AUC will be providing voluntary mentorship support for entrepreneurs as part of the Gemini Uplift initiative to support entrepreneurs during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The initiative, launched by Gemini Enterprises Africa, aims to revive the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Egypt and Africa during these difficult times through money, matchmaking and mentorship. Gemini focuses on supporting entrepreneurship in Africa, and particularly projects focused on social dimensions. 

"In brief, AUC and Gemini signed an MOU early this year, aiming to work together on student initiatives that would support entrepreneurship, including competitions and activities that would involve AUC students, such as graduation projects and entrepreneurial mentoring activities," said Ahmed Tolba, associate provost for strategic enrollment managements and associate professor of marketing.

More than 30 institutions joined the initiative, and AUC's role focuses on providing mentoring resources primarily through faculty. This is a voluntary service by each faculty member.

AUC signed an MOU with Gemini a few months ago, whereby they could support the Entrepreneurial Mentoring Program, a project hosted in Tolba's office.

AUC has been reaffirmed for its national accreditation with the National Authority for Quality Assurance and Accreditation of Education (NAQAAE).

NAQAAE was founded to enhance the quality of education in Egypt by developing an integrated system to assure education quality. AUC was the first University in Egypt to receive the NAQAAE accreditation in 2010, with additional school- and department-level accreditation for the School of Sciences and Engineering and Department of Management within the School of Business. With this reaffirmation, AUC maintains its status as both a nationally accredited University as well as an American-accredited University with the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE).

“Maintaining the MSCHE as well as the NAQAAE accreditation for years ensures that AUC is sustaining quality education and service based on Egyptian and international standards,” said Provost Ehab Abdel-Rahman. “It validates our hard work, confirms to the public the validity of our programs and positively impacts the educational experience and future prospects of our students.”

The reaffirmation process was a rigorous self-assessment coordinated by the Office of Strategy Management and Institutional Effectiveness (SMIE), which was responsible for leading and facilitating the institutions accreditation efforts throughout the process.

“In higher education, institutional accreditation promises a standard of excellence,” attested Iman Megahed ’90, ’92, AUC's chief knowledge and strategy officer. “Accreditation is a transformative process for universities, as it supports the institution’s mission and allows it to provide students with the quality educational experience they deserve.”

An Accreditation Steering Committee -- co-chaired by Professor Ezzat Fahmy, construction engineering; Professor Basil Kamel, architecture; and Associate Professor Atta Gebril, applied linguistics -- worked diligently with a representative group of AUC faculty and staff members in developing the self-study report and providing evidence of AUC’s compliance with NAQAAE accreditation standards. This successful reaffirmation process was under the guidance and leadership of Provost Ehab Abdel-Rahman in coordination with AUC Counselor Ashraf Hatem. The process concluded with a three-day visit to AUC’s campus by a committee of experts in higher education in order to observe AUC’s congruence with its self-study and meet with representatives from different constituents and stakeholders. The committee provided a thorough report, which included recommendations for areas within the University that can be further enhanced.

“The self-assessment process ensures, as we move into the future, that we continuously improve and advance the University,” explained Heba Fathelbab (MA ‘10), senior director of assessment and accreditation at the Office of Strategy Management and Institutional Effectiveness. “The reaffirmation of accreditation process is a lot of hard work, but it is an excellent way to ensure that AUC remains relevant and provides a unique educational experience for its students.”

AUC's faculty members have been hard at work trying to navigate the challenges that come with shifting to online instruction. News@AUC spoke to some faculty members to learn about their experiences so far and what they've been doing to adapt to the changes. Here's what they had to say: 

Carie Forden, professor, Department of Psychology

"I teach social psychology, which is very relevant to the current situation, as we are covering topics such as stress, conformity and group behavior. Instead of doing narrated PowerPoints, my husband and I are turning the course material into a podcast, complete with theme music, advertisements and recommendations. My husband is the host who is asking the questions, and I'm the expert guest. He's a good listener and very curious about things, so it works well. It's been a lot of fun. Last week's podcast on stress included a discussion of how to deal with the stress of coronavirus and quarantine and a commercial for meditating while washing your hands."

