1) Water & Sanitation

Bara Wahbeh founded Akyas, a startup that aims to bring low-cost sanitation to the base of the pyramid population, regionally and globally. The solution targets communities that lack access to safe sanitation, such as displaced populations, high-dense slum households, or other water-scarce communities. Based in Jordan, the startup looked at the typical sanitation supply chain and realized that it involved costly procedures, as access to safe and affordable sanitation services does not exist, with the current practice being expensive. It provides an onsite treatment that effectively isolates fecal waste to reduce pathogens in the environment by using a specially developed powder mix combined with multiple-use organic compostable toilet bags.

Edutech

In the field of edutech, the winner Alrawi, headed by Hala Sulaiman and Mohamed Ebrahim, targets audiobooks’ publishing. Their platform provides Arabic speakers with audio content easily accessible through their handheld devices. Based on the idea that growth and personal development are vital needs to power forward societies, the Bahrain based platform solves the limited availability of Arabic content in the market. Given distribution and infrastructural challenges, the limited time is given to learning, given life responsibilities and focus on jobs and families and contributes to inclusive and equitable quality education, promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all. Still in edutech, starting with rethinking educational systems, helping children overcome obstacles, strengthen societies, and “move mountains,” Aside Altintas, from Turkey, founded Twin Science & Robotics. Twin is a complete educational program that makes learning playful, individual, and wholesome. Learning that teaches old skills, new skills, and future skills, so necessary for the adults of tomorrow, unique in the light of such unsettling, uncertain, and unequal times.

Health-tech

On the health-tech side, the winner Tanfees is a startup based in Oman that offers online therapy sessions and matches clients with the right counselors using an algorithm at a fixed price. “In the MENA region, the divorce rate has reached 40%, and this is apart from the increasing rate of mental health issues. We believe that therapy should be discrete and stigma-free and optimized to give as many people in need an opportunity to access it”, says Zainab Alhayki, the founder.

Source Credit: STARTUP MGZN