By now you’ve probably heard of Expo Live, an innovation and partnership program launched by Expo 2020 Dubai, to encourage and promote startups and projects with creative solutions that impact the environment and improve lives. This is done through funding, acceleration, and showcasing startups.
A couple of months ago, on May 14th, Expo Live announced the selection of 26 projects from 22 countries (two of them were Bahraini), where they received a grant to further develop and enhance their project ideas to serve their communities.
Today we bring you some of our favorite projects that were selected as part of Expo Live’s. Here they are:
- Fish.Me. A Bahraini startup founded by Mohammed Toraif that links consumers directly to local fisherman and allows them to choose the type of fish they want, order it, and have it delivered to them. Fish.Me is a mobile app that’s available for download on the Apple Store and Google Play Store.
“The grant will help Fish.me to penetrate the Bahraini market by enabling 35 fishermen in the Kingdom with the technology that give the fishermen the ability to start selling fresh fish with few clicks,” he told Startup MGZN.
- Public-Planet-Partnership (PPP). Founded by 3BL Associates and So Science, the PPP is a framework that enables humans to collaborate and interact with the rest of the natural world. According to Tariq Al-Olaimy, co-founder of PPP, Expo 2020 Dubai created a collaborative environment between all social entrepreneurs. “The way the grant is structured also takes into consideration that many of the projects are innovating at the edges, and will pivot often in their development,” he said.
Tariq tells us that with the new grant PPP is planning to host a co-creation workshop to refine and create planet-centered design tools. He adds that they will be conducting a PPP government challenge, and work with the 3 most promising ideas to implement PPP projects in Dubai and other regions.
Tariq Al-Olaimy, Co-Founder of PPP - Jobdoh. Finding a job has never been easier with this Chinese job matching platform. Jobdoh is a job matching platform that aims to become the world’s first one-stop AI driven HR platform. The startup was launched by the CEO Xania Wong, and Eric Fong in 2014 as part of Google’s Empowering Young Government of Hong Kong. The main focus of Jobdoh is to help the underprivileged by offering relevant financial services and job opportunities that could help low-income people improve their mobility.
With the grant received from Expo Live, the startup will further integrate and build new product features for financial inclusion. They will also broaden their reach by fostering international client acquisitions and partnerships.
Xania Wong, CEO of Jobdoh - Selina Wamucci. Founded by John Oroko and Gaita Kairuki, Selina Wamuccii is an Kenyan-based mobile platform that helped reduce the amount of fresh produce gone to waste. The mobile platform allows buyers and exporters to source fresh produce directly from more than 3,000 smallholder farmers. The best part? It doesn’t require internet access!John adds that with the new funds, they’re planning on doing four things: Increase the number of farmers on their platform to 2,000; Acquire various certifications; Further, develop the platform by adding features; Contract more agents to cater to the increased number of farmers using the platform.
- Ustad Mobile. A UAE-based mobile phone application that enables learners to access and share educational content offline. It was founded by Mike Dawson with the aim of providing low and middle-income countries with no internet, access to educational content. “We want everyone to have access to as much high-quality digital educational content as they need,” Mike tells us.
According to Mike, Expo 2020 will offer the ideal platform for Ustad Mobile to reach visitors and participants from emerging economies, particularly those from Africa and South Asia. “We are aiming to build further innovative features to help support educators in challenging settings so that the app becomes a complete learning management system, optimized to work smoothly where others struggle,” he adds.
- The Institute for Orkonerei Pastoralists Advancement. A Tanzania social business project that aims to bring economic inclusion to Maasai women by creating a market for their only possession – milk from cattle. The founder Martin Saning’o, believes that the project is of great importance because it offers a primary source of sustainable income to Maasai women through milk sales and processing plant jobs.
According to Martin, the grant will allow them to register an independent company that will operate two of their dairy plants, in addition to increasing the general producing, marketing, sales, and training. She adds that the funds will allow them to set up an accounting system, connect their plants to national utilities, conduct demonstrations, and minor repairs, and hold meetings with women from surrounding villages.
We don’t know about but we surely feel inspired by these social initiatives. Do you feel encouraged to contribute towards your community and take your social project to the next level? Head over to Expo2020 Dubai website to pre-apply for their 4th cycle of Expo Live’s Innovation Impact Grant Program. Hurry up and apply before October 2018!
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