Tarek Selim '92, '95, professor, Department of Economics

"It was a bit frustrating in the beginning, but now, many faculty actually like it! The challenge for me, and I guess for the whole of AUC as an institution, will be fairness in the online grading system: how to make sure that the inputs received online are indeed the effort of the particular student being assessed and how to make online grading fair for all. This is a fundamental challenge and is an ethical issue and has accreditation requirements as well. Another challenge is the 'time to access' online materials for students if the server/cloud does not have enough capacity in peak times."

On the soft side of things, I received many comics relating AUC's online education to Egyptian cinema/ famous plays."

Rasha Abdulla '92, '96, professor and graduate director, Department of Journalism and Mass Communication:

"My first experience was really good. I taught the class live on Zoom, and a recording is also available online. Almost all the students 'showed up,' and we only had a couple missing. I think it went better than we all expected. The students were wonderful and very interactive. I had done my homework on all the little perks that Zoom has to offer. I used a PowerPoint presentation and shared it with them on the screen, paused to invite questions or comments every once in a while and asked their impressions at the beginning and at the end of the class. I think we were all pretty happy with the experience."

Michael Reimer, associate professor, Department of History 

"Yes, it has been a big challenge. The tasks involved seem endless, and I find it hard to lecture without a class in front of me. However, the positive aspect of online teaching is that I am in more frequent contact with some students who rarely participated in class discussion, but who are now are asking questions and participating in online discussions. Also, because I am setting smaller writing assignments rather than essay examinations, students write more frequently in response to the assigned readings, which I hope will stimulate their understanding of these texts. In the future, even in normal face-to-face instruction, I plan to continue to use online discussion forums to encourage the quieter students to participate."

Shahira Fahmy, professor, Department of Journalism and Mass Communication

"So far, I've taught two online classes: one undergraduate class on Blackboard and the second class was on Zoom for graduate students. My graduate class on Zoom went really well. The students were engaged and very interactive that ironically it almost felt like we could communicate better with each other online than face-to-face.  My undergraduate class still needs some adjustments to get the students more involved and actively engaged in the learning process. I understand that students, and undergraduate students specifically, might feel anxious and apprehensive about the process. I want them to know that these feelings are normal. No one anticipated the current situation, but I think we will all learn from this experience and, in the end, hopefully find some joy in the process."

Hassan Azzazy, professor, Department of Chemistry

"A powerful feature of Panopto is that it enables students to easily locate any topic in a lecture and replay the relevant slides and voice. It also enables students to have permanent records of videotaped lectures. On the other hand, I have used a combination of Notepad and Screen Recorder on my cell phone (with a stylus) to hand write explanations of specific topics or solve exercises as I do on whiteboards in classrooms, then posted links to these videos on Blackboard." 

Adel El Adawy, assistant professor, Middle East Studies Center

"Online teaching was a new experience for me. I hadn't done it before so I didn't know how it will go, but I think after receiving training during spring break and having one week of experience, it went pretty well. I would say my classroom experience has not really changed from face-to-face teaching and now online teaching because most of my classes are very small — graduate seminars, graduate students — so I've decided to use the software Zoom, which actually really gives a very similar experience, as if you are sitting face-to-face in class. We’ll see how the rest of the semester will go, but I think, after one week, I am very satisfied and I think my students are as well."

Ayman Ismail '95, '97, associate professor, Department of Management

"I’ve done a lot of online teaching before, but moving a complete undergraduate course online is a new adventure. So far, it has worked out well. We are holding online discussion sessions using interactive tools, video cases and alternative assessment methods. Students are not only learning the course material, but also new ways of working together, innovating and collaborating."

Khaled Tarabieh, assistant professor, Department of Architecture

"I have been involved in online instruction at AUC during the past five years part of the ProGreen Diploma for Green Technologies where I, along with other professionals in Egypt and Lebanon, taught sustainable design and green technology. In the past two years, the AUC state-of-the-art communication technologies allowed us to engage in virtual teaching with the University of Arizona, creating virtual classrooms to teach Sustainable Architecture. This experience allowed me a smooth transition into fully online teaching in the past week. No challenges were observed except for the daily interaction with the campus community faculty, staff and students, all of which I miss deeply. Our successful transition to online learning shows how our investment over the past few years in infrastructure and online learning has paid off.  I truly believe this situation has been a test of resilience and sustainability of our institution of the future, a test we have fortunately passed with flying colors."

