7 of TIECIncubationSuccess Stories

Pursue your dream

Join Start-ITBusiness Plan Competition

Do you have theVision... Determination... Initiative ?

Dear Readers,How do people with new challenging ideas succeed in creating and capturing value? The answer to this question lies at the heart of this booklet issued by the Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center (TIEC) of the Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA). TIEC’s complementary portfolio of services is designed to foster innovation and entrepreneurship in information and communication technology (ICT). Incubation of entrepreneurs tops TIEC’s provided services.

Entrepreneurship is all around us these days. In almost every nation, politicians and economists have the word on their lips. Spectacular ICT and ICT-enabled companies have been created by entrepreneurs who have uncovered hidden opportunities, have developed products and services that customers initially did not demand, and have eventually created extraordinary value for themselves. Examples include Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, Jack Dorsey of Twitter, Larry Page of Google, and Amr Awadallah of Cloudera.

High-profile entrepreneurship activities have been launched in Egypt in recent years. Number of startups has significantly increased. Thousands have been participating

in events as Startup Weekends in many Egyptian governorates. TIEC has been soliciting qualifying entrepreneurs through business plan competitions, offering an integrated set of supporting services as equipped office space, mentoring, networking, and consultations.

This booklet highlights seven out of the different success stories of startups that graduated from TIEC incubators. It targets many objectives. One is to celebrate their successes. Another is to catalyze entrepreneurial aspiration and helps more to choose the path of entrepreneurship. Hopefully the booklet inspires many to cross from thoughts to actions. It may also give an enjoyable scene of adventure and/or achievement. Moreover, it may help explain the entrepreneurial mindset of friends and relatives.

Let us embark every startup’s success journey hoping to have yours as part of our next edition and wishing you an enjoyable read.

Dr. Hossam OsmanITIDA Acting CEO

algorithms. But then they discovered the local market was lacking the most basic online recruitment channels and decided to tackle this first. ITIDA incubation facilitated the company establishment and registration, funding, office space, and training. The incubation duration at that time was two years. BasharSoft started their incubation program in ITIDA in 2009 and in 2010 they moved with the incubation program to TIEC.

The Blue Eighteen MonthsBut the road wasn’t paved. Their first product to launch was BasharJobs – an online recruitment site to match people with jobs based on intelligent matching algorithms. It was launched in Jan 2011 – 1 week before the revolution. Creating the team behind “BasharJobs” wasn’t easy given the tough economic situation and absence of investors in post-revolution Egypt. The technology firm had its fair share of blue days in 2012 (after graduating from TIEC’s incubation)

as they had to bootstrap for eighteen months struggling their way through. 2012 was a

very tough year and at many times they thought of closing down the business due

to lack of cash. They had to downsize the team and many team members

had to leave including Muhammad Algarhy who was then CEO. In mid

2012, Ameer became CEO and was also considering walking

away and closing down the business as it was not generating enough revenues.

Great Achievement is Usually Born of Great Sacrifice“Great achievement is usually born of great sacrifice”, says Napoleon Hill, author of “Think and Grow Rich”. In mid 2012, however, they re-branded “BasharJobs” as WUZZUF after merging with another recruitment site that was much older but not performing well too. It took them one more additional year of bootstrapping and borrowing from family and friends until reaching profitability in mid 2013. After reaching profitability, WUZZUF was able to attract investments from two local angel investors. Ameer was also able to pitch to some US investors in Amman, Jordan. This enabled them to be the 1st startup from Egypt to join [500 Startups] – one of the leading global accelerator programs in San Francisco, CA – at the heart of Silicon Valley. They joined the 500 Startups program in US for five months and were able to attract further investors from US and Egypt till they closed a series A of $1.7 million from Sweden- based Vostok New Ventures and UK – based Piton Capital .

Basharsoft... FROM A LOOMING CLOSURE TO SILICON VALLEY

BasharSoft is a success story powered by persistence, coming back from eminent closure and bootstrapping for years to building Egypt’s largest online recruitment platform – WUZZUF – and then receiving funding from leading Silicon Valley and European investors and VCs

How did it start?People might have seen this startup having a bad luck to first launch in the turbulent 2011, but, today, “Bashar Soft” celebrates securing Egypt’s largest funding round, led by European VCs just after being the first Egyptian startup to join Silicon Valley’s “500 Startups” seed fund and accelerator program getting access to top VCs and investors in the Valley.In late 2008, Muhammad Algarhy and Ameer Sherif met while working in TSN – a US company having a software development arm in Egypt. Both had an educational background in Engineering. Muhammad studied Civil Engineering in Cairo University and later did an MBA and Ameer had a BSc in Communications Engineering followed by a MSc in Computer Engineering – both from Cairo University. They both wanted to launch their own venture and decided to work together to create the missing link between recruiters and job seekers.

