Cairo-based accelerator Flat6 Labs launches with 5 startups
Newly established Cairo-based startup accelerator, Flat6 Labs, who we first saw at Startup Weekend Alexandria, has just announced the first startups which will be spending 3 months under the group’s mentorship.
The startups will have access to facilities and guidance, as well as seed funding ranging from approximately $8,000 to $12,000. In return, Flat6 Labs will get 10-15% equity in each startup.
The startup world in Egypt is beginning to thrive, at the creativity stage, but how many of them survive and become a success is another story. Flat6 Labs aims to do something about this, by providing all the tools necessary not only for a chance of survival, but for a chance to succeed.
Founded by Sawari Ventures and the American University in Cairo, Flat6 Labs is offering applicants the space and time to take a startup from concept to reality.
The Next Web spoke to Flat6 Lab CEO Ramez Mohamed about the state of entrepreneurship in Egypt. While the startup scene has picked up in Egypt in the past couple of years, Ramez sees a long road ahead for Egyptian entrepreneurs:
In Egypt, entrepreneurship is not well defined. People think it’s someone who’s working on his own idea and trying to make it a success. But that’s not what it’s about. It’s about taking a risk. It’s about knowing your target and trying to reach it. It’s about getting involved, making connections, getting mentorship. It’s not just about funding and making your startup succeed. The term is new to Egypt, and there’s still a lot for entrepreneurs in Egypt to learn.
According to Ramez, one of the main obstacles for the growth of entrepreneurship in the country was a lack of mentoring.
The main problem is there was no ‘transfer of power’ so to speak. The old entrepreneurs didn’t work closely with the new entrepreneurs. we had entrepreneurs 8 or 10 years ago building companies, and they didn’t work closely with new entrepreneurs, so a transfer didn’t happen.
With Flat6 Labs, as well as Alexandria based accelerator Tahrir², N2V Labs, the Google Ebda’ initiative, and more effort taking place across the country on the whole, it is safe to say that the transfer of power has officially begun, and young Egyptian entrepreneurs are being afforded the tools and means to break away from the cultural norm of a stable 9 to 5 job, and can instead focus on innovation.