Michael Gibson, senior instructor, Department of Rhetoric and Composition

"Monday the class met on google hangouts. It was ok. Today I used Zoom. It went great.  I really like the online learning and am staying in touch through the week both on google hangout chat and email. I'm enjoying it. The only downside is not being physically together. Some of my students say they like it better because it's more comfortable, convenient, and efficient, and we're actually communicating more often (in various ways) and more thoroughly."

Various sectors of society are feeling the effects of the global COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, most noticeably education and health, but world economies might be taking the hardest hit.

“The greatest economic repercussions due to the coronavirus pandemic are the interruption and sudden freeze of economic activities without a definite horizon for returning back to normal,” said Ahmed El Safty, associate professor of practice in the Department of Economics. “The uncertainty resulting from this sudden stop is causing lots of...panic in the international markets and is reflected in the continuous large losses in financial markets worldwide.” 

And the impact is far more than just global. National economies are taking blows from the “sudden freeze” that El Safty mentioned, referring to different domestic policies implemented to slow down the spread of the virus: curfews, restaurant closures, school and university suspensions, limited working hours, halts on international and domestic travel and more. 

“In Egypt, the tourism sector is the most negatively affected,” said Tarek Selim, professor of economics and global expert council at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland. Selim added that even though the economic plan introduced by Egypt's President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi earlier this week will partially heal negative impacts, it will only work if the pandemic lasts for a couple more weeks or months. The longer it goes on, the more severely impacted industries will be.

 “Other sectors such as transport, retail, cafes, cinemas, restaurants and labor-based assembly businesses as well will be gravely affected much more than what they already have accrued," noted Selim.

Some of Egypt's other businesses, however, will find this as a time to grow and innovate their existing technologies, Selim said.

"IT and digital business and capital-intensive industries (which require less people on board) can actually gain from this," Selim said. "This also includes the IT and advertising markets, online application demands for education, and online workflow digital systems." However, he emphasized that any sort of gain will only last for the short term.

Matters beyond Egypt’s borders also play a large role, as the slowdown of international trade, the reversing of foreign portfolio investment and the drop in oil prices and economic activities in the Gulf are all posing setbacks for Egypt, according to El Safty. 

The Egyptian government laid out a EGP 100 billion plan to combat the economic impact of COVID-19. What does that plan look like?

Selim listed a number of provisions, including a stimulus package for tourism and travel companies, tax payment extensions, loan interest reductions and a stock market stimulus package, among others.

“These measures are good and are being seen as logical from an economic standpoint,” he said. “Will they completely remove all negative consequences of the coronavirus on the economy? Not likely. Yet, this is still okay, since it is not the role of government to mother-feed the economy and neutralize all risks completely.”

El Safty said that many of the measures are meant to help private enterprises “remain solvent for the near future.” However, he added, “a long lasting solution will only be feasible when the coronavirus emergency ends and economic activities return back to normal.”

And these effects are mirrored throughout the world, albeit the impact in each country relies heavily on the dominant industry type.

“Countries that rely less on services and tourism are expected to have an impact that is less severe,” Selim said. “Egypt's people-centric service industries constitute a large chunk of Egypt's GDP, since services include hotels and tourism, transport, entertainment and others.”

It may seem like the state of the economy is out of individual citizens' control, but El Safty said that people can actually play a large part in helping get things back to normal. 

"Individuals can combat the economic setbacks by basically following the advice of working from home, social distancing and self quarantine if needed," he said. "The stricter they follow these rules, the sooner we can return back to normal."

And as for the situation to settle down and economic activity to start up again until it gets back to normal, both Selim and El Safty said it's difficult — almost impossible — to tell. But our best bet for speeding up the process for now is staying home, staying safe and flattening the curve. 

With online classes starting Sunday, AUCTV interviewed Vice President for Digital Transformation Ayman Abdellatif on how his team has been working hard to make sure the process runs smoothly and how students and faculty members should utilize the IT Help Desk when running into challenges. Watch the full interview.