Both sides always complained that they cannot find each other yet both are out there. They applied together as a team to the Technology Incubation Program which was at that time under the umbrella of ITIDA. They were selected after a rigorous three months training program ending up with writing a full business plan and started their incubation in October 2009.

Not another recruitment website“BasharSoft” kicked off with an idea of talent management and innovative online recruitment solutions. The idea was not to build another recruitment website but develop smart solutions to overcome deficiencies in existing systems, integrating psychometric/ technical assessments and utilizing intelligent matching

Growth in 2015 until todayToday, “WUZZUF” is the leading player in the online recruitment market in Egypt with the biggest market share. More than 30,000 people found jobs directly through WUZZUF in more than 4,000 companies in Egypt. That’s more impact than any other private recruitment entity in Egypt. More than 100,000 job vacancies were advertised directly by employers and more than 1 Million job application processed. They also sponsored and supported more than 60 job fairs and employment events in the past two years.

Started by just two co-founders back in 2009, the company grew from 8 people in early 2014 to 40 full-timers in this past year alone.

What’s next for “BasharSoft”?Dominating the market of online recruitment in Egypt and expanding regionally. By 2020, the company aspires to help more than 1 MILLION people find jobs in Egypt alone.

Some Advice From Basharsoft Team:1. Launch the product quickly and receive

feedback.

2. The road is tough. It needs passion and strong believers.

3. Generate revenue before asking for money. It’s easier to get investment this way.

benefit the society. Rafea found his friends frequently updating each other about Cairo traffic.. and there, found his opportunity which he shared with Gamal Sadek, another computer science graduate, who came up with the name «Bey2ollak». They thought of developing a mobile application through which everyone can update information about the traffic situation. In the brainstorming phase, the team expanded to include Mohamed Rafea and Waleed Mostafa, both have a background in entrepreneurship, so that all four would work on the development and operations of the app while Mostafa ElBeltagy, a business administration graduate would take on marketing, and Yehia Ismail, an architect by profession, to be responsible for the UI design. They all tested the idea in their communities through surveys.The first challenge was how users will accept the application and if they will keep reporting traffic status updates. Another was how to grow in terms of users and revenue? The founders had to find a working business model after launching.

Bey2ollak;FIVE YEARS,TWO CITIES,ONE MILLION+ USERS, WITH ZERO FUND (SO FAR..)

“Bey2ollak” success comes from empowering people to beat traffic together! Currently serving more than 1 Million registered users in 2 cities, Bey2ollak is a simple, local & social crowdsourcing app for people to exchange traffic info with the vision of becoming your ideal road companion app.

From a word of mouth to a leading company that attracts millions of pounds for sponsorship and advertising. “Bey2ollak”; an Egyptian slang that refers to something heard from someone else is now a mobile app used by hundreds of thousands of Egyptians on a daily basis to report traffic jams and blocked roads allover Cairo & Alexandria using “funky” language; colloquial franco Arab words like “7alawa” for traffic flow and “mafeesh amal” to say: avoid that route.

How did it start?“Bey2ollak” is the brainchild of six partners led by Aly Rafea, a computer science graduate. Rafea first worked in a software house upon graduation before joining Vodafone to manage around half a billion Egyptian Pounds in the marketing department. There, he introduced three major value-added services to the market, yet, his dream was to break off the corporate life and

It doesn’t take money to make money“In 2010, Bey2ollak came in to leverage the power of mobile technology and internet not only to give traffic insights but even to expand the benefit and reach more audience” said Waleed Mostafa, Director of Operations & Social Media at Bey2ollak.Back in 2010, Mobile applications were not popular since Android systems were not available in Egypt and Blackberry did not have an app store by that time. However, Market survey showed more interest into mobile applications rather than a traditional web site. Therefore, the team decided to take the risk and respond to market needs and launched their application for blackberry users mainly to capitalize on its BBM strong viral effect at that time!Proving that it doesn’t take money to make money, “Bey2ollak” launched with almost zero cost but the Team’s time and expertise in computer science, business, operations and design. On Sunday 10/10/2010 Bey2ollak’s first beta version was out for Cairo users.

