maha Abouelenein, and Pixar Animation Studios Character Art Director Deanna Marsigliese.

The entire lineup is a wealth of knowledge and insight that we’d love to name one by one, but you can see the full lineup of speakers on RiseUp’s website.

Speaker’s circles are also happening again this year and make for a great networking opportunity. Each speaker’s circle gathers a group of eight to attend an intimate hour-long discussion with a speaker for a more direct learning opportunity.

There are two speaker’s circles happening today. The first is at 6 PM with Mohammed Aldossary and Ahmad Yousry on the future of e-commerce, and the other is happening at 9 PM with Karima El Hakim and Mariam Kamel talking about the best time to raise funds. A full list of the summit’s speaker’s circles is now live.

Workshops

While the talks are happening on the summit’s three stages, there’ll be five rooms across the Grand Egyptian Museum where you can roll up your sleeves and do some hands-on learning through workshops with global industry experts. There are over 50 workshops ranging from introductory 101s – like how you can build your first MVP, to more advanced topics like the intersection of fintech and the regulatory landscape.

RiseUp’s website has a full list of workshops happening throughout the weekend.

Tickets and Access at RiseUp ’23

There are four categories of tickets available this year: regular, entrepreneurship/fellowship, students, and investor. The tickets grant you access to all the talks – including panels, debates, and fireside chats – as well as all the workshops and startup exhibitions, while the investor ticket also gets you VIP access to the region’s startups seeking investment.

Will we be seeing you at the summit of the decade? Grab your tickets if you haven’t already.