#PeopleOfAUC

With Mother's Day coming up on March 21, working mothers in Egypt and at AUC are facing a lot of challenges in light of the coronavirus situation — they are trying to keep their kids safe at home and entertained, keeping pace with their online learning at home and — on top of that — working in their daily jobs.

We spoke to AUC's staff working mothers, and here are their thoughts on this year's Mother's Day:

Noha Saada, senior director, Academic Advising Center: 

“I think we have to strike a balance. We should neither frighten our kids nor neglect our work duties. We should work on maintaining our balance without panicking too much in order to be able to think straight. A couple of days ago, I started panicking too much, which made me get physically sick. What we are doing at work now is that we are working on a remote location policy while keeping some of the staff members on campus to maintain normal operations at the office. We are installing VPNs on our laptops and contacting students to inform them that we are taking online advising appointments, including videoconferencing tools when necessary. Concerning my two sons, things are getting really difficult. I am trying to handle it with my husband and nanny. We take annual leaves rotationally, and they are starting online learning, so I’ll be trying to keep up with the pace of their online learning when I am back from work. Things are even getting more difficult for my kids to stay at home, especially that they are used to working out three times a week, so my husband sometimes works out with them at home and we take them for a walk in open places since it is the safest option. I hope this works, and I hope people will take quarantining seriously."

Amira El Biltagy, program manager, Yousef Jameel Public Leadership Program, School of Global Affairs and Public Policy:                                                                                                                                    

“These are very difficult times. The fact that schools are shut down for two weeks and kids are isolated at home makes you think what you should and shouldn’t do: Should we have some friends at home or not? Can we eat out or not? They need to be entertained 24/7 and you still have to work, even if remotely, and in my case also study for my master's, which is quite challenging to be honest or at least harder than the usual days when they are consumed in school work and sports. I am a believer that safety comes first, so for the next couple of weeks, the plan is to hold it together and keep our sanity and divide the day among different activities, of which some, I must admit, are useless but still very much needed!”

Sherine Meshad, associate director of communications and marketing, School of Business:

"It’s an everyday challenge to balance a working life and having kids staying at home in response to COVID-19. The flexibility of rotation that the School of Business has set in place makes it a bit easier to navigate the challenge of homeschooling and work responsibilities. I have to say it’s a pendulum of emotions between going up the wall and having the chance to spend more time with my kids. I'm making the best out of the situation while wishing for a cure."

Eman Abdel Salam, operations manager, School of Global Affairs and Public Policy:

"What we are going through these days is hard to believe. It feels weird when all of a sudden someone pressed the pause button for your 18 hours of daily routine, and you can’t do anything about it! Having to deal with isolated, bored kids at home is not as easy as it sounds. Having to entertain them as well as do online school work is much harder than we thought, especially with my work duties. For days now, the do's and don’t lists have been growing in my head, and I'd be lying if I said I got it all under control. It’s another challenge that we as working mothers have to go through. This too shall pass.”

Salma Adly, program officer at the International Program Office:

"As a working mom and a mother of two teenage girls, I find it hard to cope with this semi-crisis that we are facing nowadays. Not only is it a difficult time for all of us, but it is also extra difficult for working mothers and fathers. I find it difficult to convince my girls that this virus is not a joke and that we have to take it seriously by sanitizing everything we use and avoiding crowded places. Between online classes, which is a hassle, housework and trying to keep my family safe, I have to try to balance my work while working from home and meeting my deadlines. May this difficult time go away soon."

We are now facing the coronavirus pandemic. Everyone is feeling anxious, disorientated, worried and generally uneasy. Workplaces are being disrupted to an unprecedented degree, and nobody knows how long this will last. Many of us have to work from home, and this in itself can be not only challenging, but also isolating and lonely. Social bonding is important, and many of us will miss out on interacting with colleagues, and for our faculty with our students too. So, what can we all do about it?

1. Work on your time management

Time management is crucial. One way to make working from home more productive is to break work down things into smaller tasks. With distractions at home, getting into flow can sometimes be difficult. Many of us are living with our families and pets. There are house chores that have to be done, and often those around us may not understand the type of work we are doing. Having short breaks is crucial, even if this means calling a colleague for a chat, checking in on students, doing a bit of housework or, in my case, going for a cuddle with my dog, and -- even more useful -- doing a few stretches. Staying physically well will help us all stay mentally positive.