Six thousand registered users on launch day and a sponsor deal in three weeksLaunching operation was not easy having a target of one thousand users during its first month! Luckily “Bey2ollak” launch day went viral and got around six thousand registered users on its first day! The first 48 hours went really viral that it caught Vodafone’s attention and 3 weeks later, in November 2010, Vodafone became Bey2ollak’s first sponsor. Although the deal ONLY consisted of in-kind contributions (there was no cash in the deal), closing this barter deal in the first weeks of Bey2ollak’s launch was indeed a key milestone that provided the app with lots of credibility & exposure.

Incubation helped develop the app.Eight months later, in July 2011. The team won the NexGen competition award for best pitch and received incubation for one year at the Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Center (TIEC) as part of the prize. The incubation helped Bey2ollak team by providing office space, meeting rooms, high speed internet, testing devices, networking opportunities and access to conferences and leading events. “The incubation helped us focus more on product development and adding new features”, Waleed added.

1st Cash Revenue & prize in 2012After around 15 months of operations, Bey2ollak secured its 1st revenue after signing the first deal with an international beverages brand for advertising on their app.Later that year in May 2012, Bey2ollak won“Ebda2” or “Start-With-Google” competition, walking away with two hundred thousand Dollars as prize money. Today, Bey2ollak’s main revenue source is through sponsorship with Pepsi as a main sponsor as of April 2015 and advertising partners such as Shell Helix, Barclays and TEData. The app is available for download on all smartphones via app.bey2ollak.com for free.

What’s next for Bey2ollak?Going global inshalla.In 2013, the team had an expansion trial going into Athens, Greece that didn’t work out that good but it was indeed a great learning experience!Currently Bey2ollak is planning to launch a whole new app in Istanbul, by the end of 2015.

Some advice from Bey2ollak team:1. Define the “main” aspects of your venture

& take the time to form the right team for it!

2. Go to market as fast as you can, with a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) to prove traction!

3. Always listen to feedback from your users, to ensure that you’re developing the right features and moving in the right direction

eMarketing EGYPT.. AIMING TO GROW BOLD AND STEADY!

“eMarketing Egypt” is a success story because we aimed to grow an integrated e-marketing firm during a very tough time and we were able not only to succeed locally but to expand internationally.

eMarketing Egypt is the brainchild of three young Egyptians who had a common goal to create an integrated e-marketing services firm which also acts to provide business marketing research as a means of providing feedback to businesses to be used as a form of digital competitive intelligence.

How did it start?They first began the project at the end of 2008 as a virtual, team of three providing online e-marketing services in Egypt via a website. After joining the incubation program in 2009, they were able to move from a virtual business to one which had a base in Smart Village.

They had hopes of financially breaking even during their second year of operation (2010). However, doing business at that time was very challenging due to political unrest. Nevertheless, they continued to persevere and even hired four additional employees by the end of 2010. By the end of 2014, eMarketing Egypt was able to expand their services to an international market

of over 80 customers from Cyprus, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Iraq, and the UAE.

The ReferenceeMarketing Egypt had been keen from the start to be the reference of digital intelligence in Egypt. This had been realized through their annual flagship report about Facebook in Egypt that was published for the sixth year in 2015.

Focusing on ROI was their main goalWhat sets eMarketing Egypt apart from other businesses is the fact that they focus on returns on investments above all else. Having come from a business consultation background also gave them an edge over other businesses. Furthermore, they are also using social media such as Facebook as a platform in Egypt for local e-marketing.

“We were also able to make a meager revenue within one year, which allowed us to further expand our business, since we were no longer 100% dependent on funds”, Ahmed Nagy said.The company has also managed to set up a branch in Saudi Arabia with local Saudi Arabian investors. The company is now being used a business model for other startups to study their experience and emulate it.

Incubation was key factor for success!They entered the Incubation Business plan Competition in 2009, competing against 180 other contesting groups, and were handed the award of best business plan in the field of technology. Although they had the technical knowhow, they lacked adequate finances, knowledge and expertise necessary to run a startup. However TIEC provided them with this much needed knowledge as well as providing a great incentive to push forward despite the odds, TIEC also gave them the necessary funds to move forward with their business and move it from a virtual company to one with an actual base.

