"EZZAY" the 49th team to qualify for this year's MIT semi-finalist round

This story is provided by MIT Enterprise Forum - Pan-Arab Region.

Egyptian “EZZAY” has been selected as one of the semi-finalist teams for this year’s MIT Enterprise Forum Arab Start-Up Competition for the Ideas' Track

The Inspiration

When researching for scientific information about whether the Cairo sun is good enough for the seeds she was planting, Maha Eldeeb realized that websites with English content have covered the topic extensively and in the most delicate of details. Meanwhile, she had a hard time finding only a portion of that information in Arabic. Being adolescents eager to learn with the internet as a main source of information, they identified the pressing need for more online Arabic content. The idea, as the group remarks, comes from a passion to build an online knowledge community in Arabic.

Fate, as the team claims, brought them together as they met during a course on "Technology Entrepreneurship", and with a passion for Ezzay, they stuck together throughout. They surveyed potential users and simply decided to make it happen.

The Product

Ezzay aims at providing Arabic-speaking internet users with comprehendible information on daily life challenges. With Arabic being the 7th most spoken language online when only 3% of the global content in Arabic, Ezzay will fill in a huge gap by providing credible and reliable information through how-to articles, web-based seminars, sponsored competitions and downloadable motivational audio tracks. Ezzay platform is user-friendly, well designed and it is easy to navigate through and access a wide array of credible information in Arabic. To engage their users, Ezzay will be holding competitions throughout the year in various topics. Such an initiative will also encourage experts from different fields to submit their knowledge to enrich the online content as well as inspiring creativity as they will be encouraging original ideas.

Almost 55 million people around the world who research the web in Arabic (The Arabic Web: Numbers and Facts by Lrr Mancini). Hence, Ezzay aims to develop a rich Arabic content available to millions globally. Ezzay also aspires to build a strong community that looks forward to both personal and societal growth.

About Joining the Competition

For Ezzay, the MIT competition "would be their biggest networking chance". The competition will allow them to be around other entrepreneurs from the region, benefit from top notch coaches and judges and they describe the experience as "priceless. The prize money awarded will also help them grow their startup even faster which will be a great source of encouragement.

Eldeeb remarks that her team wants to make a difference and bring about change. Her advice to entrepreneurs is to believe in their own projects and give it their all. The entrepreneurs of Ezzay acknowledge that other semi-finalists have been putting all their energy in their projects as well, and that is why they take great pleasure and honour to compete against them.

Find out More About Ezzay by

Checking their video: here