2. Take up a hobby

Since many of us will not have to spend time commuting or taking children to school, we are not going out as much and, hopefully, this will conserve some energy. Taking time out every day to learn a new language, draw, paint, practice yoga, read or even just sit still and think. These little activities can help us disconnect not only from work, but also from all the news around us, which can get overwhelming sometimes. It will also help us =feel like we are achieving a task or end goal beyond work, making us feel more satisfied and happier.

3. Stay socially bonded

While we are not seeing our colleagues and friends as much, this does not mean that we cannot stay connected. Having regular check-ins is important, especially if you have elderly family members whom you are unable to see: Speaking with them helps them feel less isolated. I find that writing letters is therapeutic, even though I am unsure when I will be able to post them. Getting my thoughts down to a friend or loved one makes me feel more connected to them and satisfied.

4. Be grateful

Over this period, I am encouraging my students to think about one thing every day they are grateful for, even if this is having a warm shower or a clean drink of water. AUC has, and historically always had, a solid community that has stuck together during difficult times. Simply knowing that your organization and colleagues are there for you gives employees a sense of psychological security and elicits feelings of happiness. In current times, this is something that organizations need to strive to do more so than ever.

Stay connected, stay grateful and stay happy!

Nellie El Enany is an assistant professor in the Department of Management. Her research interests center on issues of identity, including identity construction, stigma, legitimacy and identity work. She also has an interest in the psychology of happiness in the workplace. 

If you were on campus last Wednesday and Thursday, you would’ve seen crowds of new students eager to begin their lives at AUC wandering among a sea of caps and gowns, graduates ready to start their journeys beyond this campus.

There were a total of 530 graduates from five schools at the midyear school-based commencements last week, with five PhD students, 113 master's and 412 bachelor's in all. The graduating class was 57% women and 43% men. Fifty-nine students graduated with honors, 82 with high honors and 47 with highest honors. The School of Sciences and Engineering had the greatest number of graduates.

The ceremonies featured inspiring speeches from the deans of the different schools as well as from students. The speeches emphasized the importance of being flexible with career opportunities and life changes and advised graduates to make impactful and responsible decisions. Parents and families were thanked for their support, as were the faculty and staff for their “behind -the -scenes” work. 

School of Sciences and Engineering

Dean Hassan El-Fawal recognized the importance of having a liberal arts and sciences education, noting that it is “the education of leaders, not followers.” 

“We have asked much of you as students. Now we ask of you, as graduates, to accept the responsibilities of leadership, and to exemplify the kind of courage, compassion and creativity we foster in our students and celebrate in our alumni,” El-Fawal added. 

Mohamed Mahmoud Abd El Sattar ‘20, the graduating class representative who received a bachelor's in petroleum engineering, opened his speech with a few jokes, then got serious about how important it is to keep moving forward. He closed his speech by highlighting AUC’s role in fostering proactive mindsets. 

“Here at AUC, we learn beyond academics,” he said. “We learn how to formulate our equation of life, and thanks to all of the liberal arts courses, not only do we get to formulate our equation of life, but we also get to doubt, critique and test our equations to build a better and stronger foundation for our lives to be built on. AUC served as a real-life simulation period for all of us, where mistakes are allowed, identified and corrected. Mistakes at AUC makes us better and stronger.”

The school gave out five awards to graduates for their research projects and academic performance.

The Fadel Assabghy Award for "outstanding master's thesis work" was given to Amal Abouel-Fetouh Badr for her thesis titled, “In-Depth Analysis of Culturable Microalgae Diversity in the River Nile at Different Locations,” under the supervision of Walid Fouad, associate professor in the Department of Biology. Badr completed her thesis in Fall 2019. 

The Medhat Haroun Award for "outstanding master's thesis work" was given to Tamima Sherif Elbashbishy for her thesis titled, "An Ontology Framework for Addressing Cost Overrun Through Risk Modeling: A Risk Path Approach," conducted under the supervision of Ossama Hosny, professor in the Department of Construction Engineering.