Challenges are only part of the journeyThe challenges they faced as a company were the socio-political lack of stability found in Egypt which indirectly led to delays internally as well as causing some fears in the mindset of foreign investors. Funnily enough, sometimes foreign investors will take more time to discuss the political situation rather than focus on the business. Another issue the company faced was the constant electricity cuts found in Egypt which make an electronically based business very hard to run. “There was a point in time where we received no salaries, and when we did, they were much less than what we had received working elsewhere,” Nagy recalled.

What’s Next for eMarketing Egypt?With the usage of proper consultation, implementation of new knowledge and training of staff members, they hope to increase their activities in the near future by 100% capacity. eMarketing Egypt views the Saudi Arabian market as a huge potential, as it has already opened the door to the Swiss based International Handball Federation as well as the World Food Program, as well as already having expanded eMarketing Egypt’s dealings with a further additional 10 countries. They hope that this competitive advantage will continue to open doors to untapped businesses.

Some advice from eMarketing Egypt team:1. Don’t succumb to the socio-political

status quo and give up, if you choose to persist you will succeed.

2. Regardless of what business you want to run, you can be borrowing and following the same old system of copying what other businesses have done or set yourself out from the crowd by finding what makes your business unique.

3. Don’t let the fact that you are young scare you, they were young, and yet were able to reach over 10 countries.

Integreight..AIMING TO GROW THE MAKERS COMMUNITY AROUND THE GLOBE

“Integreight” is a success story because we aimed to make everyone a maker regardless of their technical capabilities or financial limitations and we made that possible through developing innovative electronic prototyping and educational solutions.

The Story begins with a university graduation project, then becoming a company selling its products in 55 countries and distributors in more than 14 countries including Canada, US and Italy.“Integreight”; derived from the word “Integrate” and “Eight” referring to the number of its team members, is an award-winning company that sold thousands of units of its product 1Sheeld around the world with $150,000 in revenue.

How did it start?The start was simple. A team of students working on their graduation project Smart breadboard, allowing hobbyists and engineering students to design circuits using simple schematic software.Then came their baby project, “1Sheeld”, rapidly growing and letting hardware tinkerers experiment with ideas and variations using their smartphones thus achieving speed and lowering the cost.

If you have a shield that acts as a gateway between the Arduino and the smartphone, that would make Arduino access all of the phone capabilities and vice versa, and it would even introduce shields and accessories that don’t exist yet. All of that can be done without buying the actual shields, just 1Sheeld and their Android app.

“You have a powerful Android smartphone that can be used to control your RC car, tweet when plants are thirsty and have fun playing with your friends. This is just a fraction of what you can actually do with 1Sheeld, the possibilities are endless,” Amr Saleh, CEO of Integreight explained.

After winning several local and international competitions, the team thought to commercialize the idea ignited. “Integreight” was able to get seed funding from a private startup accelerator.

amount by the supporters went over $85,210 US dollar. Moreover, it got them a global approach when they found a manufacturing partner in China. China NOA LABS guaranteed total success in ordering larger quantities of mass production as well as delivering high quality products.

Challenges are only part of the journeyThe process of manufacturing 1Sheeld had to be done in several stages. They had to go to China, do the follow up and testing themselves in order to have the suitable quality that they aspire to. Marketing and branding is always a challenge for any startup especially in such a crowded market. But when Integreight team took part in Techcrunch Disrupt Europe exhibition in October 2013, they immediately caught the attention of the exhibition hall and were put on stage as audience choice. They were able to show their added value to a larger community.

What’s next for Integreight? A new version for 1Sheeld that suits iOS (It’s on android at the moment). The market is rapidly expanding and they want to climb to the top. The aim this year is one million dollars in revenue.

Some advice from Integreight team:1. Don’t measure success or failure based

on one year’s revenue. Startups could get great revenue if they did a good launch and gained customers. But they should learn how to keep them. Ego doesn’t count and there is no time or space for rest.

2. Nobody does good work alone. Success comes from teamwork.

3. Don’t choose an investor based on funding only but also on mentorship.

Incubation helped develop 1Sheeld.The team then applied to the Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center (TIEC) Business plan Competition “Start IT” and won a one year incubation period to aim for growth and new horizons in their exciting journey. TIEC offered the team a workspace and marketing consultancy. TIEC also supported the team in numerous ways in their external participation in events abroad, providing them with marketing material and helping the team in shooting their promotional videos.

