The three-month digital program will begin in January of next year and will focus on seed to Series A IT startups. Twelve startups, including four from Egypt (ElCoach, FreshSource, Hekouky, and Zammit) and one from Morocco, just graduated from the program’s second edition (MyTindy). “It’s always an honour to witness the level of passion and confidence the startups have as they work towards making their dreams a reality,” said Salim Abid, Google’s regional lead of developer ecosystem in MENA, about the 12 graduating companies. “We’re looking forward to seeing how they continue to use technology to solve challenges in their communities and, most importantly, their sustainable growth in the tech ecosystem.” Google will consider the problem the startup is trying to solve, how it creates value for users, and how it addresses a real challenge for the startup’s local city, country, or the MENA region as a whole when considering applicants for the third edition. It also considers whether the startup intends to use AI/ML technology into its offering. Mentorship on both technical and business difficulties is provided to participating startups, as well as training on machine learning technologies, product design/UX, customer acquisition, and leadership development. They’ll also have one-on-one mentoring from Google experts and other stakeholders after the program ends to help them pitch to investors. The deadline for applications is October 14.
