Baramoda, The Zola Collective & EduPloyment win C3 Social Impact Accelerator competition
Egypt’s Baramoda, UAE’s The Zola Collective and EduPloyment have won the top three positions in the third edition of the C3 Social Impact Accelerator Program powered by HSBC. This year the program attracted more than one thousand applications with 42 entrepreneurs from eight countries across the MENAT (Middle East, North Africa and Turkey) region, covering 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The three winners, selected from a shortlist of 24 finalists, have received equity-free cash prizes from HSBC, pro bono consulting support from Bain & Co, and pro bono legal support from Al Tamimi & Company, in addition to a complimentary license from DMCC. C3’s corporate partners have also supported the entrepreneurs tremendously throughout the board meeting simulations and participated in the selection of the finalists as part of the judging panel.
The winners will also benefit from Amazon Web Services promotional credits as part of the company’s Activate program, and receive support from FH Insights – a corporate training company that will help them align their company values with their mission.
The new interactive format of the online program, developed by C3 in partnership with data analytics experts and learning technology providers, allowed the entrepreneurs to maximize their learning outcomes and effectively implement all the learnings acquired over the course of the three-month program.
The program underlined the remarkable cooperation between different ecosystem players in their mission to support C3 entrepreneurs.
Medea Nocentini, C3 co-founder, said, “This year the support from our network has been incredible: more than 160 experts from blue-chip companies and more than 30 international and regional VCs have participated in the board meeting simulations, and 20+ judges have helped us with the very difficult task of selecting the winners. We have observed a phenomenal spirit of collaboration among the finalists, witnessing emerging partnerships between business leaders that are intentional about creating positive change in our communities.”
All the C3 entrepreneurs will continue to receive support from C3 and different partners and experts as part of the efforts towards building a collaborative ecosystem.