“WE ALL HAVE A CHANCE TO CHANGE THE CURRENT NARRATIVE ABOUT ARABS” — DANY EL-EID, FOUNDER OF PIXELBUG, DURING THE STARTUP EVENING EVENT
Zain Bahrain, the most innovative telecom operator in the Kingdom, hosted Startup Bahrain’s 9th Startup Evening as part of the Global Entrepreneurship Week in Bahrain. The guest speaker was the inspiring and brilliant Dany El-Eid, winner of the MIT EF Pan Arab Competition that was held last year and founder of pixelbug, the startup behind colorbug, the augmented reality app that brings children’s coloured drawings to life.
Held at Zain Bahrain’s headquarters, high up in the tower, overlooking Bahrain’s beautiful capital, Dany spoke to the guests about his journey running pixelbug and creating colorbug. He detailed his successes, failures, and lessons learned. The energetic audience was eager to learn the ways in which he developed his startup and the way he manages it.
Dany was joined by Mariam Al-Rayes, MIT Enterprise Forum Pan Arab Country Lead, who spoke about the upcoming competition and encouraged the audience to participate in this potentially life changing experience. The guest speakers were joined by 80 entrepreneurs, businessmen/women, startups and representatives from Zain Bahrain.
Just like Startup Mornings, Startup Evenings is free-to-attend, invite-only, monthly get together for startups and entrepreneurs aiming to host a session where they can exchange ideas, inspire others and discuss recounting failures.
“It is absolutely great and always great to see a hard-working founder of a real-life startup sitting right there before you amongst an audience of eager entrepreneurs who want to know everything about what you’re doing. Everyone wants to make it and nobody wants to be the first to try something out, that’s risky,” said Bader Kamal, Managing Partner at Startup. “Listening to someone who’s been through a similar journey recount their challenges and failures really motivates people to take a step in the right direction. This is what we always aim for during these events and I am happy to say that we’re on the right track in doing that so far.” he added.
“Zain Bahrain has always committed its efforts in supporting entrepreneurs and young individuals with a startup dream. We have worked hard to ensure we consistently demonstrate our commitment to the greater community,” said Pakiza Abdulrahman, Corporate Sustainability and Social Responsibility Manager from Zain Bahrain. “We will continue to partner the process of progress and change in the Kingdom as Zain Bahrain plays an integral role in the fostering Bahrain’s future prosperity as outlined in the leaderships Vision 2030.” she added.
Startup Evenings is organized by the dedicated team behind “Startup Bahrain”, Bahrain’s first and only digital publication for startups and entrepreneurs in partnership with Tamkeen and Zain Bahrain, Bahrain Development Bank, and McDonald’s Bahrain.
It was worth noting that applicants interested in registering their ideas and taking part in the ninth edition of the MIT Enterprise Forum Arab Startup Competition must submit their applications prior or the deadline on January 4, 2016.