The 30 shortlisted startups will attend 3 inspiring days
Once again, the EMERGING Mediterranean call for applications was an undeniable success with 305 applications, 31% of which were from women, giving an overall increase of 34% compared to 2020.
A success revealing a dynamic region, a go-getting youth community and the programme’s strong interest entrepreneurial ecosystems.
The next big highlight – the Bootcamp of the 2 Shores – will train 30 startups with coaching sessions and exceptional mentors.
At the end of its recent call for applications for high-impact entrepreneurs from the South Shore of the Mediterranean who work in social economy and financial inclusion, mobility, agritech, e-health and climate, EMERGING Mediterranean is pleased to announce the next edition of the Bootcamp of the 2 Shores live from Casablanca.
The 30 most promising Algerian, Libyan, Moroccan, Mauritanian and Tunisian startups that have applied for the programme will participate. They will have access to high-level coaching sessions and inspiring conferences given by international experts. These 72 hours of intensive acceleration will culminate in a pitch competition that the startups will have prepared with our mentors throughout the Bootcamp. The 10 chosen finalists will go in front of the Final Jury in September where 5 of them will win the official EMERGING Mediterranean support package!
The ever-increasing impact of EMERGING Mediterranean year on year
After little over a month, the call for applications ended on June 29 and showed how interested the North African entrepreneurial ecosystem is in EMERGING Mediterranean’s support and acceleration programme.
We received 305 applications (compared to 227 in 2020 i.e., an increase of 34%) and just like last year, a third of the projects are led by women which demonstrates the region’s dynamism and commitment to female entrepreneurship.
Here are some figures about the 305 applications:
111 social economy and financial inclusion projects, 65 e-Health projects, 46 Mobility projects, 44 Agritech projects and 30 Climate projects
27% of these projects are from Tunisia, 24% from Mauritania, 20% from Morocco, 16% from Algeria and 13% from Libya.
The founder of EMERGING Mediterranean, Samir ABDELKRIM has this to say: “The South Shore of the Mediterranean is brimming with entrepreneurs working to develop, invigorate, impact and solve the problems of their society while formalising a network of essential services with technology: education, environment, female entrepreneurship, health, agriculture and social economy and financial inclusion. Identifying, supporting and giving them every chance to convince investors and donors to accelerate their scaling up is a major issue for the future of these territories’ dynamism which is a challenge that EMERGING Mediterranean helps fight for.”
“This is why we are delighted to see such a growing interest of Mediterranean startups in our programme. Women are still very involved and we hope to have even more of them over the coming years. More broadly speaking, it proves that there is a real need for support and scaling up in this part of Africa and unequivocally demonstrates the importance and significance of EMERGING Mediterranean.”
3 highly inspiring days for the 30 shortlisted startups
With its hybrid physical-digital format, the Bootcamp of the 2 shores will bring together 30 of the most promising start-ups (6 per country) which have been shortlisted from 305 applications. Find out more about them on the programme’s official website: https://emergingmediterranean.co/decouvrez-les-30-startups-preselectionnees
The Bootcamp will start on Friday July 9 at 4 pm with an opening panel on Mediterranean Tech for Good including: ambassador Karim AMELLAL, interministerial delegate for the Mediterranean; Olfa KILANI, Founder and CEO of Kyto-Prod; Warda TAHRAOUI, Incubation Officer at the Algerian Center for Social Entrepreneurship; Lubna ALZANTOUTI, Project Manager at Libyana; Marianne VIDAL-MARIN, Head of Ecosystem Support for the I&P Acceleration Programme in the Sahel; Mihoub MEZOUAGHI, Country Director of FDA Morocco; Tarek HILALI, Head of startups business and partnerships at Technopark and Samir ABDELKRIM.