Atmel-powered 1Sheeld (ATMega162) hits KickstarterIntegreight team decided to use the power of crowdfunding, and launched their Kickstarter campaign, hoping to raise a modest $10,000. The campaign was enormously successful that it broke its goal in only six hours! The final income

OPTUMATICS...A STORY OF TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION AND SUCCESS

“Optumatics” is a success story because we served a niche market in a way no one else could. Always striving for excellence and constantly studying the market; we are always one step ahead of our competitors at a better price range.

How did it start?The company was built six years ago by Eng. Sherif Al Taheri and Dr. Hazem Ezzat to enable a culture around technical services that provided quality technical support to their clientele. In particular, the technical support mainly caters to engineering and technical solutions through software platforms such as computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The two partners started by working for General Motors when they had

an idea to start a company which would be thought of as a support system for software development companies. They applied to the incubation program and here, they started the journey of Optumatics. At the moment all the company’s clients are based in the USA.

Optumatics started with funds of around 1,000,000 EGP from the incubation program and their revenues have now reached 5 million EGP. However, this number fluctuates annually. Experience and innovation put us one step ahead: Optumatics is unique in that it hires highly skilled individuals with a strong base of experience at a cost which is lower than those hired by Europe and USA competitors. The

efforts on marketing.

“The incubation provided us with office space in the Smart Village area, as well as starting funds, and to have started the company without these necessary funds would have been extremely difficult,” Dr Hazem recalled. “Most of the youth in the competition had excellent ideas, but lacked the funds to follow through on their dreams. Had it not been for ITIDA and TIEC, Optumatics would have followed a similar fate,” he added.

TIEC allowed Optumatics to start with a good angel fund in a field which allowed them to lose little financially. With the help of TIEC, Their work took off, and they were able to work with big names like General Motors, Chrysler, Caterpillar, and even some startup companies in the USA.

company is constantly innovating ways to serve their customers in the ever-changing field of tech support by evolving as a company to better serve customer needs. The company’s founders take pride in their diversity, respect for individuality, and their aspiration to always strive for excellence. Furthermore, Optumatics is the only company in the Middle East and Africa that offers the kind of technology that it does.

Incubation making the impossible a realityThe duo joined the incubation program in October 2009 and was immediately told that they were entering a niche market where there was a great need for their ideas. However, they were also told that in order for their project to succeed, they must focus their

AREO SPACE

10 individuals focused on computational flow dynamics which they hope can be used to improve sources of renewable energy through hydro and air capabilities. They also hope that through engineering softwares they can advance the automotive, energy, aerospace and other sectors in Egypt and the Middle East. Optumatics’ founders train their staff in physics, numerical analysis, and codes, to better prepare them for the software of the future.

Some advice from Optumatics team:1. A great number of Entrepreneurs begin

their projects excited wanting to be like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs or the Google guys. But in Egypt specifically we have to take these as an exception. You have to have a clear idea on the Business side of things not only the technology side.

2. Minimize the risk through trying out and experimenting yourself.

3. Failure is not a big calamity. You can afford failure when you are young. Take it as a learning process and partner with someone who has experience.

The most challenging partThe company had a very difficult time during the Egyptian revolution because they only had one American client, as most viewed Egypt as an unstable market and refused to collaborate with companies based in Egypt. This taught the company that while having an international base of clients is a nice idea, it also leaves you vulnerable to any international disturbances.

Furthermore, they struggle from a marketing perspective because they have a huge client base, the company is always on the lookout for software engineers to challenge global standards, and this is quite difficult to find.

What’s Next for Optumatics?In the future, the company is looking to secure certain projects locally in Egypt, in hopes that they can be involved with something that have a positive impact on the country. They currently have a basis of

OIL AND GAS

ENERGY

POWER GENERATION

Tagipedia.. AN INNOVATIVE WAY OF LOOKING AT PRODUCTS

“Tagipedia” is a success story because we chose to create a need that people would want. Our success was built on perseverance and steadfastness even through tough times.

Tagipedia is a startup located in 6th of October which was created to bridge the gap between online and offline marketing through the utilization of NFC, iBeacon, and QR codes.

