AUC Students Win Top Honors With Sustainable Shopping App
July 24, 2024, Cairo, Egypt –Three finance students from the American University in Cairo (AUC) have won first place in the ICT for Circulatory Competition, outshining over 200 participants from 14 African countries. Salma Afifi, Jumana Elhefnawy, and Maya Abu Shahba created ScanHa, an innovative mobile app that helps consumers make sustainable fashion choices. ScanHa allows users to scan clothing barcodes to see sustainability ratings and find eco-friendly alternatives. The ICT for Circulatory Competition, organized by the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at AUC’s School of Business with the African Engineering and Technology Network (Afretec), pushes students to use advanced tech to reduce waste and promote ethical practices. ScanHa was born from the Entrepreneurship and Innovation course at AUC, where students develop business models and pitch them at the semester’s end.
"We want to create a community of environmentally conscious and responsible shoppers without compromising either style or budget," said Elhefnawy. “ScanHa allows customers to scan the barcodes of clothing items while shopping, showing a sustainability rating for each piece. For high-rated items, the user is encouraged to proceed with the purchase, whereas for low-rated items, the user is redirected toward a more sustainable yet identical alternative. ScanHa also offers incentives and discounts for eco-friendly purchases, which makes sustainable shopping more desirable and accessible.”
ScanHa team member Salma Afifi noted “We had identified the problem of sustainability in the fashion industry early on in the course. However, we just did not know how to go about creating a solution. After weeks of research and brainstorming, we landed on the idea of ScanHa.”
Abu Shahba added, “We want to raise awareness by encouraging consumers to make informed decisions. Whether actively seeking sustainable choices or new to the concept, our objective is to simplify the process of sustainable purchases for the consumer to benefit both the society and the environment.”
The ScanHa team credits their success to their AUC education, which sharpened their pitching skills and helped them refine their project. Moataz Darwish '95, associate professor in the AUC School of Business and course instructor, noted, “the team kept passionately exploring their problem space of fast fashion and persistently iterating between multiple solutions for most of the semester whilst their classmates were already finalizing their projects. Their ultimate victory in Afretec further solidified their excellence."