Venture Lab Celebrates 10 Year Anniversary with Invigorating V-Lab Summit
To celebrate 10 years of impact, innovation and growth, AUC Venture Lab (V-Lab), Egypt’s first university-based startup accelerator, hosted at AUC School of Business, held their annual V-Lab Summit that involved insightful discussions featuring market leaders and experts, valuable networking opportunities and the latest updates from the Egyptian entrepreneurship ecosystem - ranging from insightful panel discussions and inspiring one-on-one chats to exclusive workshops.
This year’s summit was the largest one yet with over 40 speakers from corporates, governmental and non-governmental entities as well as local and international investors and inspiring entrepreneurs. More than 1,000 members of the V-Lab community attended the event, including President Ahmed Dallal, Provost Ehab Abdel Rahman and Dean Sherif Kamel, who provided opening remarks. President Dallal highlighted V-Lab’s achievements over the past 10 years: being awarded top accelerator in Africa, fulfilling its intellectual and community promise and its impactful and sustainable contributions. Provost Abdel Rahman and Dean Kamel underlined V-Lab’s commitment to entrepreneurship education across the region and how they are using it to positively impact lives, communities and economies.
The event highlighted the award-winning V-Lab’s influential role in the development of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Egypt over the past decade. With a commitment to championing Egyptian entrepreneurs, the accelerator has graduated 356 startups to date, raised $356 million in investments and provided 12K jobs. AUC Venture Lab currently offers five cutting-edge programs, which provide hands-on knowledge, real market insights and valuable access to networks and funds to entrepreneurs all over Egypt.
Ayman Ismail, associate professor, Abdul Latif Jameel endowed chair of entrepreneurship and AUC Venture Lab director, shared his thoughts on V-Lab’s contributions over the past 10 years,
“It has been a truly thrilling journey for V-Lab and we could not have done it without our community. Since day 1, V-Lab has been about championing Egyptian entrepreneurs. Today, our programs have officially served more than 1,000 entrepreneurs and we have been selected as the top accelerator in Africa. Over the next few years, we are working on expanding our range of services, continuing to work in nascent industries including green economy and AI and collaborating with other stakeholders to drive ecosystem growth.”
In genuine reflection of V-Lab’s commitment to its mission, the Summit featured the selection of Sahar Salama, a co-founder of MENA’s first dragon exit startup TPay Mobile, as the 10th recipient of the highly-coveted V-Lab Award which is offered to individuals and organizations in recognition of their outstanding contribution to the entrepreneurship ecosystem.
For details about the event and speakers, visit the summit’s website