How did it start?The creators of Tagipedia, who studied engineering communications, were looking into RFID, which is radio frequency identification, which uses wireless electromagnetic fields to track or identify certain objects. Tagipedia created a platform that allows mobile applications to discover services through tags. These tags can be (QR codes, NFC, RFID, or iBeacon). The phone interacts with tags in many ways. A tag in a museum can serve as a pointer to interactive information about the artifact it is attached to while at the same time it can serve as a checkpoint in an interactive Treasure Hunt Game, or a quiz. The same tag can be used in many different applications without requiring changes to the physical tag. The first step was

creating a website tagipedia.com in 2007. It became a company in 2009 when Tagipedia joined the incubation program and funding came through to provide an office space and different kinds of support.

Tagipedia is currently working on a project to create mobile accessible maps for large malls and exhibitions.

Winning because of hard workTagipedia won incubation for two years. They started their incubation with ITIDA in 2009 after winning in the Business plan Competition and moved with the incubation program to Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center (TIEC) in 2010. TIEC provided Tagipedia with its first form of funding, without which the company would not have been able to flourish. TIEC also acted as the first milestone for Tagipedia which gave a much needed boost to the owners to move forward. TIEC also provided the Tagipedia team with enough information and know-how to help them stand on their own feet.

Successfully Serving A Diverse Customer Base The Tagipedia business model is one based on subscriptions, mainly from government bodies, and one which is ad-based, more frequented by malls and exhibitions. Tagipedia was also able to secure contracts with clients from Saudi Arabia, UAE as well as several newspapers which use Tagipedia’s solution in place of Mobile Web or a mobile app to receive information on the latest news. Tagipedia had a major milestone when it secured a touristic project based in Luxor which will work in conjunction with Microsoft and the government, particularly the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. Furthermore, Tagipedia secured a project involving the Egypt Expo and Convection Authority (EECA) in Nasr City.

Tourism may stop but we won’tUnfortunately the tourism project which had provided Tagipedia with a potential annual fee in 2012, was halted in Luxor due to the lack of Tourism in Egypt as a result of the socio-political status quo. Another challenge was how to package the product to an audience who would genuinely see it as a need rather than something frivolous. Furthermore, smart phones act as somewhat of a technology barrier for those who are not technologically savvy and therefore would not have access to the product be it a

tourist, or a regular user. Another challenge was getting investors and other people to move forward with the idea when it had been introduced early on, as very few people considered it feasible. Tagipedia also found some challenges due to the socio-political status quo in Egypt.

What’s Next for Tagipedia? Tagipedia is working on further developing its indoor mapping technology which has many applications across many industry verticals. This technology got promising traction in the exhibitions industry.

Some advice from Tagipedia team:1. Don’t start the project unless you

intend not to quit and to see it through to the end.

2. Listen to all forms of feedback and criticism, even if you don’t agree with it or intend to follow through on the suggestions made.

3. Teamwork is by far the most important factor.

UE Systems… USING THE INTERNET AS A SOURCE OF PRODUCTS AND A WAY TO E-MARKET THEMUE-Systems is a success story, because we cover a myriad of needs sought by small and medium businesses.

How did it start?UE-Systems started in 2010 by two Egyptian young entrepreneurs Mohamed Medhat and Mostafa Ahmed. Both had graduated as a communications engineers from Assiut University and wanted to seek an opportunity to found one of the first companies in the Middle East specializing in management information systems and having SMEs as their target market.

UE-Systems current clientele is made up from approximately 800 clients from 12 different countries; 40% of which are from Middle East, while the remaining 60% are from Egypt.

While UE-Systems got off to a rough start in 2010 with a start date nearing the eve of the January 25th Egyptian revolution, after two years of breaking even they were finally able to generate revenue of EGP 450,000.

The company consists of a line-up of several software solutions targeting different sectors such as CareTek which

is a hospital management system, Al Afdl which is an accounting management system, ISOLIMS which is a laboratory management system, Almoawen which is an attendance management systems along with other software programs that support the marketing activities of any company such as SMSBulko that allows companies to send bulk SMS to clients.

Success through focusing on niche market needsUE-Systems realized that many small and medium sized businesses were highly in need of a myriad of Internet services, but were unable to fork out big bucks to big name companies to provide these needs. This is where UE-Systems sought its niche market, providing an alternative to big name companies at a fraction of the price, and thus making a small profit from several small businesses, rather than one business in bulk, which is the norm.

