Denis Opudo
Based in Egypt, Beach Safer together with two other startups from Pakistan and Turkey will be taking part in the Imagine Cup World Final’s 2018 edition. The event will take place in Seattle US between 23rd and 25th July 2018. This comes after Beach Safer emerged the winner of Imagine Cup Egypt in May 2018. The startup emerged the winner in the Africa Regional Final of the challenge. Beach Safer will now focus on battling it out with other regional winners of the competition sponsored by Microsoft from around the world. They will be competing for prize money worth around $100k.
The Imagine Cup global technology challenge will be taking place 16th times after its launch. The 16th edition will give young students’ developers and entrepreneurs a chance to get new, team-building, business, technical and critical skills. This is apart from offering them a chance to win the huge amount of money. The Regional Final had six teams including startups from Turkey, Pakistan, Nigeria, Kenya and Egypt competing against each other. The six were selected from an initial application that had more than 7,000 entries across the region. The competition was held in the form of an online pitching contest where every applicant was scrutinized and vetted based on the concept, capacity, feasibility, technology level, and innovation.
The competition is per Microsoft’s belief in the potential held by the youths in improving the future of the global economies. According to the Microsoft Egypt’s general manager Khaled Abd El Kader, there is believe at Microsoft that the country’s future lies in the hands of the youths. Microsoft is out to ensure that Egyptian youths get enough backing to help them fulfill their dreams irrespective of their background. He added that the quality of entries in 2018 was encouraging. This is a clear indication that Egyptian tech students are spearheading technological innovation in Egypt and beyond in many ways besides being at par with their international counterparts.
Director Microsoft Middle East and Africa Mik Chernomordikov said that it was great to see how students and modern technologies meet to code with purpose and ensure that they change the world into a better place. As one of the judges in the Regional Final, Mik said that he was happy to see students across the region solve real problems using great ideas and new technologies. He wished the winning team success at the upcoming World Final. He believes that the finals will help transform their current projects into successful products and a chance to be world beaters in the future.
