The Africa Grows Green (AGG) Awards announced the winning projects during COP27, the ideal platform to promote and celebrate sustainable initiatives.
The announcement was made in the presence of Yasmine Fouad, Minister of the Environment; Reem Abd El Meguid, Co-Founder of Istidama; and Emad Hefny, CEO of Seeders Capital, as partner and member of the jury.
Thirteen winners across four categories were celebrated, representing local and international startups working in various sustainability sectors. Winning projects include five from Egypt; four from Africa; and four from the US, the Netherlands, Canada and Spain.
Award categories include technologies that address the impacts, mitigation and adaptation of climate change; women-led green medium-sized enterprise (SME) projects; green finance for banks and investors, research centers and non-profit institutions.
Emad Hefny, CEO of Seeders Capital, said: “We received very interesting and innovative projects with solutions in green energy and waste, among many others.”
Hefny added: “Seeders’ future vision is to create an impact fund to invest in startups working on four key pillars including energy, waste, air and water. Since we are well connected with many entities, we think this is a good platform to start with.”
Reem Abd El Meguid, Co-Founder of Istidama and Co-Founder of AGG, said: “I am very pleased that today we are finally celebrating real talent and potential future leaders today who are steadfast in making an impact and making a mark for a more sustainable world.” He added: “I would also like to thank the government entities, respectful ministers and patrons who supported this initiative and made it possible to see the light of day on one of the most celebrated platforms in Egypt today.”
Jo Griffiths, Co-Founder of GSA Africa, commented: “The Global Start-up Awards (GSA) Africa is about discovering the pioneers of next-generation technology that can lead us to deliver development and climate change solutions that will make a significant impact. for Africa and the world.
Ramón López, Director of the Climate Change Program of Distrito Digital, said: “Solutions for mitigation and adaptation to Climate Change must be designed with a global perspective but with an impact on local markets. The winning start-ups meet this requirement by providing disruptive solutions from Africa and other international countries. The Climate Change District, which I represent, is an initiative that is willing to help those start-ups that want to implement their climate change solutions for the Spanish market”.
Hefny concluded: “We plan to market solutions across borders and extend globally through seed investors.”
More than 200 local and global start-ups participated in the competition from all over the world, including Europe, Asia, the Americas and Africa. The evaluation committee included 12 jurors from Egypt, the US, Spain and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