Over the weekend, we will have 72 hours of conferences, training courses and intensive individual coaching with the following specialist entrepreneurship professionals from the region:
Chams Eddine BEZZITOUNI, CEO « BC- Game »
El Mehdi YOUSFI, Co-founder of GG Agency
Soulaimane LAHRECH, Partner – Massive Data Tech & Science
Chaimaa EL GHANI, Founder of Go4Work
Sanae EL OUALI, Innovation Management Consultant and Certified Entrepreneurial Spirit Development Coach / Start-Up Mentor
Khdeija SIDI BOUBACAR, Policy and Programme Officer at the British Embassy in Mauritania
Ali BENSOUDA, Managing Partner at Go Consulting
Jamal BOUKOURAY, VP Marketing & Business Development, Multidev Technologies Inc
Marwa CHEICK YOUSSEF, Vice President of Hack&Pitch
Nabil EL HILALI, ESCA EM Senior Consultant Researcher Innovation & Design Thinking
Narjiss ZERHOUNI, International Communications Consultant, University Professor of Entrepreneurship and Founder of Bee Attitude
Omar AMRANI, Head of innovation at LaStartupFactory
Marianne VIDAL MARIN, Head of Ecosystem Support for the I&P programme
Saad ZABARI, CEO of Protomain
Pierre TACHOT, Entrepreneurial Operations Manager – Expertise France
Wafa B’CHIR, Co-founder of Connect’Innov Consortium
Hichem RADOINE, Co-founder of Connect’Innov Consortium
The Bootcamp will provide the entrepreneurs with a tailor-made training course including modules on how to scale up startups. The programme includes focus sessions on storytelling and product presentation, formalising market research, choosing business models, analysing competition and maximising go-to markets!
These 72 hours of intensive acceleration will culminate in a pitch competition that the startups will prepare with our mentors throughout the Bootcamp. 10 programme finalists will then be chosen for coaching over the summer with a view to preparing their final pitch in front of a Grand Jury in September 2021. This jury will select the 5 most successful and promising startups as the winners – 1 per country. They will win a package of financial and educational support, including a seed grant of €5000, and a place in the next session of the Social & Inclusive Business Camp 2021. Plus, they will have the unique opportunity of being featured at various high-level partner events of the EMERGING Mediterranean programme, including the Dialogue of the two Shores in November 2021 and the EMERGING Valley Summit on December 13 and 14, 2021.
Three of the five winners of last year’s EMERGING Mediterranean give us their feedback about participating in the Bootcamp of the 2 shores 2020:
Olfa KILANI, Tunisian Winner, Kyto-Prod: “A very rich programme with 4 essential components: networking, visibility, training which has strengthened our skills and the seed grant which helped us weather the storm of the Covid-19 crisis!”
Aminetou SY, Mauritania Winner, Daado VDP: “The coaching sessions and contacts I made during the programme helped me a great deal. This is a great opportunity and I advise all entrepreneurs to get involved”
Mourad BENOSMAN, Algerian Winner, YSA MED TECH: “It is a very thorough programme that introduced us to coaches and mentors who are all experts in their field, both to prepare high-level pitches and improve our vision and daily operations”
Samir ABDELKRIM concludes: “We are looking forward to the Bootcamp of the 2 Shores and invite every entrepreneur, ecosystem player and anyone interested in positive innovation in the Mediterranean to follow our open sessions. Led by high-quality speakers, we are convinced that they will be of great added value and will give them the keys to better understand and apprehend the challenges of entrepreneurship in the Maghreb. Furthermore, the Bootcamp marks the second highlight of the 2021 cycle of EMERGING Mediterranean. Over the coming months, there will be important events and recommendations developed by our experts to have the Mediterranean recognised as one of the main global Tech for Good hubs.”
About EMERGING Mediterranean
The result of the work done during the preparatory forum of the Summit of the 2 Shores and with the support of the French Development Agency, EMERGING Mediterranean was created by Samir Abdelkrim to identify, accelerate and publicise the technological gems of Mediterranean Tech For Good to increase impact, highlight success stories and, ultimately, contribute to societal resilience.
For more information: www.emergingmediterranean.co
About EMERGING Valley:
Founded in 2017 by Samir Abdelkrim (author of Startup Lions), EMERGING Valley is a unique and pioneering summit that brings together African and global entrepreneurs, decision-makers and digital experts to the Aix-Marseille-Provence region. From its geographical position, the area ticks all the boxes in being the link between Africa and Europe. EMERGING Valley aims to promote emerging digital ecosystems in the Aix-Marseille-Provence area. Supported by the Department of the Bouches du Rhône, the Aix-Marseille-Provence Metropolis, Euroméditerranée, the Marseille-Provence Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the City of Marseille, EMERGING Valley helps build bridges between African startups and French, European and international innovation networks.
For more information: www.emergingvalley.co