Assiut caused difficulties as they searched for potential local clientele. While they were able to branch their business out to international contenders, and being miles away from the capital did not hinder them from succeeding and selling their products now in 12 countries.

What’s next for UE Systems?Looking into the future, UE-Systems hopes to expand the number of clientele while also diversifying their marketing strategies. While continuing to depend on e-marketing strategies, they hope to gradually make a shift from working with individuals whom they commission to market the products abroad to actually finding companies that would benefit based on how many products they sell. These companies could also be located in several different municipalities within a single state, thus reach even micro businesses which are only known to a very select community.

Some advice from UE-Systems team:1. Find a product that is needed,

and find something that isn’t too complex, so that you aren’t constantly micromanaging tiny details and numerous staff members every day.

2. Not to keep your eyes on local clientele, but try to aim for the world, since we are in a globalized world.

3. Use online marketing, Google will reach more people at only the cost of USD 1,000, as opposed to a billboard on a highway that could cost at least EGP 1,000,000 a year.

Being a startup based in Assiut governorate represents a challenge when it comes to winning customers’ trust. To overcome this, UE-Systems offers potential customers a 30 days free trial on all its solutions. Furthermore, UE-Systems offers additional incentives to win customers such as providing a free mobile application version for the web/desktop solution. UE-Systems has also come up with clever ways of e-marketing their products, and instead of spending several hundreds of thousands of pounds on advertising, they marketed their products through giving commissions to Egyptians who live abroad based on how many products they sell.

Business Incubation through a long process meant for a rough start, but with a happy ending with TIECUE-Systems joined ITIDA incubation through applying to the business plan competition in 2010 with their first project Care tek, at that time they hadn’t had all the aforementioned software solutions yet. The incubation provided UE-Systems with office space, funding and trainings on how to build a successful startup without which they wouldn’t have been able to continue as well as expand the number of products their brand provided.

The most challenging partPerhaps one of the most difficult situations faced by UE-Systems was during the very beginning of the start-up of the business; this was due to the fact that their location in

TIEC Incubation The Technology Innovation and Entrepre-neurship Center (TIEC) incubation helps en-trepreneurs launch their startup and take it to the next level. The incubation team looks for entrepreneurs who have the passion, will and perseverance to turn their innovative ideas into successful enterprises capable of sup-porting the growth of the national economy.

TIEC one- year fully-fledged incubation offers up to 120,000 EGP worth of in-kind services, physical space with Internet access, hard-ware and software tools, access to technical, subject-matter advisory, business consulting and mentoring.

Currently TIEC has two incubation centers: one in Smart Village and the other in Assiut. As part of TIEC efforts to expand its incuba-tion services to reach as many startups as possible regardless of their location, TIEC Virtual Incubation program (Incubation With-out Walls) was launched to provide potential startups with all incubation services except the physical space.

To join TIEC incubation, whether physical or virtual, teams/startups need to apply to Start IT business plan competition through TIEC website.

Start IT is a nationwide competition targeting entrepreneurs with ICT- related prototypes/ proof of concept, those who are willing to turn their ideas into actual enterprises. Online

application is open all over the year. However, the competition is run quarterly.

Believing that our success lies in the ongoing success of graduates, our relationship with in-cubated startups doesn’t end with their grad-uation. We and TIEC incubation graduates net-work continue to help founders for the lifespan of their company, and beyond.

BE THE NEXT STARTUP SUCCESS STORY.

Apply now to Start IT: www.tiec.gov.eg/incubation

Lamiaa El RashidyIncubation Department Manager

Join the challenge, Apply Now!tiec.gov.eg/incubation /tiec.egypt @tieceg

Up to 120K EGP of in-kind services such as software,

hardware tools , consultancy and marketing services.

A working space with basic furniture and Internet access.

Basic hardware and software tools during incubation time.

Access to mentoring.

Registration and submission of business plan

Announcement of accepted applications

Interviews

Pitching

Announcement of winners

Phases

TIEC's incubation packageconsists of the following:

DO YOU HAVE a business plan and a prototype?

ARE YOU looking for incubation?

Now you can apply to TIEC's incubation at any time during the year.Every three months, the submitted applications will be evaluated andan invitation for pitching will be sent to the preliminary accepted teams.The teams who will pass the pitching will be incubated at one ofTIEC's incubation centers for one year.

Stay tuned for the next successful startups

OM�H.COMF A B R I C S H O P