Lotfy Hussein Abdel Khaliq and Nour Mohamed Abdelhamed, both computer engineering graduates, were awarded the Abdel Rahman El Sawy award, which is presented to Public School Scholarship recipients with the highest grade point averages in an engineering department.

Established in 2017 to provide a bi-annual cash award to the highest performing graduate and undergraduate students, the Mohamed Bin Abdulkarim A. Allehedan Award was presented to Sarah Omar Youssef, who earned a master's mechanical engineering, and Rania Mohamed El-Shenety, who received a bachelor's in actuarial science. 

School of Business

"Make your life a quest for continuous improvement. Learning is always a lifelong journey, and never a destination," Dean Sherif Kamel '88, '90, '13 told the graduating class. "Always seek the next challenge, the next mission, the next endeavor. Be ambitious and be confident that anything you are passionate about and work hard for will be achieved." 

Youssef Sabek '20, who received a bachelor's in business administration, asked for a favor from his fellow graduates.

"I ask that you become ethical decision makers," he said. "I ask that you seek out responsible and climate-friendly decisions, and I ask that you treat future colleagues with dignity and compassion. This country and this region really need it."

Two awards were given out: the Student Recognition Award and the Academic Club Award. 

Nour Beshir '20, who graduated with a bachelor's in economics and business administration with a finance concentration, received the Student Recognition Award for demonstrating "outstanding services and achievements to the school since declaration to graduation." The Entrepreneur’s Society won the Academic Club Award.

School of Humanities and Social Sciences

Class representative Malak El-Shorbagy '20, who received a bachelor's in political science, expressed the importance of getting an education from a school as diverse as HUSS. 

"Being enrolled in this school will pay off because it is rich in diversity," she said. "Diversity is a non-detachable element of our HUSS institute. Diversity is what taught each and every one of us to be truly tolerant."

School of Global Affairs and Public Policy

Founding Dean Nabil Fahmy praised the graduates for their common goal, the reason they decided to pursue a career in this field. 

“You have been focused not only on your personal interest, but on the common good, with implications far beyond your immediate needs,” he said. 

Mariam Fawzy ‘20, who graduated with a bachelor’s in journalism and mass communication, said that a GAPP education equipped students with the tools to form  “proper, educated opinions about matters around us” that they will take outside the classroom. 

Graduate School of Education

Heba el-Deghaidy, the school's interim dean, noted, “This is the beginning of what we hope will be an exciting and rewarding journey where you can make a difference and make us proud at AUC."

For commencement photo albums click here.

AUC's campus is sparkling with energy and hope as new and returning students kick off the Spring 2020 semester. More than 80 new undergraduates and 140 graduate students started their studies as the University approaches the final phase of its centennial celebration: Experience the Future. 

The new undergraduate class — 47.5% females and 52.5% males — is enriching campus diversity, with students coming from the United States, Syria and Yemen. 

Likewise, on the graduate level, the class  — 67% females and 33% males — comprises a diverse international body coming from the United States, Yemen, Sudan, Nigeria, Eritrea, Iraq, Morocco, Palestine and Tunisia.  

Students expressed their hopes and eagerness to learn more about Egyptian history and improve their Arabic Language skills. News@AUC caught up with some of them during orientation week and on the first day of classes to learn about why they decided to join AUC and what they look forward to this semester. Here's what they had to say: 

Kit Feeney

The American University of Paris

"I came to AUC for the many cool economics programs and to get better in Arabic. I am taking the Egyptian colloquial class to learn Arabic. It is a really beautiful campus; I love it, I really couldn't ask for anything more."

Mateusz Puczel

Warsaw School of Economics

"I chose to come to AUC because I love the Middle East, and AUC is one of the best universities in the Middle East."

Ryan Butler

The State University of New York at New Paltz

"I came to AUC because I have a love for history, and Egyptian history is my favorite, I am looking forward to learning a lot at AUC from history professors. I also love the weather; it's perfect weather given the season."

Van Ieray

University of New Mexico

"I came to AUC because I am interested in Arabic and Egyptian history."

A group of second-year MBA students from the Columbia Business School spent one week in Cairo as part of a global immersion class conducted in partnership with the AUC Venture Lab. Describing their visit in one word, the students called it “impressive.” 

