touch announces qualification of Five teams from Lebanon in semi-finals to MIT Enterprise Forum Pan Arab startup competition
• Zain-sponsored competition final ceremony to be held on 20 April in Kuwait
April 17, 2015: Beirut: touch, the leading mobile telecommunications and data operator in Lebanon, managed by Zain Group, the pioneering mobile and data services operator in the Middle East and Africa, announces that five teams from Lebanon have qualified to the final stages of the MIT Enterprise Forum Pan Arab competition for best start-up innovative and creative business ideas in the Arab world among 75 contesting teams from 15 Arab countries. The competition winner’s ceremony will be held at the Symphony Style Hotel, Kuwait on 20 April 2015.
Commenting on the five Lebanese teams that have made it to the semi-final stages, Wassim Mansour, Vice Chairman and GM of Touch said, “I congratulate the five Lebanon teams and all the semi-finalists for showing how progressive and dynamic their startup ideas are. Much of Lebanon and the region's future development will be driven by young innovative people in technology, so touch is especially proud to be fostering the growth of this competition. I’m confident that many of these teams will succeed in translating their ideas into successful projects.”
The five Lebanon innovative start-up teams that are competing to make it on the winner’s podium:
1. Daycare Channel is a platform that tackles communication problems on two fronts: communication between administration and teachers and communication between the daycare and the parents. The solution replaces most of the manual work with a complete suite of applications used by the teacher in the class, the administrative personnel and the parents.
2. Critit (pairmedia) Media Literacy is a platform that provides the ability to access, create, analyze, and critically evaluate media in its variety of forms.
3. Lawen Ray7in: A solution to for the public transportation sector in Lebanon. The planned mobile application will be a full transportation solution where passengers use the app and enter the starting and destination points for their trip.
4. Feedeed: An online skills shop to the support the Services industry in the Arab world.
5. Visualizing Impact: A citizen data journalism laboratory that deploys data science, design and technology for social justice.
Earlier this year, Zain Group detailed its partnership joining founding partner Abdul Latif Jameel Community Initiatives in the eighth edition of this year's competition that received an outstanding 4,275 individual and team applications (representing a record participation of over 12,000 entrepreneurs) from 21 Arab countries. The three tracks that entrants applied for are: Ideas, Startups, and Social Entrepreneurship.
Widely known as MIT, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is recognized for being one of the leading universities in the world, earning a reputation as a key player in the advancement of the digital age. MIT focuses on better equipping students with the right tools to transform technological ideas into successful businesses across many academic fields.
Founded in 2005, the MIT Enterprise Forum (MITEF) of the Pan Arab Region is one of the 28 worldwide chapters of the MITEF Global, an avid promoter of innovation worldwide, engaging aspiring entrepreneurs in mentorship and networking.