CBS students were paired with a V-Lab startup and worked together throughout the fall semester to create business plans and practice consultation. To complete the class, the students came to Cairo in January to meet with Egyptian business leaders and prepare a final presentation of their work with their assigned startups. 

“We had one week to visit companies, government officials, startups, IPOs and banks,” said Marco Viola, adjunct professor at the CBS and teacher of this course. “AUC is the top University in Egypt, and Columbia is a top university in the US, so I think it’s a great partnership.” 

The students worked with six startups that had all recently graduated from V-Lab and are in their early stages of business development.  

“We are very excited about this partnership,” said Ayman Ismail, Abdul Latif Jameel Endowed Chair in Entrepreneurship, associate professor at AUC's School of Business and founding director of the V-Lab. “We’re trying to provide a platform of internationalization for our Egyptian startups. It’s great exposure to work with people in the Columbia Business School. Many of those people will end up in investment banks, venture capital funds or companies that can offer potential opportunities in the future.”  

Kyle Knopick, a CBS student, worked with the startup Amanleek, an insurance tech platform that aims to bring transparency and convenience to insurance purchase in Egypt. 

“I was really impressed with the acumen of the founders,” he said. “They were impressive even in pre-launch, pre-revenue, pre-testing and how much thought they had put into their business model. Working with them throughout the last few months has been a really fun, interesting and educative process.” 

“I’ve had a great experience at AUC,” said Karan Bains, another CBS student working with Amanleek. “AUC provides great infrastructure, a great platform [for startups] and great programming. I’ve really enjoyed my time here presenting all the work that we’ve done with these founders over the last few weeks.” 

And the appreciation for work ethic and expertise went both ways. Ihab Al-Soukary ‘13, co-founder at Amanleek, said that working with the CBS students not only exposed his team to different business practices, but will actually help shape the business in the future. 

“They were attentive and helpful,” he said. “We had so many calls over the past two months to come up with findings that we will definitely use and that will help us direct our startup in our early stages. We’re lucky to be part of this program and learn a lot along the way from different models that will help us decide where to go in the next few months.” 

Another V-Lab startup taking part in the program was EatHeal, a medically tailored nutrition and food-service provider that works with clients to create meal plans that are customized to meet their health needs. 

“I’ve been looking forward to learning from them about their marketing strategies and how they retain customers,” said Rehab Abdel Maguid, founder of EatHeal. “The team was really helpful in helping benchmark EatHeal with other delivery services in the United States.” 

Like her classmates working with Amanleek, Roshan Prakash says she was not only impressed with the progress of EatHeal, but with the energetic startup community in Cairo as well. 

“We always hear and learn about different issues in emerging markets, and while those issues are there, these businesses could exist in the United States,” she said. “I’m glad to see that the higher education system in Cairo supports innovation.” 

The conversations among the CBS visitors went beyond AUC and touched on the growing entrepreneurial culture in the country, noting the large number of startups they visited and seeing the efforts of incubators like V-Lab.

“The entrepreneurial ecosystem still needs to be developed, but you have a lot of educated people willing to take the risk, which is not easy to do,” Viola said. Speaking about the role of V-Lab in that ecosystem, Viola added that “the ability to combine practical experience with academic interest and all the knowledge and know-how that AUC has is amazing. It’s a great program and already has had a lot of impact not only with specific people, but in the economy in general.”

The co-founders of Amanleek mentioned that without V-Lab, their company wouldn’t have gotten the networking, exposure and media coverage that were helpful in kickstarting their business. 

“Our experience with the V-Lab was exactly what we needed,” said Mohammed Mansour, co-founder and project manager at Amanleek. “We needed someone to give us a kickstart in terms of finalizing our business model, our revenue streams and our customer segments. We were lucky to have the license very soon. I’m really happy we chose the V-Lab and didn’t choose another incubator.” 

The V-Lab was founded eight years ago and has since graduated over 170 startups, which have raised more than EGP 1.5 billion in investments collectively and created over 8,000 jobs, according to Ismail. 

“All of the startups in this program are V-lab alumni, and it’s great to see their progress a year after graduation,” he said. “Most of them have launched a product and are now raising investments and even growing their businesses beyond Egypt. Within the next couple of years, we’ll see those companies going up the curve and creating some really interesting stories.”